Right to Information (RTI) - South Asian Regional Experiences - by Nalaka Gunawardene

RTI: Ushering a New Era of Open Government

Right to Information:South Asian Experiences

By Nalaka GunawardeneScience writer & new media researcher

www.nalakagunawardene.com

Talk given at Staff RTI Awareness SeminarParliament of Sri Lanka

16 August 2016


Right to Information: RTI Right to access and obtain

information from public officials & public authorities with minimum procedure

Recognised as a fundamental right in the Constitution (19th Amendment, April 2015)

RTI Act No 12 of 2016 enables citizens to exercise this right


RTI in Sri Lanka: 1994-2016 1994: PA govt pledged freedom of info in

media policy 1996: Committee to advise on reforming

laws affecting media freedom and freedom of expression (headed by R K W Goonesekere) recommended RTI

1998: Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility emphasized value of RTI


ත�ොරතුරු අයිතිය පිළිබඳසංවොදත� පිය සටහන්ත�ටිතයන්www.vikalpa.org/?p=27152


Journey started in 1994RTI Act passed on 24 June 2016

Journey is not over. We have a long way to go!

We just passed a key milestone!


RTI Act No 12 of 2016: Culmination of a 22-year journey

On 4 August 2016, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya signed RTI Act in Parliament


Key element of good governance යහපොලනත� මූලි�

ගුණයක්…

Obligation to disclose information on administration


What RTI Law does…“Laws that guarantee RTI allow public access to data held by the government. These laws establish a procedure under which requests for government-held information could be made available at minimal or no cost.”- Gehan Gunatilleke in SLPI/UNESCO Guide http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002441/244113E.pdf


RTI like a ‘full body scan’ for politicians and officials!

Cartoon Courtesy – Sudhir Tailang, The Asian Age


In South Asia…What difference can RTI make?

8 nation states: all under democratically elected govts (as at 2016 Aug)

1.6 billion+ people Fast growing economies

but also widening disparities

Home to world’s highest No of people living in poverty


RTI is part of South Asia’s heritage!

http://www.bbc.com/sinhala/sri-lanka-36634031

Nalaka Gunawardene interview with BBC Sinhala, 26 June 2016


Ashoka Pillars = world’s first RTI King Ashoka (3rd cent. before Christ):

one of India’s greatest emperors He inscribed on rocks all over Bharat his

government’s policies, development programs and his ideas on various social, economic & political issues -- including how religions should co-exist with each other.

This was the world’s first proactive disclosure of info by a ruler = ancient RTI


Ashoka Pillars = ancient RTI


Govt sharing info with people:The great Ashokan tradition “Emperor Ashoka insisted that the

inscriptions should be in the local language and not in a courtly language like Sanskrit. And considering the fact that few of his subjects were literate, he ordered officials to read out the edits to people at public gatherings.” - RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak, Coordinator, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), New Delhi


Modern Era: 250 Years of Freedom of Information/RTI laws 1766 Sweden: His Majesty’s

Gracious Ordinance Relating to Freedom of Writing and of the Press

World’s first Freedom of Information Act: decreed that administrative & judiciary documents, as a rule, were public: citizens had the right to access them.

Concept of Public Access


Growing recognition of RTI by inter-governmental bodies…

• Article 19 of Universal Decl. of Human Rights, 1948 • Article 19 of International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights, 1966• Regional charters of the African Union, Organization of

American States, Council of Europe, European Union


SAARC level recognition of RTI 2nd meeting of regional forum of the Ministers

of Social Development of SAARC region, 6 March 2008, agreed “to adopt appropriate legislation conferring the right to information for all citizens from governments and public authorities, to eliminate arbitrariness and corrupt practices and improve governance at the regional, national and local level.”

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=36072


Among RTI Laws worldwide… Freedom of Information Act, 1966 – United States of America Freedom of Information Act, 1982 - Australia Act on Disclosure of Info by Public Agencies, 1996 - South Korea Act on Access to Info Held by Administrative Organs, 1999 - Japan Promotion of Access to Information act, 2000 - South Africa Freedom of Information Act, 2000 - United Kingdom Freedom of Information Act, 2005 – Germany Federal Act on the Principle of Freedom of Information in Public

Administration (Freedom of Information Act, FIA), 2007- Switzerland Open Government Information Regulations, 2008 - People’s Republic

of China


100+ countries have adopted RTI Laws (Sri Lanka is 108th)


RTI in SAARC region…

India (at national level): 2005 (but Supreme Court recognised info right as early as 1975)

Nepal: 2007 Bangladesh: 2009 Pakistan: 2013 Maldives: 2014 Bhutan: 2014 Afghanistan: 2015 Sri Lanka: 2016

Sri Lanka as a ‘late comer’ can & must benefit from RTI experiences in other South Asian countries


Surveying RTI in South Asia:2014 study by Asia Foundation Despite the existence of RTI laws,

levels of public awareness, citizen use of RTI and implementation vary considerably across countries.

Street corner interviews in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan found that only 24% of 263 respondents knew about their country’s RTI law

http://asiafoundation.org/resources/pdfs/CitizensAccesstoInformationinSouthAsia.pdf


RTI in modern day India:Inspiration for rest of SAARC India’s Right to Information Act

2005 Been extensively used by citizens to:

access entitlements redress grievances solve local level problems expose corruption and

mismanagement in govt programs


National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, India Set up in 1996 to campaign for a law

guaranteeing Right to Information Networked 100+ civil society and

community groups across India Drafted 1st version of Right to Info Act

(together with Press Council of India) Now collaborates with govt in

implementing RTI across India http://righttoinformation.info/


“One of the important democratic lessons in this entire struggle is that it’s an ordinary person’s voice that has been made into a law. Because it began with the people’s struggle with the MKSS. But it has led to legislation, it has led to the entire process being spread all over the country and to some extent outside. So it shows you how democracy can function.” – Aruna Roy, former Indian civil servant turned RTI activist

Pioneering Indian RTI activist looks back…


RTI used most widely at local level

http://www.ajitkumar.co.in/2015/12/awareness-of-rti.html


RTI Mobile services in India: taking RTI to everyone!


Even children have become RTI activists: some filed 100+ requests!


RTI is for ALL citizens:Age is no barrier to use this right!


India: combating bribery and corruption using RTI

Kabir campaign on RTI, India


Enhancing RTI skills of officials and other citizens…

http://rtiocc.cgg.gov.in/home.do

Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India (GoI) launched an 'Online Certificate Course on RTI' in 2012


India: RTI still has critics…and needs defending even now


Political parties don’t want to be covered by RTI law in India!

India’s usually bickering political parties come together in their opposition to being included as a ‘public entity’ under RTI law’s revisions


RTI in Nepal 1990 Constitution guaranteed RTI as a

fundamental right to citizens Interim Constitution 2007 also guaranteed

RTI as a fundamental right RTI Act 2007 passed on 18 July National Info Comm set up: June 2008 Regulation on Right to Information ratified

and came to effect on 9 Feb 2009 http://www.ccrinepal.org/rti-in-nepal


Nepal: RTI covers Political parties! Political parties are also

defined as public bodies. Election Comm. Ila

Sharma : “In a democracy, it is critical for the political parties to make public the details of their financial transactions.”

Himalayan Times, 4 Jan 2016

https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/political-parties-told-to-respect-rti-laws/


RTI in Bangladesh In 2008, caretaker govt installed during state

of emergency passed the RTI Ordinance that civil society had the opportunity to co-shape.

2008 Ordinance was later ratified by an elected government and the RTI Act came into force on 1 July 2009

fight against corruption a major factor in Bangladesh’s adopting of RTI law

http://www.moi.gov.bd/RTI/RTI_English.pdf


Citizens use RTI requests to monitor public works

Poster by Transparency International Bangladesh


RTI laws in Nepal (2007) and Bangladesh (2009) Much has been done to train public

officials and reorient govt systems But RTI is a work in progress: “…the effectiveness of the laws in

both countries has been diminished by poor implementation and limited awareness and use of the laws by citizens.” – Asia Foundation’s 2014 study on RTI in South Asia


RTI in Pakistan RTI movement emerged in late 1980s and

1990s out of growing pubic concerns about rampant corruption

Freedom of Information Ordinance in 2002: considered to be a weak law

2 provinces now have stronger laws: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa RTI Act (2013) Punjab Transparency & RTI Ordinance (2013)


Imran Khan as RTI champion

Imran Khan founded and heads Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party which promotes RTI for good governance. PTI is the largest party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where it leads a coalition government. This province has the best provincial RTI law in Pakistan.

,


RTI Maldives 2008 new constitution recognized

freedom of information as a fundamental right.

Parliament unanimously approved Access to Information law in Dec 2013

President Abdulla Yameen ratified Jan 2014

Applies to all state-funded institutions


RTI in SAARC: Learn from each other!“Countries in South Asia have much to learn from each other’s experiences in implementing the right to information. At a country level, governments need to more effectively demonstrate their commitment to open government by strengthening both the demand and supply side... At a regional level, institutions such as SAARC can play a lead role in facilitating dialogue and the sharing of knowledge and best practices between RTI experts, practitioners and govt officials within the region.”


RTI in Sri Lanka: Challenges Govt has to change how it

manages & shares info Citizens have to become

more info literate: learn how to ask right questions + use data as evidence

Media and civil society can be guides to society on RTI


Public institutions must change attitude about public info!


We need lawyers, teachers, journalists, artistes, even comedians to spread RTI…


We need media and civil society vigilance… To ensure RTI is properly

implemented To guard against it being

subverted by some officials To prevent abuses of RTI (e.g.

to breach privacy or commercial secrets)


FOI/RTI battle never ends…“If you ask me if we are better

off now than before we passed it, I would definitely say yes. If you ask me are we where we should be on open government, I would say, not by a long shot. ...The battle never ends!” - Congressman John Moss (Dem., Ca)., champion of US Freedom of Info Act 1966

John E Moss(1915-1997)


Let’s get out of here – together!

http://nalakagunawardene.comTwitter: @NalakaG

All images have been used in good faith for public education purposes.Views expressed are personal.

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Right to Information (RTI) - South Asian Regional Experiences - by Nalaka Gunawardene