A coalition of
human rights agencies Wednesday called on the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights, ACHPR, to advance the right to access to information in
Africa.
The African
Platform on Access to Information, APAI, an intercontinental initiative to
promote access to Information on the continent, took the campaign a step
further in its address to the 51st session of the ACHPR in Banjul,
The Gambia (April 18 – May 2, 2012).
They urge the Commission to recognise September 28th
as International Right to Know day, as well as for an expansion of article IV
of the Declaration of Principles of Expression in Africa to incorporate the
principles of the African Platform on Access to Information Declaration.
The APAI group’s submission followed the report by the
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in
Africa, Adv. Pansy Tlakula.
In her report, Tlakula bemoaned the slow pace at which
states on the Continent were enacting Access to Information legislation, and
urged the commission to recall Resolution 167 which it passed in April 2010.
Resolution 167 calls for the more effective realization of
Access to Information in Africa.
The APAI working group (MISA, AFIC, ARTICLE 19, IFJ, TAEF, MRA, MFWA, ODAC, and Highway Africa) reiterated the Special Rapporteur’s concerns, whilst pointing out the lack of effective implementation by countries with Access to Information laws.
2012 marks the 10th anniversary of the
declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in
Africa. “The anniversary of the declaration presents an opportunity to assess
the development of the right to Freedom of Expression and Access to Information
on the Continent,” APAI said.
The group, encouraged by a resolution from the preceding NGO forum, attended by hundreds of civil society organisations, exhorts the ACHPR to:
“Pass a resolution authorizing the ACHPR Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa to
expand Part IV of the Declaration of Freedom of Expression in Africa to include
principles of APAI Declaration.
Pass a resolution requesting the AU Heads of State
Summit of January 2012 to adopt September 28 as an International Right to
Information Day.
Urge AU member states to adopt and implement national Access to Information laws that comply with the APAI Declaration and the model law on ATI developed by the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Information in Africa.
Pass a resolution requesting the African Union Summit of January 2012 to initiate an Experts meeting to develop a continental wide instrument on the right of Access to Information.”
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| Free expression panel @ NGOs Forum, Banjul-Gambia |
It is hoped that the Commission will show its support
to the campaign by adopting the resolution and taking the declaration forward
to the next AU summit in July 2012.
Author: Modou S. Joof
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