Thursday 04 of March 2010
Plan of Action to Advance the Right of Access to Information in Africa Released
Participants from the African Regional Conference on the Right of Access to Information today released the Regional Findings and Plan of Action to advance the right in Africa. The conference found that while access to information is a fundamental human right, political and institutional constraints in Africa have limited the opportunities to exercise the right.
Taking into account the realities of Africa, the regional document serves as an annex to the global Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action.
"Facing historical and unique challenges, African nations have found it particularly difficult to advance the right of access to information," said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who chaired the opening day of the conference that took place Feb. 7-9, 2010, in Accra, Ghana. "Unlike in other regions of the world, there has not been a wave of countries passing and implementing access to information laws. In Africa, only five countries have passed laws, and this number includes Zimbabwe, which many have argued uses its law to repress rather than provide information."
The conference was organized and hosted by The Carter Center in collaboration with the special rapporteur for freedom of expression and access to information in Africa, the Media Foundation of West Africa, and Open Democracy Advice Centre.
The conference gathered more than 130 participants from 18 countries in the region representing government, civil society, media, private sector, regional intergovernmental organizations, international and regional financial institutions, and donors to consider the main obstacles and potential solutions to advance the right of access to information in Africa.
The African regional plan provides a blueprint for the regional and international community, states, and non-state actors to establish, develop, and nurture the right of access to information and calls on them to commit to the plan in furtherance of our common objective. On the final day of the conference, participants met in country working groups to identify specific next steps to advance the right in their nation.
Read the documents:
African Regional Findings and Plan of Action (PDF)
Country Working Group Plans (PDF)
- March 4, 2010 by Charter Center
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Source: www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/ati-conference-africa-2010.html (accessed on 04.03.10)
fesmedia Africa attended the conference and formed part of a working group along with the other members of the FES-supported working group on ATI constituted by six leading African Media organisations:
- Media Rights Agenda, Nigeria, Edetaen Ojo
- Highway Africa, South Africa, Prof. Guy Berger, Prof. Jane Duncan
- Media Foundation for West Africa, Prof. Kwame Karikari
- Open Democracy Advice Centre, Mukelani Dimba
- Africa Freedom of Information Center, Gilbert Sendugwa
- Media Institute of Southern Africa, Sampa Kangwa-Wilkie
Their envisaged plan of action on the one hand aims at establishing a wide coalition of civil society organizations in the different African countries to claim the Right to Know. On the other hand, the coalition works towards the adoption of a continental policy document by the African Union (AU) and in the framework of the UNESCO Windhoek Declaration on Press Freedom. The plan to hold UNESCO’s International Conference on Press Freedom in Namibia in 2011 with a focus on the advancement of the right of access to information is now also part of the Regional Plan of Action for Regional and International Bodies (annex to the Atlanta Declaration).
fesmedia Africa has been focussing on media policy and Freedom of Expression and has – together with MISA – developed a home grown measuring tool for media landscapes, the African Media Barometer (AMB). From the AMB-analysis of the ATI-situation in the respective countries (look for indicator 1.8), FES has drawn the conclusion that Right to Know-issues need to be approached from a human rights perspective, not from a media angle. It’s about citizen’s rights, not only journalist’s rights.