The international Right to Know Day is celebrated today. It is rather ironic that most people do not know this!

Right to Know Day was declared by the International Freedom of Information Advocates (FOIA) Network in 2003 and builds upon the notion stressed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1946 that freedom of information is a fundamental human right and is the touchstone for all freedoms to which the UN is consecrated.

The importance of Right to Know Day lies in the fact that people should be made aware that they have a fundamental right to access information about the activities and decisions that affect their lives. The Maltese public have a tendency to accept most decisions which are made in their name and which affect their lives and rarely, unless politically encouraged to do so, question or challenge such decisions. Such an attitude tends to encourage a government to be less open with their citizens as they feel little need to do so. Come election day, our political parties take it for granted that most of us will be waving their flags anyway.

One weapon against public apathy is a strong and widely used right to information law. Right to Know Day provides a good opportunity to reflect upon the importance of the simple, but empowering, right to access information. The right to information should not be simply linked with a free and objective media - though that, too, is fundamental. The public should be made aware that they have an even more direct right to information than to obtain it from third parties.

The public so often tends to be shut out of the decision-making process and people find it difficult to participate effectively because they have difficulties accessing information on government policies and decisions. But without easy access to government policies and information explaining the basis for government decisions, how can citizens be sure their interests are being sincerely protected? How many times have we been left wondering how certain people managed to get certain important jobs or contracts? How many times have we banged our heads against a wall when dealing with some government department and been left wondering what has been going on and why? Many of us are directly or indirectly affected by so many such issues - even if we are not always aware of it. For example, the wrong person running a government department might compromise the efficiency of the system we are part of and waste public funds. Blowouts and mismanagement - as have occurred in Malta in recent years - would not be allowed to go unanswered in an environment of open governance.

Open governance and information-sharing contributes to national stability and can also avoid perceptions by the public of exclusion from opportunity or unfair advantage of one group over another. It therefore effectively reduces the distance between the government and the people and combats feelings of alienation. Serious implementation of the right to information will also immediately set new standards for bureaucratic and parliamentary accountability. Public officials will be forced to recognise that they work for the people's interests and that the people have the right to scrutinise their activities.

Despite the fact that we still do not have a Right to Information Act in Malta we still have a few laws that deal with this right. Section 41 of the Constitution includes the right to receive and communicate ideas and information without interference as part of the right to freedom of expression.

The Aarhus Convention, ratified in April 2002 and transposed into Maltese law through legal notices in 2001 and 2002, grants the public access to environment information and the right to recourse to administrative or judicial procedures to dispute acts and omissions of private persons and public authorities violating the provisions of environmental law.

Unfortunately, this is clearly not enough. Malta lags behind many others countries, such as South Africa and Canada, which already have enacted effective legislation to provide the legal framework for the realisation of this fundamental right.

Ideally, many documents should be released proactively by the government. Examples of such documents include government policies (After all shouldn't every citizen automatically be able to access information on the government's health and education policies?), explanations of government departments' function and key staff and information about activities being developed or implemented by the government, including opportunities for public participation.

Release of documents should only be refused if disclosure would be against the public interest. Public interest should be narrowly defined though - to protect issues like national security or personal privacy. But it cannot be used simply to protect the government from embarrassment or to hide cases of corruption.

Any law that is passed needs to be based on the principle of maximum disclosure. All people should be given the legal right to access government documents. In this era of outsourcing of public services to private companies, even documents held by private bodies should be brought under any law, where the information affects the right of citizens. Release of documents should be the norm.

Many people will be personally aware of how difficult it is to track the progress of alleged development projects, even by the very people who are supposed to be benefiting from them! How can we be sure that money is being spent on the activities that the government says it is spending them on if we cannot see the relevant documents for ourselves? We are left wondering: Are roads really being properly built and maintained? Is sufficient money really being spent on schools and health services? Are grants given by the government really used for what they were meant?

Right to Know Day is a great opportunity to ask the government why the country still does not have specific freedom of information legislation. The government needs to be pressed to pass a Freedom of Information Act as soon as possible. One must also make sure that the act should not be hurriedly drafted; it needs to be developed in partnership with the public and civil society.

Many countries throughout the world have freedom of information regimes and they have been proven to be an excellent, cost-effective means of giving power back to the people. Information is power and, in the spirit of democracy and equality, it needs to be shared freely with all people. Entrenchment of the right to information is a practical first step.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative's 2003 report, Open Sesame: Looking for The Right to Information in the Commonwealth, provides law-makers, advocates and the public with guidance on drafting and implementing freedom of information legislation. Copies of the report can be requested from CHRI by e-mailing chriall@nda.vsnl.net.in or by visiting the CHRI website at www.humanrightsinitiative.org

Dr Galea Debono is a consultant for the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

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