Organizer: UNDP Pacific Centre
Date: 28th September 2009
Event: Support for Right to Know Day

Description:

UNDP Highlighting Right to Information in the Pacific:

Open Government Promotes Economic Growth and Effective Development

[Suva – 28 September]: The need for transparency and openness around economic transactions is one of the fundamental principles of economics. This is of particular relevance now as the Pacific works hard to manage the impact of the ongoing aftershocks of the global economic financial crisis.

In marking the International Right to Know Day, today on September 28, the Manager of the United Nations Development Progaramme (UNDP) Pacific Centre, Garry Wiseman, said that the importance of open government in promoting economic development in support of sustainable and participatory development should not be underestimated.

“Secrecy allows corruption to flourish, and the effects of mismanagement to go unobserved and therefore unchecked,” he said.

“Pacific Governments can achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs) and meet their national development goals through economic growth. One way of promoting such growth is by attracting investment. It has long been shown that transparency of government decision-making is a key factor in a country’s attractiveness to investors. For example, investors need to be able to easily access information on what regulations might apply to them, how licenses and permits are awarded, how tender and procurement processes operate, and the like. If such information is kept secret, investors begin to worry,” said Mr Wiseman.

In the Pacific to date, only Cook Islands has enacted right to information legislation. Their Official Information Act came into force in February 2009. It is still too early to judge the impact of the new law, but certainly there is great interest in the region in this progressive step towards more open government.

Other Governments in the Pacific have also indicated an interest in promoting more access to information for their people. Earlier in the year, speaking at a national workshop on freedom of information, Hon Fred Fono, the Deputy Prime Minister of Solomon Islands pledged his Government’s commitment to greater information disclosure.

“As a democratic and free country, one of the central tenets of our democracy in Solomon Islands is the guarantee of human rights, one of which is the right to freedom of information. We support information disclosure as way of improving governance and development outcomes,” said Hon Fono.

In fact, more than sixty years ago, the United Nations General Assembly specifically recognised that freedom of information underpins all other rights to which the UN is committed. It is fundamental to ensuring that people can understand, exercise and protect their rights. More recently, the Pacific Plan also specifically recognised freedom of information as a key milestone in achieving its good governance objectives.

While only Cook Islands has enacted legislation, Papua New Guinea already has a strong right to information included in its Constitution and the Palau Constitution grants a right to access government documents. Recently, the Parliament of Nauru also approved the inclusion of a new right to information in their raft of proposed amendments to the National Constitution.

His Excellency the President of Nauru, Hon Marcus Stephen MP observed in February 2009: “The right to information is principally about greater transparency and accountability in government, and giving the community a greater role in governance. The people of Nauru need to play their part as informed citizens who have high expectations for government performance and transparency, and who try to see that their expectations are met by being informed and by scrutinizing those who serve them. If comprehensive information about all government activities is made available to the public, the public itself is better able to scrutinize government activity, to identify corrupt practices, and to hold government to account.”

UNDP Pacific Centre works with regional partners to advocate for the right to access of information.

It is widely recognised globally that the right to information plays a vital role in bringing governments closer to their people. With the right to access information from government bodies, people can start to more effectively engage with their own democracy and with the development activities which are going on around them. In the Pacific, these are objectives both nationally and regionally, such that more effort could usefully be directed towards entrenching the public’s right to know as a strategy to improved governance and development outcomes for the peoples of the Pacific.