Biography

My name is Sohini Paul and I work as a Senior Project Officer in the Access to Information Programme at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), New Delhi, India. I have been working in the area of right to information for the last six years since 2004 and was part of the advocacy campaign for the enactment of India’s Right to Information Act. Presently I coordinate CHRI’s Right to Information programme in South Asia and also moderate an e-discussion group on RTI in South Asia called South Asian Right to Information Advocates Network (SARTIAN). My work on right to information involves training representatives of civil society organizations and government officials, research and advocacy, bringing out publications, promotion of RTI and spreading awareness about it. The countries I am currently working in, in an intensive manner include India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Over the years I have developed partnerships between CHRI and a large number of civil society organizations, media and government officials working on the issue of right to information in the region.

Statement of Interest

RTI is a recent phenomenon in our part of the world. Pakistan was the first country to enact a FOI ordinance in 2002, followed by India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The other countries such as Maldives and Sri Lanka have draft FOI Bills. It is important that FOI advocates in this region connect with others working on the same issue in different parts of the world to know and learn from their experiences. One of my interests is to promote RTI in this region and to bring FOIAnet into closer contact with the regional community including the members of SARTIAN and other groups working on RTI in the region. This will also help in better communication, cooperation and learning among RTI networks.