By Israruddin Israr
According to article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), access to information is a fundamental human right of every citizen. Similarly, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) declares observance of the right to information obligatory for all the member states of the United Nations. Thus, one of the essential fundamental human rights, it occupies an important place in international human rights standards.
Protection of the right of access to information guarantees the protection of several other rights of citizens. It is the responsibility of a state to protect these rights as it receives taxes from citizens to protect their due rights and serve them. With access to information, citizens of a state can stay informed about all that happens around them. They can have access to all kinds of records such as the utilization of tax money, public sector recruitment, the performance of government employees, both development and non-development schemes, expenditure, census, etc.
Furthermore, the provision of this right helps to ensure accountability and transparency, eliminate corruption and check abuse of power. It also helps in conducting research, investigation, formulation of policies, and preparation of reports. Similarly, it helps society to groom itself into a vibrant civil society that helps the government in policy formulation. In other words, the right access to information empowers ordinary citizens and enables them to critique the government for improvement through the creation of awareness.
Apart from leading to the protection of several other rights, the positive utilization of the right to access information also helps improve governance. The citizens having an understanding of administrative affairs can better speak about any issue at any forum and level. For example, if people want to complain about a school or a dispensary in a village, they need to know the total budget of the dispensary, medicines provided, number of employees, etc.
The provision and exercise of right of access to information helps to ensure accountability and transparency, eliminate corruption and check abuse of power.
Israruddin Israr
Another benefit is ensuring empowerment and independence of media to t convey accurate information to the citizens and represent their critique and suggestions for improvement of governance. This helps strengthen democratic values and dispensation of justice in the state.
There are more than 120 states that have recognized ‘access to information’ as a basic human right. Among them, several states have already made the required information public instead of providing it at the request of the citizens. Better laws and policies are in place in these countries to help citizens get the information they need. For example, many an institution and their different departments provide complete information on their websites and social media outlets promptly.
Like in many countries of the world, article 19-A of the constitution of Pakistan also guarantees citizens the right to access information. The federally enacted legislation on it in 2017. Following suit, Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, and KP also have enacted legislation establishing the information commission. However, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir are yet to make legislation on this particular right.
In case of Gilgit-Baltistan, clause no. 20 of the Gilgit-Baltistan Governance Order 2018 guarantees this basic human right to citizens. Nevertheless, both the previous and current governments have been unable to make any legislation on it. Similarly, there has been no legislation on it in AJK even though article no. 22 of the interim constitution of Azad Jammu and Kashmir guarantees this right. The civil society, journalists, and lawyers of these two administrative units have been demanding formal legislation and implementation on the right to access information. However, their voice always have fallen on deaf ears.
Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have enacted the right of access to information. However, Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK still have not made any legislation in this regard.
Israruddin Israr
Legislation on this particular right in the four provinces does not mean people exercise their right to information when they need it the most. There is practically zero implementation of legislation both at the federal and provincial levels. The reason for this is simple, the majority of citizens do not know about the use of this basic human right.
Exercising the right to information in a timely and proper way can lead to remedying pressing governance issues, i.e. corruption, illegitimate use of power, and other issues related to governance, accountability, and transparency. There is a need to make a law in the country according to which all departments would provide their information on their website daily.
Now, it is high time to make ensure access to information easier. Information can be categorized as sensitive and non-sensitive. Authorities can make non-sensitive information accessible to anyone and everyone on the website at all times while sensitive information can be made subject to request.
Thus, by directly involving the people in the process of accountability and transparency, good governance (the protection of their fundamental rights, and democracy) can be made possible. Mere legislation cannot guarantee the implementation on a legal right, it rather needs a mass of people equipped with the will and capacity to exercise their rights.
Hence, the implementation on right to access as many other rights can only be possible through a robust education system. Thus, the right to access information should be made a part of the curriculum across the grades and levels of education.
The writer is a Gilgit-based human rights activist and columnist. Currently, he is associated with HRCP as the regional coordinator Gilgit-Baltitsan. He can be reached at israrhrcpglt@gmail.com
