7 March 2019,
The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) is partnering with UNESCO to carry out a preliminary data collection exercise on implementation of right to information (RTI) laws as part of UNESCO’s role as “custodian agency” for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 16.10.2.
SDG 16 sets targets related to peace, justice and “effective, accountable and inclusive institutions”. One indicator of global progress towards this goal is SDG Indicator 16.10.2: “Number of countries that adopt and implement constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for public access to information”. The RTI Rating already provides us with reliable information about the adoption of RTI laws, but this Indicator assesses whether States have gone beyond this and ensured proper implementation of those laws. This is complex and involves an assessment of factors such as the oversight system for RTI as well as measures taken by public authorities to disclose information proactively, to appoint and train information officers and to develop appropriate procedures to ensure that requests are processed properly.
UNESCO, as the custodian agency for Indicator 16.10.2, has developed a Template consisting of two surveys to assess progress on this Indicator. The first survey is designed to be completed by RTI oversight bodies while the second is for individual public authorities. The goal of the Template is to gather information on measures taken so far to implement RTI, and to identify gaps and remaining challenges.
CLD is assisting UNESCO in collecting data via this Template in 43 countries which have agreed to submit Voluntary National Reviews this year of their progress towards meeting the SDGs. These are:
Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Congo (Republic of the), Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, El Salvador, Eritrea, Eswatini (Swaziland), Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nauru, Pakistan, Palau, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and United Republic of Tanzania.
If you are a government official or civil society representative working in one of these countries and believe you can contribute to this data collection exercise, please contact Toby Mendel at toby@law-democracy.org.
