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6 years ago

Empowering people through Right to Information

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Freedom of speech and opinion, access to information and holding the powers that be to account play a crucial role in the improvement process of any society. If people cannot express openly their ideas, views and needs, they are often unable to contribute to the society.

The right of every citizen to speak and express freely is guaranteed under the Constitution of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh as one of the fundamental rights (Article 39, Constitution of The People's Republic of Bangladesh); and right to information is an indispensable part of freedom of thought, conscience and speech.

On the other hand, freedom of opinion and expression is contained in articles 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In addition, articles 4 and 5 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), articles 12 and 13 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) guarantee the freedom of expression and opinion.

Globally, more than 100 countries have enacted right to information (RTI) legislation guaranteeing citizens the right to access information and records held by their governments. Countries like Australia and New Zealand passed a national right to information law as early as 1982 (prior to the latest wave of right to information laws adopted around the world), later embarking on legislative reforms to update their freedom of information regimes.

Shifting the focus on South Asia, it can be seen that national right to information legislation in India (passed in 2005) is often cited to exemplify the role that groups from grassroots level can have in the adoption of this type of legislation, as well as the impact the freedom of information can have on people's lives. Malaysia (passed in 2005), Nepal (2007), Indonesia (2010), Mongolia (2011), Pakistan (2013) and Sri Lanka (2016) have adopted RTI legislations. More recently, RTI bills have been passed in Bhutan and the Maldives. However, Singapore did not take any initiative to adopt RTI Act yet.

To keep pace with the global trend, the Government of Bangladesh adopted the Right to Information Act 2009 during the first session of the Ninth Parliament on March 29, 2009. It was a momentous step forward aimed at fulfilling the constitutional pledge of the state of Bangladesh. The government also set up an Information Commission on July 1, 2009 to uphold right to information of the people.

The goal of the RTI Act was to empower common people by providing information, ensuring good governance, transparency and accountability in all public and private organisations. The RTI Act goes hand-in-hand with the people's right to express freely. The common citizens, the civil society, and the media can now claim access to any information.

As per the mandate of the Act, the Commission consists of a Chief Information Commissioner and two other Information Commissioners including a woman. The President appoints them on the basis of recommendations made by the Selection Committee comprising five members. The Commissioners are selected from amongst persons with broad knowledge and experience in law, Justice, Journalism, education, science, technology, information, social service, management, or public administration. The Commissioners hold their office for a period of five years or attainment of 67 years, and they may resign before completion of the tenure by writing to the President. They can also be removed from their office by the President in like manner and on grounds similar to a Judge of the Supreme Court.

Information commission of Bangladesh is playing a significant role in resolving the received complaints quickly and smoothly. The commission's Annual Report shows that in 2016, some 6,369 requests for information were made to the public authorities. Of these, over 95 per cent were provided with the information sought. A total of 539 complaints were lodged with the Information Commission by disgruntled information seekers. Of these, 364 were accepted for hearing. The rest were either rejected for faulty submissions or resolved without a hearing. Since 2010, the first year of the law, the number of requests for information declined from 25,401 to 6,181 in 2015. Altogether, some 82,412 RTI applications were recorded till recently.

In fact, the RTI Act has created a platform through which people from all walks of life and communities can now access their desired and necessary information, which are beneficial for them. The poor women from remote villages are now getting information on government safety net programmes including vulnerable group development (VGD), vulnerable group feeding (VGF) cards and maternal health vouchers. Farmers and fishermen are now seeking and receiving information that is helping them to improve their livelihoods. Environmentalists are using RTI Act as a tool to ensure accountability in environmental governance. Victims of natural disasters are getting information about relief and rehabilitation measures.

Nevertheless, information commission with support from government and ministry of information can work towards ensuring empowerment of common people by providing them with proper and authentic information. The following points can help ensure right to information of the people:  

n The success of Right to Information Act, 2009 is closely linked to the state of democracy in a country. It is of utmost importance that the government is fully committed to the ideal of RTI.

n A paradigm shift in the mind-set of public officials as well as citizens who are used to subservient relationships with the authorities is also required for the success of RTI.

n The absence of a tradition of rule of law and the existence of a culture of impunity are detrimental to the promotion of RTI. The importance of using the penalty clause for bringing recalcitrant officials to book needs to be proven in Bangladesh.

n The importance and involvement of non-government organizations (NGO) and the media in promoting RTI needs to be demonstrated in Bangladesh. Exchange visits of media personnel and RTI activists can help in this regard.

n Lack of human resources in archiving and managing information has been a major challenge for government and non-government institutions. Public and private institutions can offer training programmes on ICT-led information archiving cum management.

n Civil society organizations can come forward with their own information and set examples of transparency and accountability. The NGOs in Bangladesh have been brought under the purview of RTI and are subject to the same scrutiny as government offices.

Md. Mamonor Rashid is a member of Young International Arbitration group, LCIA, London, and is working as an Associate of CM&A LCP.

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