By Politico Staff Writer
In observance of the 71st anniversary of Human Rights Day on the 10th on December, the Right to Access Information Commission (RAIC) organized a symposium and awards ceremony at the Atlantic Hotel in Freetown, with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
The program brought together Human Rights organizations, government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Civil Society Organizations, Media Practitioners and Development Experts to discuss issues of Human Rights and Access to Information based on the local theme: “Access to Information as a vehicle to Enjoy Human Rights”.
Delivering the keynote address on behalf of his minister, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication, Augustine Sheku, said as democratic nations like Sierra Leone emphasize, good governance issues about human dignity and equality in society become an inescapable part of daily existence.
He said good governance created the environment for freedom of expression whereby usually marginalized groups in society such as women, children and people living with disability are able to make their voices heard for their challenges to be addressed. Sheku thanked RAIC for “creating the nexus between Human Rights and Access to Information to open the way to the understanding of many human rights issues by giving people the opportunity to access information to broaden their horizon on issues affecting humanity.”
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Chairman and Information Commissioner of RAIC, Dr. Ibrahim Seaga Shaw, referred to the instrumental role that information when used not just as an end in itself in the context of political right but as a means to enjoying other rights, including economic, social and cultural, becomes a force to the actualization of equality and an open society.
Dr. Shaw pointed out that the enactment of the 2013 Right to Access Information (RAI) law represented a decisive push to broaden the scope of citizens’ understanding of their basic rights.
The RAIC Chairman cited Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that, “everyone has the right to hold opinions and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers” as the fulcrum in the drive for universal access to quality and reliable information to ensure a fair debate on societal challenges and equal opportunities to all people. Dr. Shaw said human rights are at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 1991 constitution of Sierra Leone.
In the panel discussion that followed, the Executive Director of Campaign for Good Governance (CGG), Marcella Samba Sesay, said that the successful observance of human rights in Sierra Leone depended largely on the promotion of Access to Information and that the legal instruments that guaranteed that right should be created. She said the seditious and criminal libel provisions of the 1965 Public Order Act limited free expression for not only the media but all citizens. She said: “we cannot like democracy and hate free speech.” She called for more public education regarding the RAI law; the building of the capacity of those requesting information and that of the Public Information Officers having regard to the need for public institutions to proactively disclose information.
Communications lecturer at Fourah Bay College FBC, Isaac Massaquoi, said Human Rights can only be observed in societies where democracy thrives and the institutions are functional. He said despite the media being a major platform on which to highlight the Human Rights challenges facing ordinary Sierra Leoneans, such a media should be educated enough on the issues and be reasonably financially independent to have any impact. He called for specialized reporting on Human Rights issues and for RAIC to train media personnel in filing information request and adequately using the opportunities for information gathering offered by RAIC.
Chief Executive Officer of Campaign for Human Rights and Development International (CHRDI), Abdul Fatoma, said the institutions the country relies on to promote Human Rights are under-resourced. He called for the setting up of proper safeguards for public institutions and the building of the capacity of these institutions and for a data protection law to be enacted. He said an independent body should operationalize that law, not the very institutions holding the information ordinary people are trying to access.
RAIC also recognized individuals and institutions in an awards ceremony in different categories for, according to Commissioner Dr. Shaw, making tremendous progress in dealing with information requests. Statistics Sierra Leone won the Gold trophy in the Proactive Publication Compliance for 2019; the Environment Protection Agency took the Silver for timely and near full compliance. In the Access to Information Compliance Award 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the Gold for quickly responding to the FOI request without the intervention of the RAIC, while the Sierra Leone Police took the Silver for timely and near full compliance. The Access to Information Advocates Award 2019 was given to two local civil society activists: Emanuel Saffa Abdulai and Charles Keff Kobai, and two international advocates: Maxwell Kidiri and Dr. Ololade Shyllon.
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