26 September 2024.
The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) would like to wish everyone a happy International Right to Know Day (IRTKD), 2024. First established in 2002 by civil society organisations, IRTKD has grown in stature and recognition, ultimately being formally recognised by the United Nations General Assembly as a formal UN day, International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI), in 2019. IDUAI provides an opportunity to reflect on the importance of and progress towards realising the right to information (RTI), which was included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as Target 16.10: “Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements”.
“As we celebrate IRTKD this year, at CLD we are thinking about the slowing rate of adoption of new RTI laws, which number only 10 since 2020, or an average of approximately two per year”, said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “More needs to be done to increase this rate while, as always, significant implementation challenges exist in many countries.”
For its part, CLD is participating in numerous events this year to celebrate IRTKD. Toby will attend UNESCO’s main event, being held in Ghana under the title Mainstreaming Access to Information and Participation in the Public Sector. Specifically, Toby will moderate a panel on Challenges and Opportunities in implementing Access to Information Laws in the SIDS. CLD has also contributed a video to the event taking place in Uzbekistan and will participate in videoconferences in Mexico, Ukraine and yesterday participated in an event in Atlantic Canada.
CLD has also, as it does every year, updated the RTI Rating, adding two countries since last year – namely Qatar and Zambia – for a total of 140 countries, updating a number of other national ratings and adding more sub-national jurisdictions.
Happy International Right to Know Day!
For further information, please contact:
Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
Twitter: @law_democracy
