28 September 2020.
On this International Right to Know Day, the Centre for Law and Democracy joins with other civil society organisations from around the world in calling on governments to avoid using the COVID-19 crisis as a pretext for limiting the right to information. Instead, we are urging governments at least to restore and preferably to improve legal and practical measures for ensuring the right to information.
“The public’s ability to access information held by governments is especially important during times of crisis, such as a pandemic, when other accountability mechanisms are not functioning at full capacity,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director, CLD. “The right to information is critical for protecting public health, avoiding corruption in the use of crisis-response funds and ensuring that economic policy measures are properly designed.”
The Joint Statement is available at: https://www.transparency.org/en/press/the-right-to-know-is-crucial-in-a-crisis
For further information, please contact:
Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431 3688
www.law-democracy.org
twitter: @law_democracy
