News
World RTI conference in Colombo
The international conference on the Right to Information (RTI), themed ‘Empowering Citizens with RTI – the 1st Year’, will be held in Colombo from May 8-9, in view of the 1st anniversary of the implementation of the RTI Act in Sri Lanka and World Press Freedom day. It is organised by the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), in collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Embassy.
The two-day conference, to be held at the Institute of Policy Studies, Independence Avenue, Colombo 7, will cover a series of thematic sessions on risk and safety of information seekers, privacy data protection, the role of civil society and media, future of RTI Law and technicalities in information disclosure. RTI experts from Norway, India, Mexico, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar, along with Sri Lankan experts from the RTI Commission, advocates from civil society organisations, good governance promoters and leading journalists are scheduled to address the thematic sessions.
Ministry representatives, civil society organisations, internationally and locally renowned RTI activists will be in attendance, creating a platform for civil society organisations, the public sector and the media to interact and create the way forward for RTI in Sri Lanka.
The RTI Act was implemented in Sri Lanka on February 3, 2017, and the Bill was passed by the Cabinet of Ministers in August 2016. By organising the international conference, the SLPI hopes to capture the lessons learned of the RTI practice in the country, during its 1st year of implementation.