| The Right to Information Bill emerged a few times during the last two decades, without actually making significant progress, though many South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh have adopted Right to Information laws, a seminar on the event was told on Friday.
Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), the Media Alliance and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) jointly organised a Panel Discussion on the subject, with the objective of promoting a debate.
Panellists for the seminar were Prof. Savithri Gunasekera, Attorneys-at-Law, J.C. Weliamuna and S.G. Punchihewa, Faculty of Law Senior Lecturer V.T. Thamilmaran and Sunil Jayasekara, a journalist affiliated to the Free Media Movement (FMM).
Though Sri Lanka is a country that has ratified the International Convention on Civil & Political Rights, which includes Right to Information, it is yet to be incorporated into its domestic law. Prof. Savithri Gunasekera said that the law could be established with restrictions on a reasonable basis, if the need is there to limit access to information.
“But once the law is in place, an independent monitoring body should be established to confirm its proper implementation,” she said, adding that other rights such as Right of Expression and Thought too should be strengthened, along with the establishment of new rights. “Even in universities, Right to Information is not a common feature,” she said, explaining the lack of transparency when marking exam papers.
Meanwhile, Mr. Weliamuna argued that, if Members of Parliament, who are the representatives of the public, have access to all the information they require, it is illogical not granting the same rights to the public, who are being represented by the Parliamentarians.
He elaborated that the Right to Information could be considered a part of self-determination of the people. “Whenever a country is recognised as corrupt, one main feature of the State is that the public has not been granted the Right to Information,” adding that, if establishing the Right to Information was to erode their ability to maintain power, the rulers show no interest in establishing laws such as Right to Information.
Mr. Thamilmaran said that without the Right to Information, people form opinions which are biased and prejudiced, and end up being suspicious, which leads them to act accordingly.
He further emphasised that the right should be there to access all information, not only the ones that please the powers that be, but also the ones that shock them too.
Attorney-at-Law S.G. Punchihewa said that Sri Lanka has been experiencing emergency law for 30 years, raising eyebrows on the definition of emergency, as we had it for such a long time. He explained that there should be more transparency as to how things take place in the country, as the public is unaware most of the time.
What they know is when food prices are increased to coincide with a sports event such as the Cricket World Cup, or a political event such as the UN Panel Report.
Sunil Jayasekara, a journalist affiliated to the FMM, said that, for journalists, it’s a huge struggle to get information from the authorities. In many instances, only the head of the department is permitted to talk to the media, and that too, is an indirect way of controlling the information released to the media and through them, to the public.
According to the Establishment Code, any government official who releases information to the media could be considered a felon, to which the Panellists were of the view that the only option is to amend the Establishment Code. |
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