Article 19 urges Lankan parliament to adopt Right to Information Act without changes

London: Article 19, a UK based global human rights organisation has urged the Sri Lankan parliament to adopt the draft Right to Information Act put forward by the cabinet, which if passed without changes, would be one of the best in the world.

“The draft Right to Information Act put forward by Cabinet would firmly protect the right in law and therefore we urge Parliament to adopt the Act without changes, so that the people of Sri Lanka can being to use it,” said Thomas Hughes, Article 19’s Executive Director.

“Once adopted, the next few years will be a crucial test: having a good Act does not necessarily result in a transparent and accountable government. Experiences from neighbouring countries show that the hard work is about to begin: to ensure that information officers are quickly appointed and trained, and civil society needs to begin requesting as soon as possible,” Hughes said.

The Sri Lankan Cabinet on 2 December 2015 approved the draft Right to Information Act and sent it for discussion at the provincial level before being put to parliament. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution has recognised right to information as a fundamental right of people.

The right organisation says the draft Act has a number of excellent features:

nIt provides for a strong and independent information commission that will be able to order the release of information being withheld by public bodies

nIt provides seats on the information commission for civil society and media representatives

nIt includes a broad public interest test for nearly all exemptions. This test will limit the application of exemptions where there is a greater public interest in the release of the information. Furthermore, many of the exemption also contain a specific public interest test too

nIt specifically overrides other existing laws that may conflict with it

nIt limits the restrictions on information that is over 10 years old.

There are a number of provisions that could be improved by Parliament as well, Article 19 says.

The draft Act limits the right to Sri Lankan citizens only. However, information, like other human rights, should be available to everyone. Many marginalised people or those displaced by conflict may not have citizenship or evidence of citizenship and would therefore be denied their right, it points out.

The exemptions on information relating to defence, national security and trade negotiations could be further limited with a requirement that the exemption only applies to the release of such information that is likely to cause serious harm. The long time limits could be reduced. Currently, officials are given 14 working days to decide whether to release the information, and a further 14 days to actually do so. Officials also have the ability to extend the deadline for a further 21 working days. In total, 49 working days, or 10 weeks, is a comparatively long time.

A law protecting the right to freedom of information was a key manifesto pledge of the current government. Article 19 reviewed an earlier draft of the bill in February and May 2015, and met with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in May to discuss the bill’s shortcomings as part of a post-election media freedom mission.