Afghans have a general right to information under the Constitution. But a Free Acces to Information law, which has been sent to a joint parliamentary commission, would effectively acknowledge such a right.
The law which was drafted more than three years ago with inputs from civil society organisations, was approved in July this year by the lower house.
There are six chapters and 32 articles in the law. Articles 15, 16 and 17 turned out to be contentious. Following objections raised by some Members of Parliament (MPs) the first clause of Article 15, concerning human rights, was dropped. It permitted officials to withhold any information that they considered would jeopardise the life, property or honour of a person. But experts reckoned government institutions could misuse the first clause to withhold information from journalists. A majority of MPs voted to delete it from the law.
MPs also omitted clause four of Article 16, which appointed the minister of Culture and Information as head of the commission to supervise the implementation of the law. MPs ratified a clause that stated the head of the commission must have a minimum three years of work experience.
The law after it was approved in the lower house was sent to the upper house. But because there were objections raised in the lower house it has been sent to a joint commission of members from both houses of Parliament. Meanwhile civil society institutions like Integrity Watch Afghanistan are also trying to improve the law.
Swapping experiences
Meanwhile, an Afghan delegation travelled to the Maldives for the South Asia Regional Conference of Free Access to Information Advocates and Practitioners on August 27 and 28.
The conference was organised jointly by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and Transparency Maldives, the Maldives chapter of Transparency International, a global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption.
The implementation experience in countries where the law has been enacted – Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh – was shared, and contrasted. Countries that have recently passed their law – Maldives and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan – reported on the opportunities and challenges provided by it.
According to the CHRI website, practical suggestions were forwarded for strengthening advocacy efforts in countries where there is no law – Bhutan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma).
Country delegations included lawmakers and civil society activists. Among those in the Afghan delegation were Sayed Ikram Afzali, the head of Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA), Habib Muqbel, the advocacy officer at IWA, Khalil Ahmad, MP from Herat, Humaira Ayubi, MP from Farah province, Mawlawi Mahmood Daneshjo and Lailuma Ahmadi, both members of the National Assembly. The Killid Group (TKG) was the only media in the delegation.
On the opening day of the conference Ikram Afzali addressed the meeting on behalf of Afghan media and civil society organisations. He presented the progress made in enacting a Free Access to Information law, and the challenges it faces.
He said the law was seen as a “thorn in the eye” of some, and its passage was resisted by “some circles” that he chose not to name. The law has the backing of the Afghan media organisations and civil society institutions.
“The media and civil society institutions tried hard to finalise the draft of the law and send it to parliament for approval. Though parliament has approved the draft it is now before a joint committee of national assembly and parliament. We are hopeful that it will be finalised soon in a manner that meets the needs of a democratic society,” he said optimistically.
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