(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is a 20 August 2004 ARTICLE 19 press release: PARLIAMENTARIANS CALL FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT A group of Commonwealth parliamentarians meeting recently in Accra, Ghana, adopted a very progressive set of Recommendations for Transparent Governance (1). A group of Commonwealth parliamentarians, meeting in July under the auspices of the Commonwealth Parliamentary […]
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is a 20 August 2004 ARTICLE 19 press release:
PARLIAMENTARIANS CALL FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT
A group of Commonwealth parliamentarians meeting recently in Accra, Ghana, adopted a very progressive set of Recommendations for Transparent Governance (1).
A group of Commonwealth parliamentarians, meeting in July under the auspices of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the World Bank Institute, adopted a set of Recommendations for Transparent Governance. The Recommendations address a wide range of important measures to be taken to promote access to information and openness more generally. Some of the key Recommendations include the following:
– States should adopt legislation providing for a right to access information held by all public bodies, as well as for these bodies to actively publish key categories of information.
– Effective systems of record management should be put in place to ensure that the right of access may be implemented properly.
– Public education campaigns should be undertaken to ensure wide public awareness of the legislation.
– The whole regime should be overseen by an independent body.
The Recommendations also foresee an important role for parliament, including passing the legislation, and overseeing its implementation and the operations of the independent body. They also call for concrete measures to promote parliamentary openness, including by establishing a strong presumption that all parliamentary committee meetings are open to the public.
1. The Memorandum is available on the ARTICLE 19 website at: http://www.article19.org/docimages/1829.doc.
