By Brendan Sweeney
Delegates at the event in Amman, Jordan which took place in the middle of December were told that Jordan is the only country in the Arab world which has legislation on access to information although other states are considering introducing similar laws.
For instance the Yemeni parliament will be discussing a final draft of a law on access to information in February 2010 after more than two years of campaigning by journalists and civil society activists.
However, passing laws is not enough. Implementing legislation is also necessary, and this process is often difficult and drawn out as the Jordanian case reveals. Two years after the new legislation was introduced in Jordan very few requests for access to information have actually been made.
In the following interview, Mu’ayyad Mehyar, Project Manager at DIHR for the Arab-European Dialogue, outlined his views on the importance of providing ordinary citizens in the Middle East and North Africa with increased access to information.
Q: What was your reaction to the event in Amman and the agenda for action?
A: I welcomed it wholeheartedly, and am very glad that Article 19 and International Media Support, which has close ties with DIHR, have organised it. There is a culture of secrecy in the Arab world that needs to be tackled and it is only by changing legislation and practices and by allowing ordinary people access to information that this culture of secrecy can be challenged.
Q: You are a Jordanian yourself; how do you regard the Jordanian legislation on access to information?
A: It is of course important that this law on access to information was passed in 2007, but I have to say that because of the restrictions imposed by other legislation and the lack of harmonization with other Jordanian laws that limit its implementation, it is not creating the transparency that is necessary.
Q: Can you give me some concrete examples of this?
A: Well, for instance, the new law is mainly used by journalists and not ordinary citizens, but even journalists are often denied information because the authorities say that either the matter is against what they call ‘public order’ or it is a security issue. But there are no criteria for what infringing ‘public order’ is. Another problem is that previously existing laws interfere with access to information; and this is why there needs to be a process of legislative harmonization so it is clear which law is relevant.
Q: What about other countries in the region?
A: Bahrain is preparing to discuss a private law on right of access to information, and a bill is being submitted by the Socialist Group in the Moroccan House of Representatives that aims to ensure the right of access to information, but this is still under review and in development. In Yemen there is a draft law that was proposed by the Islah Islamic Party members, but three years after it was proposed it has not yet been discussed in parliament.
Q: Do you think that Jordan should be doing more to lead the way on improving access to information in the region?
Yes absolutely. Since Jordan was the first initiator of the development of such a law in the Arab World this means that it has a special responsibility to provide best practice in this area, to test the efficacy of the law and its impact on the free flow of information. In this way other countries in the region can learn from the Jordanian experience and demand similar legislation.
Q: But the Jordanian experience has so far been disappointing?
Yes, to a considerable level. The lack of government transparency on privatization projects in Jordan has continued to increase so that instead of getting more disclosure and a widening of the availability of information on issues of concern to people, Jordanians are experiencing silence from officials and having to rely on rumours. Also, one has to ask why there were no guarantees to include all feedback from civil society and media when the law was being finalized? The result is that it did not meet the aspirations of journalists, trade unions, civil society organizations and human rights activists. I believe that the right to access information should be enjoyed by the whole public and not just be exclusively available to journalists as is often the case today. Access to information is connected not only to freedom of expression and publication, but it is also closely related to the whole system of human rights because it functions as a lever for other human related rights. It is also a prerequisite for development and good governance and decision-making processes.
6 January, 2010
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