Today.Az » Weird / Interesting » The World celebrates "Press Freedom Day"
03 May 2010 [11:35] - Today.Az
Recalling Article 19 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, which states that the fundamental right of freedom of
expression encompasses the freedom to “to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers,”
UNESCO’s celebration of World Press Freedom Day 2010 will highlight the
importance of freedom of information as an integral part of freedom of
expression and its contribution to democratic governance.
It will foster reflection and exchange of ideas on
freedom of information to advance empowerment, transparency,
accountability and the fight against corruption, as well as on the key
obstacles that the effective exercise of the right to know faces in
today’s digitalized world.
The occasion will also serve to call on
member states to reaffirm and implement their international commitments
to guarantee and promote freedom of information and to remind civil
society organizations, other relevant stakeholders, and the news media
in particular, of their central part in furthering it.
UNESCO is the only UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom
of expression and its corollary, freedom of the press. The UNESCO
Constitution calls on the organization to foster the “free exchange of
ideas and knowledge” and the “free flow of ideas by word and image.”
Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are thus among the
guiding principles of UNESCO, and freedom of information may be deemed
to be part and parcel of the Organization’s core mandate to support
them.
Democratic participation depends on people who are well-informed,
this being a pre-condition for their effective monitoring and
assessment of their leaders’ performance, as well as for their
meaningful engagement in public debate and decision-making processes
that impact their lives. Freedom of information therefore represents an
important instrument for the public to hold government and other actors
accountable, and contributes to deter secretiveness, corrupt practices
and wrong doing. Better information flows can also enhance government
efficiency and responsiveness, while strengthening citizens’ trust in
those who govern them. Freedom of information is often associated with
well-functioning markets and improvements in investment climates. For
all the above reasons, it has been increasingly acknowledged as a key
to democracy and socio-economic development.
Freedom of information may be interpreted narrowly as the right to
access information held by public bodies or, more broadly, as including
access to and circulation of information held by other actors. It is
intrinsically linked to the basic human right of freedom of expression.
Freedom of information is therefore also fundamentally connected to
press freedom, representing a crucial element to enable media to
strengthen democratization, good governance and human development
through its roles as a “watch-dog over the abuse of power (promoting
accountability and transparency), as a civic forum for political debate
(facilitating informed electoral choices), and as an agenda-setter for
policymakers (strengthening government responsiveness to social
problems)”. In turn, complete realization of the right to know cannot
take place without a free, independent, plural, ethical and
professional press.
The notion of freedom of information was recognized by the United
Nations as early as in 1946, and has long been enshrined as part of the
basic human right of freedom of expression in major international
instruments like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the American
Convention on Human Rights. More than two centuries have passed since
adoption of the first freedom of information (FOI) law.
There has much
more recently been an unparalleled increase in the international
recognition of freedom of information as a right included under freedom
of expression, thoroughly addressed in the revised edition of Toby
Mendel’s book Freedom of Information: A Comparative Legal Survey and in his regionally focused contribution, The right to information in Latin America: A comparative legal survey.
While in 1990 there were 13 countries with national FOI laws, currently
this legislation exists in more than 80, with another 20 to 30
countries actively considering its introduction.
The number of national
constitutions and High Court rulings guaranteeing freedom of
information has also grown. At the global and regional levels, an
increasing body of declarations, treaties and jurisprudence has
specifically alluded to freedom of information as a fundamental
corollary of freedom of expression.
Despite significant progress and emergence of a world community of
advocates for freedom of information, there are still many factors
constraining advance toward fully achieving its promise to empower
individuals and further accountability, transparency and the fight
against corruption. This paper reviews some of the main issues and
challenges, stressing the contribution of traditional news media and
information and communication technologies (ICTs) in facing them.
/Portal.unesco.org/
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