Democracy can’t sustain without right to information, freedom of speech: Irene Khan

UN special rapporteur Irene Khan said development is not possible without the right to information and freedom of expression while democracy cannot sustain without these two things.

Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, said this while speaking as chief guest at the national seminar on 'Advancing accountability and transparency through Right to Information' at the Agargaon Tourism Corporation Auditorium in the capital on Wednesday morning.

Research Initiatives Bangladesh (RIB) organised the seminar. The organisation is working to advance the RTI act.

RIB did field research in different areas of the country for the last one year and two months. The result of this research was presented at the national seminar.

Irene Khan said the right to information is important for the sake of advancement of empowerment of people, human rights, gender equality, education, health, prevention of corruption and environmental issues.

She stated that it has been seen that the law gives people the right to access information, but the government withholds it. Many pretexts such as personal or official privacy and state security are used to block people's access to information.

In addition to the Right to Information Act, various other laws and regulations are enacted in various fields that give priority to 'privacy' and 'security'. As a result, the people get deprived of information, Irene added.

Irene Khan said a new phase of reform has been ushered in Bangladesh after political changeover through anti-discrimination movement. As a result, a chance has come to take RTI to the next stage.

Transparency International Bangladesh’s (TIB) executive director Iftekharuzzaman said the information commission had some initial success but it failed to do its duty. The organisation is still controlled by bureaucrats.

He said the mentality of information commission officials and other government officials has to be changed.

RIB’s project manager Ruhi Naz read out the key note paper in the seminar.

The research was conducted in six upazilas of Nilphamari, Dinajpur and Moulvibazar districts between August last year and September this year. A total of 1591 applications were made seeking information under RTI. Of the applications, a total 893 applicants received the information they sought. Around 2600 people took part in the research.

The paper made recommendations to encourage people to increase the use of the RTI Act, making government officials more attentive to the act and making the commission more people-friendly.

Zakir Hossain, chief executive of the Citizen's Initiative and researcher and rights activist Rezaur Rahman discussed in the keynote speech.

RIB’s executive director Meghna Guhathakurta presided over and moderated the seminar.