Dear FOIAnet colleagues
I am writing to ask what people think about a possible change in the name of International Right to Know Day to International Right to Information Day ?? In Cape Town meeting on African Platform on Access to Information on 19 September 2011 (see here http://www.pacaia.org/index.php?option=com_content <http://www.pacaia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemi d=120> &view=article&id=57&Itemid=120 and the final declaration here: http://www.pacaia.org/images/pdf/apai%20final.pdf) there was a proposal to have the day recognised formally by the UN but with a name change: (Preamble) Acknowledging that civil society organisations and government bodies around the world have adopted 28 September as International Right to Know Day; (Call to Action) In light of the above, the Conference calls on: UNESCO to: Endorse, through its General Conference, the "African Platform on Access to Information" and the proclamation of 28 September as International Right to Information Day, also recommending the endorsement of this International Day by the United Nations General Assembly, as a date to raise awareness about the importance of the right of access to information throughout the world; I have been told by civil society groups who were there that there was some divergence of opinion with some suggesting that UNESCO propose a day which aligns more closely with the framing of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but others acknowledging the "high brand value" that International Right to Know Day has gained in the last 9 years. One delegate actually thought that the proposal was to keep the Right to Know Day title until I pointed out that this wasn't the case in the final declaration. It's great to have official support for the day and that's an achievement in itself, so it may not matter too much [personally I am against it but I might just be biased by having being involved in choosing the original name], but it seems to me that this is something that the community which created International Right to Know Day should be consulted about. So, your opinions would be very welcome. Linked to that: how about a 10th Anniversary meeting of the founding of FOIAnet for 28 September 2012? To celebrate all this community has achieved in the past 10 years: many advances including 42 new laws and recognition of the right of access to information by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee, the many many successes promoting transparency in practice at the national level, as well as advances in IGO transparency. The founding meeting was held in Sofia (which of course means "Wisdom" in Greek). Time to return there for an anniversary meeting? If we start planning now we could try to raise the funds. Maybe we would want to have it just before/after not to clash with national activities. Best, Helen _________________________ Helen Darbishire, Executive Director Access Info Europe, <http://www.access-info.org/> www.access-info.org mobile tel: + 34 667 685 319 Skype: helen_darbishire Twitter: @Access_Info, @helen_access To help Access Info Europe promote EU transparency in 2011, <http://www.access-info.org/support-us#EU%20Transparency%20donation> click here -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.foiadvocates.info/private.cgi/foianet-foiadvocates.info/attachments/20111106/4ab112d4/attachment.htm>
