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Africa Freedom of Information
Centre Launched
LAGOS, NIGERIA: Friday,
September 28, 2007:
A network of Freedom of Information advocates in Africa
today announced the launch of a regional Centre in Lagos to
galvanize the campaign for the adoption of access to
information laws on the continent.
Known as the Africa
Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC), it will
provide technical assistance to civil society organizations
in the region involved in various stages of Freedom of
Information work, including the drafting of access to
information bills, advocacy for their passage into Law,
implementation, litigation and monitoring activities.
The decision to establish
the Centre was taken by
representatives of 30 civil society organisations from 16
countries, including
Nigeria,
Cameroon, Ghana, Togo Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, The
Gambia, Senegal, Benin Republic, Guinea,
Uganda and Kenya,
who met in
Lagos on September 22 and 23, 2006 to discuss ways to
promote the right of access to information held by public
authorities and share experiences on strategies for
advancing the adoption of laws that fully protect this
right.
In the “Lagos
Declaration on the Right of Access to Information”
adopted at the end of their meeting, the participating
organizations expressed concern that Africa was lagging
behind in the global drive towards the adoption of Freedom
of Information Laws and agreed to establish a regional
centre, where experiences garnered in the different
countries can be pooled and shared among civil society
activists and which will provide a platform for cooperation
and collaborative activities among civil society
organizations in the region.
The Centre is a project of
the Africa Freedom of Information Trust (AFIT), an
organization incorporated under Nigerian Laws and will be
run by a Steering Committee, comprising Ms Agnes Ebo’o,
Coordinator of Citizens
Governance Initiative (CGI) in Cameroon; Mr. Edetaen Ojo,
Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda (MRA) in Nigeria;
Ms Nana Oye Lithur, Regional Coordinator of the
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Africa Office
in Ghana; Mr. Gabriel Baglo, Director of the Africa Office
of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in
Senegal; Ms Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua,
FOI Project Coordinator at
the Kenya Section of the International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ-Kenya) and Mr.
Patrick Tumwine,
Advocacy and Networking Officer at
Human Rights Network, Uganda (HURINET-U).
Mr. Edetaen Ojo, who has
been designated Director of the Centre, said: “It is
unacceptable that out of about 75 countries around the world
that currently have Freedom of Information laws, Africa
accounts for only four of that number. We expect the Centre
to tip the scales in our favour by energizing ongoing
campaigns in a number of countries for the adoption of such
laws and launching fresh initiatives in other countries.”
Ms Agnes Ebo’o, CGI
Coordinator and AFIC Steering
Committee member, said: “The state of access to information
in Central Africa is particularly lamentable as not a single
country in the sub-region has a Freedom of Information Law
while there is hardly any initiative to adopt such a Law.
We hope that the Centre can help generate the much-needed
awareness in Central African countries about the right of
access to information and serve as a catalyst for reversing
this undesirable situation.”
The Centre will maintain a
physical library and a bi-lingual virtual resource centre
which will provide up-to-date information about the state of
access to information in all countries in the region and
contain the texts of Freedom of Information Bills and Laws
in various African countries as well as the texts of
standard-setting documents in Africa, other regions and
internationally.
The specific activities of
the Centre will also include:
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Assisting civil society
organizations in different countries to develop and
implement Freedom of Information advocacy, litigation
and monitoring strategies.
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Building the capacity
of civil society organizations engaged in Freedom of
Information work through training and awareness-raising
activities, to improve their skills in research,
legislative drafting, advocacy and lobbying, litigation,
monitoring, and fund-raising.
-
Providing support and
solidarity for national-level activities and efforts in
these areas;
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Building linkages and
networking Freedom of Information advocates across the
continent and, in particular, documenting Freedom of
Information advocacy strategies and experiences in
countries where advocacy has been successful and sharing
best practices with other countries;
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Establishing a database
on Freedom of Information in Africa and other parts of
the world to facilitate comparative knowledge and
experience; and
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Facilitating
collaborative action to introduce regional and
sub-regional mechanisms and standards on the right to
information in Africa.
For further information,
please contact:
Nigeria:
Ene Enonche
Cell: (+234)
(0)803 451 6807
E-mail:
ene@mediarightsagenda.org
Or
Senegal:
Louis Thomasi
Tel: +221-
842 01 42/43
Email:
ifjafrique@ifjafrique.org
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