Seven pro-transparency groups Aug. 10 urged governments to include specific commitments to the free flow of information as they review the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) this September.
The letter to top United Nations officials was sent by ARTICLE 19, Access Info, the Carter Center, CIVICUS, the International Budget Partnership, Publish What You Fund and Transparency International.
The UN on Sept. 20-22 will be holding a High Level Plenary Meeting to examine progress made towards achieving the MDGs and to set out a roadmap for the final five years of the MDG process.
The letter sets out seven suggestions for expanding the current MDG outcome indicators and the so-called “zero draft” to be considered at the September meeting in New York, neither of which currently include transparency components.
In summary, the groups proposed:
1. A clear and unequivocal commitment on the part of the international community to access to information and transparency as essential to the achievement of the MDGs, in the spirit of the Millennium Declaration.
2. Specific requirements for donor and recipient countries to provide timely, credible, disaggregated information on public resources expended on achieving the MDGs.
3. Effective implementation and strengthening of access to information laws and other transparency measures adopted by governments and international financial institutions.
4. Acknowledgement of the digital divide and the need to create equitable and universal access to information for marginalised and vulnerable groups.
5. Effective implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption and adoption of, and compliance with, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
6. Effective measures to make all aid information available and accessible. All donor countries should join the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).
7. Adoption and implementation of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, and of the UNEP’s Guidelines for the development of national legislation on access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters.
Filed under: IFTI Watch