A spirited discussion is under way over whether Sept 28, a day that for nine years has been called “Right to Know Day,” should be renamed as “Right to Information Day.”
The issue has arisen following a declaration, passed at a major conference in South Africa, which urges the United Nations to declare a “Right to Information Day.” (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
Among other things, the African Platform on Access to Information Declaration adopted at the Pan African Conference on Access to Information held Sept. 17-19 in Cape Town, South Africa 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;
According to attendees, the word “information” was intentionally substituted for “know” during the drafting of the declaration. UNESCO officials reportedly preferred “Access to Information Day,” but civil society groups insisted on beginning with “Right” to emphasize that access to information is a UN-decreed human right.
The subsequent debate primarily concerns preferences over information vs. know.
However, changing the date of celebration also has been proposed.
Roots of RTK Day
Those who prefer “know” stress continuity. Right to Know Day has been observed internationally since 2003. The idea arose at an international civil society meeting on Sept. 28, 2002, in Sofia, Bulgaria, which also lead to the establishment of the Freedom of Information Advocates Network.
The discussion over the name was prompted by Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe and a participant in the Sofia meeting, in a Nov. 6 posting on an 800-person listserve for the FOIAnet community.
The reaction titled toward “know” with some expressions of ambivalence.
“Know” side advocates, besides seeing value in preserving the existing “brand” of the RTK Day, argued that “know” is a more meaningful and encompassing term. The ultimate value of dispensing information is to enhance a right to know, it was said. The obligation of governments is not just to dispense raw information, said one contributor, but also to provide it in useable formats with context.
“Information” proponents, however, called “know” ambiguous. Getting the information is key, one stated, and what happens afterward is up to the individual. They also noted that the right to information is widely referenced in international official context.
Most commenters believe that UN endorsement would be positive, especially if resources followed, though some lamented having RTK Day distanced from its civil society roots.
One person objected that “neither the right to information nor the right to know is enough!” The acquisition of information is only one part of social change and must be accompanied by adequate participatory systems and accountability, a troika known in the environmental movement as “environmental democracy.” She urged the right to information movement to go beyond its traditional scope, but did not suggest a new day name.
New Date Also Debated
Some suggestions for an alternate date have surfaced, notably Dec. 2, the date of the adoption of the first freedom of information law, in Sweden, in 1766.
It was also noted as a conflict that Dec. 2 is close to the annual Human Rights Week is held every year to coincide with the anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on Dec. 10, 1948. World Aids Day is Dec. 11 and the International Day for the Disabled is Dec. 3.
The discussion was aided poetically by a contributor who quoted T S Eliot, in his 1934 Choruses from The Rock.
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
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