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13 July 2016
Women in Bangladesh do not seek government information as often as men, according to community leaders and experts interviewed for a study conducted by Manusher Jonno Foundation and the Carter Center’s Global Access to Information Program. The report, “Women and the Right of Access to Information in Bangladesh,” is based primarily on interviews 128 community […]
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16 June 2016
By Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz The writers are Chairman, Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB) and Project Coordinator (RTI section) of RIB respectively. Their email is: rib@citech-bd.com. This article first appeared in The Daily Star on June 15and is reprinted with permission, Rezia Khatun, a 36-year-old woman, became destitute after her husband suddenly died. With three […]
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18 May 2016
By Dr. Shamsui Bari The writer is Chairman of Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB). This article, subtitled “Right to Information Act 2009: The role of media,” first appeared in The Daily Star. Media’s power to shape public opinion is succinctly captured in a story from Peru, dating back to the 1990s. Alberto Fujimori was the president of […]
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30 March 2016
By Saleemul Huq The author is Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development, Independent University, Bangladesh. This article originally appeared in Business on March 30. As Bangladesh and the world enters post-2015 era with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and Sendai Action Plan on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) – […]
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10 March 2016
The Secretariat of the Bangladesh parliament has rejected requests for the attendance records of the deputies of parliament. According to Section 7 (q) of the Right to Information Act, providing “information that may be prejudicial to the special rights of the House of the Nation” is not mandatory, according to the Secretariat, as reported by […]
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3 February 2016
By Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz The authors are Chairman, Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB) and Project Coordinator (RTI section) of RIB respectively. This article originally appeared in The Daily Star. Talking to citizen’s groups in different parts of the country recently, two things came out clearly. One, there is a slow but steady increase in […]
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22 October 2015
“Significant progress is taking place and there is reason for optimism,” report Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz in an article in The Daily Star based on their examination of decisions by the Information Commission over the past one year. “Of course, we were also disappointed by many shortfalls that prevail,” they added, but they highlighted “positive developments.” […]
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11 February 2015
By Muhammad Zamir The writer is a former Chief Information Commissioner and Ambassador. He is an analyst specializing in foreign affairs, right to information and good governance.?This commentary was published in the Financial Express. Enacted by the Government of Bangladesh in the first session of the 9th Parliament, the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2009 […]
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22 January 2015
A nongovernmental organization in Bangladesh has recommended reforming the exemption section in the 2009 Right to Information Act. The Management and Resource Development Initiative (MRDI) said section 7 of the RTI law should be changed to make it more favorable for the public. MRDI Executive Director Hasibur Rahman presented the recommendations to Chief Information Commissioner Mohammed […]
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7 January 2015
A report by the Asia Foundation on right to know laws in three Southeast Asian countries. (See FreedomInfo.org report.) The report includes an annex with case studies about the use of the laws. Reprinted below is the section on Bangladesh. Applying RTI in the Shrimp Sector Social Activities for the Environment (SAFE), a Bangladesh NGO, […]
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12 November 2014
Awareness of right to know laws in three Southeast Asian countries is very low and public officials report many obstacles to implementing the RTI laws, according to a new report by the Asia Foundation. The study was done in partnership with civil society organizations in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan, and with the foundation’s country office […]
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22 September 2014
An academic and a retired public servant have been named as members of the Bangladesh Information Commission. Nepal Chandra Sarkar, who served as the first secretary to the Commission when it was formed in 2009, but was elsewhere in government recently was one appointee. The other is Khurshida Begum Syed, a professor of government and […]
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21 August 2014
By Suchismita Goswami The author is Project Officer, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. This article appeared The Daily Star Aug. 21. Two out of three posts at the Bangladesh Information Commission are lying vacant for the past month. The government knew they were falling vacant when information commissioners Sadeka Halim and MA […]
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16 June 2014
Passage of a right to information law five years ago hasn’t been followed by a culture change within government or among citizens. Assessments of the law came at a forum sponsored by the information commission and bdnews24.com, described in a variety of news reports. “We are trapped in a culture of fear,” said Tahmina Rahman, […]
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15 April 2014
The implementation of Bangladesh’s 2009 right to information law is “still very slow,” according to a comprehensive “Country Diagnostic Analysis” that contains recommendations for improvement. The study, conducted by the Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI), examined many facets. The findings include: – public awareness of the law (low) – the role of the media […]
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5 August 2013
By Suchismita Goswami The writer is Project Officer, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. This article was published July 29 in The Daily Star. Bangladesh enacted its Right to Information Act in 2009. However more than three years following its enactment, very little is known about what the law means and what it […]
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20 July 2012
Efforts are being made to obtain public access to two reports sent by the World Bank to the Bangladesh government about possible corruption surrounding a major bridge project. Release of the reports is at the discretion of the government, which so far as declined to disclose them. Another World Bank report on the same project, […]
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14 May 2012
Sung to the tunes of traditional folk songs, new lyrics are being used to explain the right to information law in Bangladesh. Days of secrecy are long gone, Public officials are now under obligation, To ensure people’s right to information, Says the law of the nation The “Tathya Adhikarer Gaan” or “Songs on the Right […]
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10 February 2012
The High Court of Bangladesh on Feb. 8 upheld an Information Commission fine for a government official who refused to provide information under the 2009 Right to Information Act. The court rejecting a petition filed by a government official challenging the Commission’s decision to fine him Tk. 1,000 ($12). The ruling was hailed as the […]
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14 November 2011
By Robaet Ferdous and Jagaran Chakma Ferdous is an Associate Professor, Dhaka University and Chakma is a Staff Reporter of The Independent where this article first appeared on Oct. 29, 2011. Reprinted with permission. The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2009, was adopted in the first session of the Ninth Parliament on March 29, 2009. […]
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31 October 2011
By Muhammad Zamir Zami is Chief Information Commissioner, Information Commission, Bangladesh. He gave this talk Oct. 4 at the Ottawa, Canada, meeting of the International Conference of Information Commissioners. His original title is: “Limiting the limitations: Designing exemptions that balance both effective and accountable governance” I hope I am permitted to say that our meeting […]
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27 September 2011
Bangladesh: A new publication documents 15 RTI related stories in Bangladesh – The Power of Using the Right to Information Act in Bangladesh: Experiences from the Ground (PDF 1376 KB). This publication documents the experiences of NGOs working in the field and how the RTI Act has had an impact on individuals. Also, see a […]
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15 April 2011
By Sanjida Sobhan Coordinator, Manusher Jonno Foundation Perhaps the Right to Information Act, 2009 is one of the much talked about issues in Bangladesh after Nari o Sishu Nirjatan Domon Ain 2003 (songshodito) [Act for Suppression of Violence against Women and Children]. Demand for such Act came from every corner of the society like human […]
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4 April 2011
A new 16-person body, the South Asia Advisers on the Right to Information, was formed during a two-day long convention in Kathmundu, Nepal, from March 27- 29. Made up of chief information officers, RTI activists and others, the group will discuss “transparency law, norms for information commissions, and capacity building among government officials, media and […]
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18 February 2011
The Bangladesh Information Commission Feb. 15 held its first hearings on cases, one of many signs of activity under the 2009 law. The Information Commission completed hearings on five cases under the chairmanship of Chief Information Commissioner Muhammed Zamir. Promotion efforts are under way. In January, Grameenphone signed a memorandum of understanding with the Information […]
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4 August 2010
Bangladesh’s Chief Information Commissioner, Muhammad Zamir, has called for extending the 2009 Right to Know Act to cover all corporations. “Most of the corporate companies and giant financial institutions in the country remain out of the jurisdiction of the act. But people have the right to know about their activities and financial dealings. So the […]
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2 December 2009
The goal of strengthening the media as one way to fight corruption was adopted by the World Bank in 2006, but the promise has gone virtually unfulfilled, according to research by freedominfo.org.
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4 August 2006
Liberally sprinkled with references to “transparency,” the latest internal World Bank draft anticorruption strategy appears to follow through on President Paul Wolfowitz’s pledge to increase investment in the areas of media and freedom of information. While lacking in operational details, the “revised draft” of July 20, 2006, obtained by freedominfo.org, calls for a new stress […]
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22 March 2006
By Toby McIntosh Riding a wave of transparency, the idea of encouraging Freedom of Information (FOI) laws as part of the development agenda is gaining currency, but slowly. With research and case studies increasingly identifying transparency as a key tool in fighting corruption and facilitating development, more attention is being paid to the development of […]
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30 September 2004
The International Finance Corporation has increased the number of consultations it will hold on proposed disclosure and safeguard policy revisions after the outreach process came under criticism by activists as inadequate and rushed. The changes were announced just before the IFC held its first consultation, in Buenos Aires Sept. 27, where attendance was about half […]
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21 July 2004
Critics of the Asian Development Bank’s Proposed Disclosure Policy staged a walk-out of the ADB’s consultation in Bangalore, India, July 16, and issued a sharply critical statement in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The walk-out in Bangalore by civil society representatives came after they made a statement criticizing the procedures of the consultations as not representative, poorly planned […]
