Participants in a December National Workshop on Access to Information in Cambodia issued a statement praising the government’s commitment to develop an Access to Information Law with the Ministry of Information taking the lead role in the process.
The 191 participants also drew attention to a variety of transparency problems.
Regarding the commitment to develop a law, the statement says:
We appreciate the Government’s decision to engage all stakeholders in consultation throughout the legislative drafting process and particularly appreciate that the Government has made a clear statement that “The Law belongs to everybody.” We also welcome the Ministry of Information’s initiative to create an online mechanism to collect inputs and comments from the public on the draft law.
We note with appreciation that the first meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee for Drafting the Access to Information Law, which was called and led by the Ministry of Information, constitutes an important sign of progress in the drafting process of the Access to Information Law.
However it was also noted throughout the two-day workshop that inadequate information and access to information is a continuing cause for concern, and has contributed to many problems and disputes across the country, from the national level down to the sub-national level.
The statement says that land management, “which operates under a very progressive law, has experienced a growing number of problems” because of inadequate information.
“Cambodia has still not developed a predominant culture of public information disclosure,” according to the statement.
It continues:
Many authorities are still either reluctant or unable to disclose information adequately, although their legal roles and responsibilities require them to do so. This occurs for a number of reasons including lack of resources, inadequate capacity of government institutions, lack of effective information disclosure mechanisms and uncertainty among governmental institutions about what constitutes classified information. Immediate enactment of an Access to Information Law is, therefore, a must.
The groups made a series of recommendations:
- To save time and to be responsive to the urgent needs, we would like to recommend that the Royal Government, and particularly the Ministry of Information, who is taking the lead in the drafting of the Access to Information Law, utilize to its utmost all the existing data and resources, including those collected and compiled by civil society for the legislation
- To ensure that the Access to Information Law complies fully with the spirit of the Constitution and international legal principles, especially Article 19 of United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the right to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.”
- Pending the enactment of the Access to Information Law, all institutions including the Senate, the National Assembly, the Judiciary, Government agencies and offices, private firms, educational institutions, media, civil society and communities shall uphold the enforcement of the existing relevant legal instruments pertaining to all sectors and areas. Also, information related to all legislation and policy drafting, such as those of cyber crime, and Non-Government Organizations and Associations, must also be made available to the public.
- The Access to Information Law must consider prescribing mechanisms and/or approaches through which people of different backgrounds and status, especially the most vulnerable groups such as women, children, disabled, ethnic minorities can access the information
- The Access to Information Law must apply to all public institutions, sectors and areas such as environment, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, land, natural resources, budgets, commerce, economy and finance, and social and cultural sectors
- The Ministry of Information should develop a clear action plan for the Access to Information Law drafting process with clear milestones and benchmarks, so that civil society and the public can meaningfully contribute their comments and/or inputs
- Institutional capacity building for public institutions and development of necessary mechanisms to ensure that the Cambodian people can access all public information.
- Capacity building for public officials in producing and disseminating information
- Protection of all citizens who release or disclose truthful information or information that serves the public interest. (Whistleblower protection).
- Promotion of public awareness of Access to Information and encouragement of citizens accessing public information relevant to their livelihoods.
- Creation of a more favorable environment for citizen participation in the process of decentralization reforms and Cambodian national development.
The statement was issued by the Access to Information Working Group and the Workshop Organizing committee whos emmebrs included the Advocacy and Policy Institute, NGO Access to Information Working Group, NGO Forum on Cambodia, Cooperation Committee for Cambodia, Working Group for Partnership in Decentralisation, Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, Cambodian Disable People’s Organization, Cambodia Centre for Human Rights, Transparency International Cambodia and Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency.
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