International Right to Know Day

September 28th is market in a great number of countries as the International Right to Know Day. The right of access of information is considered as one of the basic human rights in all of the democratic countries and is guaranteed, among others, by European Convention of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right emphasizes “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

The Law on Access of Information on the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina is introduced in the year 2000 and on the entity level in 2001. It was initiated by International Community, and it was the first set of this kind of laws in the area of former Yugoslavia.

The key obstacles for the implementation of the Law are still state institutions’ insufficient readiness to implement it, and citizens’ unfamiliarity with the rights the Law enables them.

In the last period, the most obvious example of the breach of the Law on Access of Information was the non-transparency in the privatization process, about which Transparency International BiH warned in several occasions. Non-transparency in this case left the door wide open for corruption and showed the lack of state institutions’ commitment for creating the democratic environment.

“All the relevant information, not only those concerning financial part of the privatization arrangement, but also those regarding the consequences for the budget, infrastructure, employment, training, health, and safety of the citizens, reporting and accounting scandals, environmental responsibility, contribution to local communities and influence on the economic development in general, must all be available to the public”, emphasized Srdjan Blagovcanin, TI BiH Executive Director.

“Without the adequate response to all of these issues, that can only be found in the privatization documentation, it can be assumed that the possible corruption linked with the existing acts is in place, which usually follows direct deals in this sector”, added Blagovcanin.

The question of free access of information is not just the question from the domain of theoretical possibilities of the realization of basic human rights, but it is also the principle on which the work of institutions in modern democratic societies is based on and it is important lever for the oversight of the institutions by the general public.