Right to Information after two decades of struggle

After almost 20 years of unprecedented attempts, people in Sri Lanka will savour their right for information once Parliament approves the Right to Information (RTI) bill over the next two days which will empower the citizens to promote transparency and accountability in the country. 

RTI will make citizen informed and is better equipped to keep necessary vigil on the instruments of governance and make the Government more accountable to the governed. 

As a keen and prominent advocator for Right to Information (RTI) laws in the country, Transparency International Sri Lanka along with Citizens for Right to Information is grateful to the Government of Sri Lanka for making full commitment to enact the much-awaited RTI bill in Sri Lanka. 

Enacting Right to Information legislatives in Sri Lanka was first mooted in 1996 through the R.K.W. Guneskara Commission and TISL is glad that after almost 20 years legislation for RTI will be in place soon. Throughout this period Parliamentarians, previous governments, professional and civil society activists struggle hard to established RTI laws in the country.  The first Right to Information legislation in the world was passed in 1766 when Sweden passed her Freedom of the Press Act.

The RTI Act will force any public authority to make sure that the citizens are enlightened about relevant procedures or decisions that could affect them. Hence it guarantees citizens access to information from all public authorities unless its information that can be damaging towards the security of the country. Right to Information laws and policies create mechanisms whereby an individual can access information that may have an impact on them, in order to meaningfully exercise other rights.

Right to Information (RTI) laws and policies encourage governments to adopt a “right-to-know” approach, in the interests of both the holder of the information and the citizen, where as much information as possible is automatically published. 

Citizens for Right to Information wishes to state that the Government must be credited for consulting civil society and improving the bill and for referring it to all the provincial councils. However, Citizens for Right to Information requests the Government not to water down the bill at the second and third reading in Parliament and expect at the very least for Government to pass it in its current form as this right is recognised in the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.