In the name of Almighty Allah
Joint statement of CSHRN & Nai supporting open media in Afghanistan
Regarding the law of access to information
January 13, 2014
Kabul Afghanistan
Access to information is one of the main backgrounds of forming knowledgeable and responsible citizens and democratic political institutions and organizations.
The law of access to information strengthens the role of the citizens in state and nation-building and provides the ground for legacy of the political system.
The Civil Society & Human Rights Network of Afghanistan which is comprised of 129 member organizations, prepared the first draft of the law on access to information in constructive coordination and partnership with civil society institutions, experts and human rights activists, and carried out an extensive research and discussion about that in three analytical symposiums.
On the other hand, the draft law was observed and evaluated by academic and civil society organizations, media and other stakeholders.
Last year, ministry of information and culture expressed its interest on the draft law of access to information and supported its approval.
Based on the commitment of ministry of information and culture, a joint committee of evaluating and researching the draft law was created to comprehensively reevaluate the mentioned draft law.
The High Media Council also announced its support from the approval of the law on access to information and asked the government to actively pursue the process of ratifying the draft law.
The draft law on access to information has been presented to ministry of justice of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan by CSHRN and the ministry of information & culture.
The scheme was welcomed by civil society, political institutions, and Nai supporting open media in Afghanistan, Afghanistan’s National Journalists Union (ANJU), transparency watch of Afghanistan and the media of the country continuously advocate speeding up the process of legalizing the right of access to information via ratifying it as soon as possible.
Now, while we are on the verge of conducting presidential and provincial elections, approving the law of access to information is very important. The law requires both provincial and presidential candidates to provide their plans and programs openly and according to the principles of accountability to the citizens. This law reinforces the role of the media in tracking, monitoring, transparency and accountability of the government against the citizens.
Nai supporting open media in Afghanistan and the Civil Society & Human Rights Network of Afghanistan ask the government of Afghanistan to finalize the process of verification through the government agencies and hand it over to the national assembly for approval.
The Civil Society & Human Rights Network of Afghanistan and Nai supporting open media in Afghanistan urge all of the active human rights, political, economical and cultural institutions to initiate continues & constructive advocating for legalizing the Afghan citizens right of access to information.
Nai supporting open media in Afghanistan and CSHRN would like to ask the president of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to support this constructive process and order the executive and legislative bodies for speeding up their activities in order to legalize the right of access to information.
CSHRN and Nai supporting open media in Afghanistan want the Afghan media to conduct illustrative and awareness programs about the right of access to information.
CSHRN and Nai supporting open media in Afghanistan ask the national assembly to strengthen the process of legalizing the law of access to information and support Afghan citizens’ right of access to information; for that the national assembly is to leave for their winter holidays, therefore due to its urgency and utmost necessity to be applied during the upcoming elections, we request his Excellency the president to sign the draft law on access to information as a legislative decree, enact it and the remaining necessary steps will be passed after the commencement of new round of the national assembly.
In hope of securing the rights of access to information and realization of human rights in Afghanistan!