Lanka Business Online: Shri Lanka: Thursday, July 06, 2017.
Sri Lanka’s
Press Council Law, which is not consistent with the Right to Information (RTI)
Act, can hinder the media from publishing information obtained through RTI, a
research report said.
The report, a
collaboration between Verité Research and Democracy Reporting International,
highlights for instance that obtaining information pertaining to cabinet
decisions is permissible under the RTI Act.
Section 16 of
the Press Council Law, however, contains a series of prohibitions on publication
including prohibitions on documents sent to ministers, cabinet decisions and
proposals that are under consideration by ministries.
“The RTI Act
on the other hand contains no restrictions on the publication of information
received pursuant to RTI requests,” the report said.
“The
prohibitions on publication outlined in Press Council Law could disincentivise
the media from publishing information corresponding to these matters, thus
frustrating the purpose of the RTI Act.”
The report
calls on the government to repeal section 16 of the Press Council Law which is
necessary to prevent undue restriction on the use of information obtained
through the RTI Act in the public domain.
“At least two
weeks prior to a Bill being tabled in Cabinet for its approval, the draft Bill
should be disclosed to the public on the Ministry’s website,” the report
further recommended.
“A Bill
should not be tabled for Cabinet’s approval unless at least one public
consultation on the Bill has taken place.”
Contrary to
these recommendations, journalists say the Information Department has suddenly
stopped releasing cabinet papers to the media even after they received approval
from the cabinet.
The
surprising move came a month after President Maithripala Sirisena informed all
ministries that cabinet decisions and memoranda not falling within certain
categories under the RTI should be made available even to the public.
Information
Department Director General Ranga Kalansooriya, who is behind this move, has
said that this directive came from Cabinet Secretary.
Cabinet
Secretary Sumith Abeysinghe however has said that he did not issue any
directive, but it was up to the relevant ministry to decide, Sunday Times
reported.
The RTI Act
however creates obligations on public authorities to proactively disclose
information to the public even without a formal request.
The right to
information is one of the four areas to which member states must commit in
order to participate in the Open Government Partnership where Sri Lanka is a
member.
Article 19 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights holds that the right to freedom of
expression includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information.
Freedom of
information implies that public bodies publish and disseminate widely documents
of significant public interest which includes cabinet decisions.