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UNESCO is rethinking its policy guidelines on access to information at WSIS Forum 2022
The environment in which governments promote, produce, disseminate and use information in the public domain changed significantly, and UNESCO started to review the Policy Guidelines to reflect this changing environment in accessing information.
On 20 April 2022, UNESCO organized a virtual workshop within the WSIS Forum 2022 to review the Policy Guidelines and a number of experts suggested structural changes to the guidelines, but also an update of the content.
With these changes the guidelines will better correspond to the fast-moving environment of digitalization as a prevalent factor in managing crisis, fighting precarity and integrating the poorest population.
The importance for such Policy Guidelines to reflect online and offline multicultural and multilingual information in different formats was also highlighted so that public information is to all citizens, especially disadvantaged communities.
The new Policy Guidelines must reflect experiences of developing countries, which have shown that poorest marginalized communities are the ones who have most interest in accessing information.
The Policy Guidelines must also be embedded in a strong and clear legal framework on the right to access to information. In referring to the OHCHR report on Access to Information, Ms Ilaria Fevola highlighted the importance of inclusive laws and policies as it seeks to empower marginalized groups. The report is a source on provisions to take into account when assuring effective access to information.
Mr Paul Uhlir, one of the authors of the 2004 Policy Guidelines agreed that the new guidelines need significant adjustments to take into account the ever-changing access to information environment.
Since 2004, we have seen a drastic increase in the number of countries which enacted or adopted access to information laws, spanning from 40 countries to 135 nowadays. Moreover, the social and technological developments in Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and the rise of social and digital networks remain prominent areas to take into account when reviewing the Policy Guidelines.
The event was an opportunity for the experts to provide feedback on what needs to change in the Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Governmental Public Domain Information. The remarks will enable UNESCO to review the Policy Guidelines, open it up for further consultations and launch the guidelines during the International Day of Universal Access to Information in 2022. UNESCO advocates for access to information as a fundamental freedom and a key pillar in building inclusive knowledge societies.
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