RTI & Developing World

RTI & Developing World Presentation byShri A.N. Tiwari, Central Information Commissioner

RTI & Developing World Limitations: RTI is a relatively recent-phenomenon. Not enough research material on RTI in Developing Countries. Developing Countries are extremely diverse in several respects  socio-economic condition, constitutional status and political systems, culture, history and state of law and order, etc. This makes any generalization difficult. Approach to RTI has not been uniform in countries that have RTI. (Eg. Reasons for adopting RTI are widely varied) Evolution of RTI in these countries since adoption of the Act has been varied.

RTI & Developing World What are Developing Countries? • Variously described • Global South • Emerging Markets • Middle and Least Developed Countries, etc. • Also known as Third World Countries • While “Developed Countries” is essentially an economic phenomenon, “Developing Countries” is a Political description.

RTI & Developing World What are Developing Countries? (Contd.) • Political Culture and social and economic conditions in these countries are varied. Approach to democracy is varied. Quite a few of these are democratic in a formal sense only. There is covert authoritarianism in quite a few of them. • Comprise 4/5 of world’s over 6.79 Billion population. Mostly poor and struggling.

RTI & Developing World What are Developing Countries? (Contd. 2) • People in many of these countries are mal-governed. Most have a colonial past and several have retained colonial administration after independence. There is pronounced reflex towards secrecy in administration in most Developing Countries.

RTI & Developing World RTI as adopted by Developing Countries Courtesy : World Bank & IMF Reports

RTI & Developing World Least Developed Countries & RTI

RTI & Developing World Democracy in Developing Countries:

RTI & Developing World Democracy in Developing Countries (Contd.) • A majority of Developing Countries which have RTI are Democracies. • Approach to RTI as a rights-driven instrument differs from democracies to single party ruled States, authoritarian States and covert authoritarian States. • Evolution of RTI regimes in democratic countries and not-so-democratic countries is markedly different. • Even when Countries are signatories to human rights charter, those with single party rule or authoritarian regimes look upon RTI more as Transparency in governance than as right. RTI, for them, is more “access to information” than “right to information”.

RTI & Developing World Progress of RTI in Developing Countries: • In 1990, only 12 countries had RTI  Mostly in the Developed World. • So far, over 80 countries have enacted RTI Laws. • From 1990 till now, 68 countries have joined the list of countries with RTI. Of which, 55 were Developing Countries. • Only 1/5th of World’s population generally has positive conditions for RTI. The principal worry of these vast number of people in Least Developed Countries (LDCs), is a way to live  access to food and potable water. • 1990 was a watershed in world history marked by collapse of Soviet Union and bringing down of Berlin Wall, when democracy was said to “break out”.

RTI & Developing World Progress of RTI in Developing Countries: • Since 1990s, the right to information has acquired a vital importance in those countries that have suffered dictatorships and severe human rights violation. • An example is South Africa’s Access to Information Law, which became critical to the country’s transition from the apartheid regime to the post apartheid Democratic set–up. South Africa’s experience demonstrated that the presence of right to information law reinforces the policy of healing touch followed by post authoritarian governments. • Push for RTI in States gained steam with democracy’s world-wide acceptance as the principal mode of governance. Developing Countries were slow to switch over.

RTI & Developing World Progress of RTI in Developing Countries: (Contd.) • Further steam was gained by the RTI movement by multilateral and bilateral funding institutions actively promoting its cause. • International rating agencies gave high ratings to countries with RTI Laws in their transparency, integrity and governance indices. • Civil Society institutions and advocacy groups played a role in nudging Governments towards RTI Laws. • Countries which didn’t have democratic forms of Governments  Single Party ruled or covertly authoritarian  also adopted Transparency Laws. • In spite of this push, a majority of the countries in Africa & Asia are still without RTI Laws. Some of these countries like those in North Africa, are major States and international players. • In Asia, 18 out of countries (42%) have RTI Laws; while their number for Africa is 8 out of 61 countries (15%) and 10 out of 14 (71%) for Latin America.

RTI & Developing World Why Developing World is slow to adopt or promote RTI? • Slow democratization. • Covert authoritarianism or authoritarian regimes usually backed by Armed Forces. • Limited participation in globalization process. • Low Literacy Rates  especially in Least Developed Countries  Out of 50 LDCs which are UN Members, only 3 have RTI Laws. • Absence of Civil Society or Civil Society Movements. • Inadequate or absent administrative culture  exploitative regimes. Several African States have endured long civil strife and internecine warfare.

RTI & Developing World • Most Developing Countries practice democracy in some form or the other, but most have not adopted RTI Legislation. Latin America is an exception though. • In many Developing Countries, the Executive enjoys vast discretionary powers, frequently backed by Armed Forces. There is apprehension that RTI Laws would dilute those powers or lead to irksome exposes. • Developing Countries figure low on global integrity and corruption indices. Executive authority there are not too keen on transparency for obvious reasons.

RTI & Developing World • Most such countries do not face, or are immune to, international pressure for internal reforms. Are saddled with exploitative regimes  frequently supported by powerful external forces keen on exploiting primary produces  minerals, etc.  of such countries at cheap rates. • Poor international mechanism to enforce commitments accepted by States through accession to covenants on human rights  including Right to Information. • Poor countries consider RTI expensive. Processing cost of an RTI-petition is around 20 to 40 US dollars, which is considered high and even unaffordable.

RTI & Developing World • Transparency guarantees linkage to the charter of freedoms, paradoxically, stymied spread of Transparency Culture in Developing Countries. • China’s economic success has engendered a debate regarding whether democracy is necessary to promote welfare. • Democracy is essential, but not a necessary condition for information access laws.

RTI & Developing World Digital Divide: • There is pronounced “Digital Divide” between Developed and Developing World including LDCs. • Access to electronic information  radio, television or internet  is still poor in Developing Countries, especially in Least Developed Countries. • By end-2004, 14% of world population was using Internet. Over half the population in Developed Countries had access to internet, compared to 7% in Developing Countries, and less than 1% in 50 or so LDCs. • The Millennium Development Goals (2006) highlighted that Digital Divide was working against spread of RTI in Developing Countries and its strengthening in those countries that already had it.

RTI & Developing World Digital Divide (Contd.): • Ministerial declaration of ECOSOC also emphasized the need for bridging the Digital Divide to strengthen transparency guarantees. • Developing Countries are frequently fearful of free information  especially about trans-border information, which is considered destabilizing. Their mind-set translates into tightfisted approach to domestic information as well. • It is a throwback on the 70s when guided by what was called the New Information Order, developing countries enacted laws to monopolise information and make its dissemination or disclosure extremely difficult. Official Secrets Act became pervasive. • These laws prevented Developing Countries from taking full advantage of Digital Revolution.

RTI & Developing World What can be done ? • Transparency in governance needs to be promoted as a virtue in itself  a symptom of contemporaneousness of government — rather than a by-product of basic human rights. • If we accept that a full democracy is a pre-condition for the right to information, it can be also said that Developing Countries do not have the chance to use the right to information wholly yet. • Mere adherence to transparency through extensive voluntary disclosure by administration is sufficient to lead to substantial improvements in governance.

RTI & Developing World What can be done (Contd.)? • Transparency will promote Trust and Social Capital by lowering  if not eliminating  the barriers between the government and the governed. • It will prevent rent-seeking and myriad forms of government corruption that impair optimal utilization of resources to promote welfare. • Transparency is imperative because accurate and reliable information held by Government regarding such matters as ecology and environment, natural resources and their use, poverty and related data, can play crucial role in devising correct strategies for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. • Transparency enables Developing States  democratic or not  to appeal attractive to private investment capital seeking world-wide investment avenues for “impact finance” in areas such as poverty alleviation, literacy and education, healthcare, infant mortality, nutrition, environment and so on.

RTI & Developing World What can be done ? (Contd.) • Countries may be enthused to commit themselves to progressively higher levels of transparency in administration, if they are not required to simultaneously prove their democratic credentials, which is a larger and, a lot more complex issue. • It may be necessary to create a frame-work of minimum transparency through a global covenant for all States to commit to (on the lines of the Millennium Goals) over a defined time-frame. • Multilateral and, even bilateral aid, should be tied to States adhering to the normative goals  irrespective of the type of regimes they have.

RTI & Developing World What can be done ? (Contd.) • Strategically, it may help if transparency guarantees are located within domestic arrangement for free flow of all manner of information  radio, television, press and so on. • Selective approach to information as a right may lead to enactment of hollow laws, with no more than mere symbolic value, and no real impact. Cause of transparency will suffer. Governments should come out with General National Information Access Policies. • It is also time for examining if private and voluntary sectors be  or can they be  kept out of citizens’ transparency rights. • It has assumed urgency as progressive privatization is ceding large areas of action earlier with Governments to private players. PPPs are the new trend.

RTI & Developing World What can be done ? (Contd.) • A phenomenon which has manifested in Developed Country and is now manifesting in Developing Countries is Asymmetric information. • The few those have the wherewithal to access information outpace those not so well endowed. This needs policy-attention!!

RTI & Developing World Certain RTI Regimes in Developing Countries: Definition of Information:

RTI & Developing World Certain RTI Regimes in Developing Countries: Time-limit for Disclosure:

RTI & Developing World Certain RTI Regimes in Developing Countries: Time Period for Disclosure:

RTI & Developing World Certain RTI Regimes in Developing Countries: System of Filing Petition and Appeal:

RTI & Developing World Certain RTI Regimes in Developing Countries: Penalty provisions in the Statute:

RTI & Developing World