Preparing civic monitors to make public information access easier

Details

06.11.2015

Kyiv, 6 November 2015 – A 2-day workshop on access to public information, organized by the Media Law Institute with the support of UNDP Ukraine, brought together civic activists from all over Ukraine to increase their capacity for making government information available to the public.

Amid the ongoing reforms that involve profound changes to increase transparency and accountability of the government, the workshop was aimed not only at providing participants with necessary training on ensuring access to information, but also at developing a network of peers for further collaboration.

 

Speakers thoroughly examined topics of the right of access to public information, protection of personal data, access to official, secret, or confidential information, appeals against refusals of access to information, and recent amendments to media legislation of Ukraine.

 

"It is important to remember that government officials usually perceive the law on access to information as interference in their daily work," said Ayder Khalilov, Coordinator of UNDP's Democratization and Human Rights Project. "This problem could be solved by educating both officials and the public."

 

Having already some hands-on experience in submitting access to information requests, the workshop's participants learned what needs to be done to improve efficiency of legislation on access to public information.

 

Participants noted that the most useful were case studies of the Ukrainian experience and history of the development of legislation on access to public information in Ukraine, as well as applying a "three-tier test" to specific cases.

 

"Each of the speakers who conducted training sessions was an experienced practitioner, motivating us to deepen our knowledge and build our capacities in gaining access to tightly controlled government information, which is critical in promoting social justice," said one of the participants.

 

The workshop was conducted within the Democratization and Human Rights Project (2013-2016), implemented by UNDP in Ukraine and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.