Ramallah –6/12/12
The Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) has launched a campaign yesterday morning for the enactment of an Access to Information Law in Palestine. MADA are working in collaboration with a number of partner institutions in Palestine, including the Coalition to Defend Freedom of Expression, a number of civil society and international organizations. The coalition’s aim is to promote the law, to highlight its gravity and to emphasize the importance of enacting the law as soon as possible. The campaign involves advertisements and also meetings with decision-makers across the occupied Palestinian state, so as to recruit ongoing support until the law officially passes.
MADA hosted a national conference on 9th October 2012 entitled ”Access to Information in Palestine – the Reality and Prospects”, in collaboration with The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). Over one hundred researchers, journalists and interested representatives of official institutions and civil society organizations participated. A number of recommendations were made, primarily to emphasize the importance of developing a draft law on the right of access to information and the need to hasten the approval of such a law.
MADA’s General Director, Mousa Rimawi, stated that as a part of MADA’s follow up to the conference recommendations, it had delivered a memo to the Legal Affairs Department in the Council of Ministers. The memo argued for the inclusion of the draft law in the 2013 legislative plan. It explained the principal criteria and key elements in the legislation for freedom of access to information, according to international standards. The memo also described the impact of the adoption of this type of legislation on existing Palestinian laws and public bodies, including security sector institutions. In addition, the memo contained MADA’s recommendations for improving the current Palestinian Draft Law on Access to Information prior to its official enactment into law.
Rimawi stated that MADA have assembled a small committee of legal and media experts in order to rewrite a developed draft law. The new draft law will be based upon a draft that was submitted to the Legislative Council in 2005. It will take into consideration the national conference recommendations, the study prepared by MADA portraying the reality of access to information in Palestine, the recommendations offered by journalists who participated in workshops organized by MADA and DCAF throughout the year in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, AMAN Foundation amendments to the draft law submitted to the Legislative Council, and an Internews study. The new draft will be discussed and evaluated by an advisory committee comprising representatives from official institutions and civil society organizations, in addition to legal experts and representatives from the private sector.
Rimawi asserted that MADA efforts in this regard are a part of the organization’s tireless work to promote media freedoms in Palestine, to develop media legislation, and to contribute to the development of the Palestinian media.
The performance of the Palestinian media has been negatively affected during recent years due to persistent violations against journalists and media outlets and the absence of a law that ensures access to information by journalists and citizens alike. Journalists have routinely faced great difficulties in accessing the necessary information so as to undertake their work adequately and efficiently.
Rimawi welcomed cooperation with all public and private institutions in order to advance the bill. He thanked the institutions supporting the campaign, including the International Freedom of Expression Network (IFEX), the Open Society Foundation (OSF), Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the Foundation For the Future (FFF).
