South Asia Media Commission ‘shocked’ at defeat of RTI Bill

The South Asia Media Commission (SAMC) on Wednesday expressed shock and dismay at Sri Lanka’s Parliament voting down a bill for the enactment of a Right to Information law for the country.

Though Sri Lanka has ratified the International Convention on Civil & Political Rights, which includes the Right to Information, the country is yet to incorporate it into a domestic law, the Lahore, Pakistan, based Media Commission points out. The SAMC is a regional media rights watchdog affiliated to the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA).

“In the light of Sri Lanka’s ratification of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the previous agreement with all other SAARC member states about the need for such legislation and the formulation of this bill several years ago with the stated intention of the then government to legislate, today’s defeat of the RTI bill is a highly retrogressive step for Sri Lanka,” said the statement issued jointly by SAMC President Kumar Ketkar and Secretary General Najam Sethi.

The RTI law in Sri Lanka was first suggested in the early 1990s. In 2003, the bill was drafted but not passed as a result of the change in government. Then it was presented as an individual Bill by an opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Karu Jayasuriya and withdrawn on a request made by the government with a pledge that it would present a Right to Information Act shortly. Due to the government's failure to present such a piece of legislation, the Bill was presented for the second time on Tuesday. Sri Lanka’s ruling party lawmakers defeated the bill with a majority of 63 votes.

“The bill, drafted and kept in abeyance for several years without any action for enactment by successive governments, has been summarily rejected without even proposing any amendments. People’s right to information is an integral part of a functioning democracy. Given the previous commitments to such legislation by the Government of Sri Lanka as well as the general national political leadership of the country, this abrupt rejection of legislation is unacceptable,” the SAMC leaders said.

“We join Sri Lanka’s civil society in questioning the motive and rationale for the outright and sudden rejection of this vital legislation. Absence of the Right to Information law means absence of transparency. This prevents effective people’s participation in law and policy making processes. Consensual deliberations at the regional SAARC level had given much hope to the media people and human rights activists in the region. But those hopes have been dashed,” they said.

Sri Lanka has no legislation guaranteeing access to official information. A number of statutes limit access to information either directly or by imposing severe and unwarranted restrictions on media freedom. Ninety countries worldwide including four in the South Asian region, namely, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh, have implemented the RTI law.