Access to Information should be central to the Post-2015 Development Framework
On Monday 9th December IFLA launched a joint statement on the role access to information can play in the post-2015 development framework. The statement, prepared in association with Article 19, Development Initiatives, CIVICUS and Beyond Access, is intended to start a discussion on including access to information as a central pillar of the framework, and outlines possible metrics to measure progress.
To launch the statement IFLA chaired a side-event at the 6th meeting of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations in New York. Speakers Philip Alston (ex-Special Adviser to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Millennium Development Goals), Minerva Novero-Belec (Policy Specialist for e-Governance, Access to Information and ICT for Development at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)) and Paula Martins (Co-ordinator, Article 19 Brazil) made short presentations on how information supports development, and the political backdrop to advocating for the issue within the UN.
The statement generated great interest and IFLA will work with its partners to incorporate feedback into our future work at the UN, on both the post-2015 and WSIS Review processes. The next meeting of the Open Working Group is in January 2014.