By Toby McIntosh
A report on “civil society space” prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) overstates the number of United Nations entities that have policies on access to information, excuses the gaps as caused by “capacity constraints” and makes a scant recommendation for improvement.
The OHCHR report (A/HRC/44/25) dated April 20, 2020, will formally be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in late June (dates still in flux). The covers many topics, particularly concerning participation by nongovernmental organizations, though it doesn’t discuss the value of open meetings and the frequency of closed meeting at UN entities. Three paragraphs in the 10-page document address freedom of information (FOI).
This is still somewhat noteworthy, because the subject of FOI at the UN itself is rarely brought up.
One exception to this silence came in an August 2017 report by David Kaye, a UN Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights, who advocated that all UN bodies should have FOI policies. Such policies lay out standards for the release of information and establish procedures for making requests and appealing denials.
Three out of five UN agencies, including the UN Secretariat and OCHCR, lack policies on access to information, according to an eyeonglobaltransparency.net survey in 2018. Of the 34 UN agencies examined, 14 have access policies, but 20 do not (59 percent). No new policies have been adopted since then. See 2018 EYE article.
Mapping Confirms EYE Tally
The FOI section of the OCHCR report begins with the claim that “the majority of United Nations entities have policies on access to information,” but does not substantiate the conclusion except by referencing a “mapping.”
The report continues, “However, based on the mapping, it was found that, less than one third of entities clearly define any exceptions to such access and had mechanisms for civil society to contest restrictions.”
This is a significant caveat because the lack of exemptions or appeal mechanisms essentially means there is no access policy as commonly understood, undercutting the assertion that “a majority” of UN entities have FOI policies.
So in terms of how many UN agencies have actual access policies, the OCHCR finds that less than one-third do. This roughly parallels EYE’s research that about 40 percent have access policies.
EYE has requested that OCHCR provide details on its mapping.
The third FOI related paragraph in the report notes a few UN agencies that have FOI policies. It says:
Some United Nations entities – including the International Labour Organization, UNDP, UNEP, UNFPA, the World Bank and the World Food Programme – have publicly available policies with presumptions in favour of disclosure, and clearly define restrictions or exceptions. Most of them also provide for review or appeal procedures in case of restrictions and denials.
OCHCR Supports FOI at UN
The OCHCR report then proceeds with an anecdote-filled description of ways in which UN agencies disseminate information. It does not analyze reasons for the lack of access policies, except with a general reference to “capacity constraints.” It says:
Despite numerous challenges and gaps, mostly related to capacity constraints, all United Nations entities utilize various channels of sharing information with civil society actors, mainly through official documents, public reports, websites, conferences, meetings, workshops, social and other media, online tools, webinars and e-platforms, newsletters and list serves, and any other communication channels, including for persons with disabilities.
The OCHCR report makes no specific recommendations concerning access to information at UN bodies, but refers to the goal generally in Section 63: directed at “international and regional organizations, in particular the United Nations.” It says they “should”:
(e) Put in place publicly available policies that spell out clear, impartial and non-discriminatory rules for civil society participation in programmatic processes and access to information, based on international human rights law, and strengthen policies on partnerships with civil society, including by providing funding to enable fuller participation, and regularly assess their effectiveness based on civil society feedback;
The OCHCR report is input for the Human Rights Council, which has briefly addressed the topic before.
An HRC resolution adopted July 6, 2018, concerning “Civil society space: engagement with international and regional organizations” states that the Council:
Urges States and strongly encourages international and regional organizations to adopt and implement robust policies on access to information, in compliance with relevant international law;
The HRC meeting schedule has not been set, but the first meeting maybe held on June 22 at which point the commissioner’s annual report would be presented.
