Focusing on Small Island Developing States

18 UN Member States that are SIDS in the region have adopted statutory guarantees for public access to information.

Last update:7 November 2023

According to the information from Global Right to Information Rating, 18 UN Member States that are SIDS in the region have adopted statutory guarantees for public access to information. Nine Small Island Developing States (SIDS) responded to the UNESCO survey in 2022, and seven more submitted VNRs. Among these countries, eight countries have Access to Information laws and one is in the process of elaborating such a law.

The VNR of Sao Tome and Principe

The Voluntary National Report of Sao Tome and Principe, states that ‘the Public Transparency System of the country, is based on the Access to Information Law (Law No. 9.871/2012), which aims to promote state transparency and ensure that all citizens have access to public information. Therefore, in Sao Tome and Principe there are constitutional and legal guarantees so that access to public information is guaranteed to all. Sao Tome and Principe has a Human Rights institution, but it has not yet been accredited.’

Access to information in VNRs

Six countries also reported having a dedicated oversight institution.

For three of these countries, the oversight institution takes the form of an Information Commission.

Five countries reported that their legal guarantee on Access to Information specifies the need for public bodies to also appoint public information officers or a specific unit to handle requests for information.

Five countries reported provisions for the dedicated Access to Information oversight institutions to provide monitoring of access to information implementation.

A report, prepared by the United Nations Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Project, a joint initiative by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), provides an insight into the state of access to information in 14 Small Island Developing States in the Pacific Region. [1] Under the Pacific Plan 2005,[2] UN Pacific Strategy[3] and 2018 Boe Declaration[4], countries in the Pacific are urged to put strategies in place to implement and/or monitor access to information legislation. The report reviews laws on access to information in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Palau and Vanuatu, as well as draft laws in Micronesia and the Solomon Islands. It notes that that even the Pacific Small Island Developing State without access to information laws have environment ‘generally favourable to the public’s exercising of their right to information’. [5] For example, UNESCO is providing technical assistance to Samoa through the India-UN Development Partnership Fund supported programme, which is paving the way for the Government’s on a freedom of information act, with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (M.C.I.T.) leading the way.[6]

[1] Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

[2] The Pacific Plan was endorsed by Leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in 2005, and includes initiative 12.3 to enhance governance mechanisms such as FOI. See: .

[3] Outcome 5 of the UN Pacific Strategy is that people and communities in the Pacific will contribute to and benefit from inclusive, informed, and transparent decision-making processes. See: United Nations in the Pacific. 2017. United Nations Pacific Strategy (2018 – 2022), .

[4] The Boe Declaration Action Plan includes the adoption and implementation of constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for public access to information as a measure for success in ensuring peace and security across the region. See Boe Declaration on Regional Security (2018): .

[5] Status of the Right to Information in Pacific Island Countries, UNODC, 2020, p. 5, .

[6]

The report also provides an analysis of the implementation of the laws. It points to a number of areas that need improvement or require availability of additional data. One of the conclusions of the report is that ‘[n]otwithstanding a well-designed law, inadequate resources and lack of budgetary support can stymie implementation.’