Right to Information Law Stirs Controversy Again, Journalists Confront It

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[size=52]Right to Information Law Stirs Controversy Again, Journalists Confront It[/size]

[size=45]Several criticisms have been directed at the draft law on the right to access information proposed in the Iraqi parliament, which has made its way to legislation but has been halted due to objections to it, as it is described as “mined” because it contains texts and paragraphs that restrict the ability of journalists to obtain the information they need from government departments.[/size]
[size=45]For more than ten years, Iraqi journalists have been demanding a law that guarantees them the freedom to work without being subject to legal accountability or threats from officials, armed groups, and parties, and that stipulates the possibility of obtaining information from its official or semi-official sources, in addition to guaranteeing freedom of movement and entry into state institutions, whether those suspected of corruption or those containing records and files that serve journalistic material.[/size]
[size=45]But the efforts of journalists did not succeed. Rather, parliamentary blocs in the Iraqi Council of Representatives sought to defraud the draft law in order to prevent information from reaching the press, while unions, groups and alliances of organizations concerned with freedom of journalism continue to organize media campaigns and marches in order to force the authorities to enact the law away from the manipulation of parties.[/size]
[size=45]In June of last year, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani directed the study of the draft law on the right to access information. Al-Sudani said, during the official celebration held by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate on the occasion of the 154th anniversary of the press in the country, that he “directed the study of the draft law on the right to access information and the submission of comments on it, in order to send it to the Council of Representatives.” However, this announcement did not reassure journalists, and some of them feared the possibility of passing a law that does not suit the aspirations of those working in the media and press sector, especially with the presence of parties in the Iraqi parliament that do not allow freedom of the press for fear of exposing major corruption operations that took place in the country over the past two decades.[/size]
[size=45]Finally, a group of national and international non-governmental and human rights organizations active in the field of defending rights and freedoms, promoting transparency, and combating corruption announced a set of recommendations regarding the “Right to Access Information” law.[/size]
[size=45]In a joint statement, it said that it “believes that the current version of the law needs fundamental amendments to ensure its compatibility with international standards and the Iraqi constitution, as well as to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people to obtain information in a free and transparent manner.”[/size]
[size=45]She added that some of the proposed provisions “may lead to strengthening secrecy practices and undermining transparency, which increases the risk of corruption and weakens the role of institutions in promoting the rule of law.”[/size]
[size=45]It also identified the texts that need to be amended before the law is enacted, including “Article 1, Second,” and indicated that “the law must stipulate that the obligations under the Right to Information Law apply to all public bodies (legislative, executive and judicial) at the national and local levels, including defense and security bodies, as well as private bodies that receive public funding.”[/size]
[size=45]In her objection to Article 3 of the law, she stressed that “the Information Department must be given full powers to be the supervisory body responsible for the proper enforcement of the law, while enjoying guarantees of independence and providing the human and financial resources that enable it to carry out its role effectively.”[/size]
[size=45]Regarding Article Four, it recommended amending it in order to “enshrine the right of every natural or legal person, whether Iraqi or foreign, to ensure the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of the law.”[/size]
[size=45]It recommended reviewing Article 11 in its entirety “so that only information whose disclosure would harm a legitimate interest is excluded, and the potential harm from disclosing the information must be greater than the harm resulting from concealing it, in addition to ensuring that decisions to refuse to obtain information can be appealed under Article 14, and the right to appeal decisions to refuse to obtain information must be guaranteed at three levels (internally within each structure, before an independent body or department, and before a judicial body to ensure full protection of the right to access information).”[/size]
[size=45]In this context, the member of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, Mu’ayyad Ali, said that “the parties have negatively interfered in the version of the Right to Information Law, in order to undermine freedom of the press and prevent access to important information that may expose political parties involved in corruption, so the majority of journalists reject the legislation of the law in its current form in Parliament.”[/size]
[size=45]Ali stressed that “enacting a law that is consistent with the Iraqi constitution will lead to a decline in false information, because the information will be available to the journalist and will block the path of those who want to mislead public opinion.”[/size]
[size=45]For his part, Wissam Jaafar, head of the Tawasul Organization and one of the activists working in the campaign to amend the Iraqi Right to Information Law, said, “The current draft law proposed by the government and which parliament seeks to pass will represent a major setback and stumbling block in the path of democracy. Currently, the Coordination Framework bloc in the House of Representatives seeks to pass a package of laws, including the Right to Information Law, amending the Personal Status Law, and the Freedom of Expression and Peaceful Demonstration Law.”[/size]
[size=45]Jaafar added, “The Right to Information Law includes serious legal loopholes that could perpetuate the rampant corruption in the country, and some of its articles include restrictions on the exercise of this right that affect its essence. It also grants any official in a government department discretionary powers to classify documents as confidential and subject to withholding without standards, such as government tender contracts and auctions.”[/size]
[size=45]The importance of the Right to Information Law lies in supporting the concepts of transparency, reducing corruption by exposing it, and tightening popular oversight of government institutions, through real data, figures and information that increase public confidence in journalism, especially since the influential parties that held power after 2003 worked to demonize this profession, and followed methods that led to surrounding it with walls of fear and threats, while dozens of its practitioners were killed and disappeared while covering certain files, specifically those related to corruption and civil movement protests, and lawsuits were filed against dozens of others.[/size]
[size=45]Iraq dropped from 167th to 169th place in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders and covering 180 countries. Reporters Without Borders, based in the French capital Paris, warned that “between terrorism, political instability and demonstrations, journalists face threats from all sides, in light of the weakness of the state and its institutions that fail to play their role in protecting them.”[/size]
[size=45]The human rights organization pointed out that “if the constitution guarantees freedom of the press in theory, the laws in force conflict with some of its articles, as public figures often resort to the courts to pursue journalists who investigate their activities, and the prosecution is usually on charges of defamation.[/size]
[size=45]The draft law on cybercrimes, which regularly returns to the forefront, has come to increase the troubles of the profession, as it stipulates prison sentences (up to life imprisonment) for electronic publications that affect the country’s independence, unity, safety, or its supreme economic, political, military, or security interests.”[/size]
[size=45]About: Al-Araby Al-Jadeed[/size]
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