Conference on the impact of the Model Law on access to information for Africa

  • DATE

    09 December 2015

  • TIME

    8:30 - 16:00

  • VENUE

    Senate Hall, Hatfield Campus, University of Pretoria

The Centre for Human Rights in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria (UP) cordially invites you to a conference on ‘Soft law and human rights: The impact of the Model Law on access to information for Africa’.

The conference will be attended by delegates from across the continent, including academics, practitioners, activists, advocates, civil society organisations, lawyers and policymakers working on access to information (ATI) and other closely related fields.

Participants will include individuals and organisations that have collaborated with the Special Rapporteur in her ongoing project on the implementation of the Model Law, as well as all others with first-hand knowledge of the impact of the Model Law in any member state or on the development, adoption, review or implementation of legal frameworks on ATI and other relevant soft law (non-binding law) standards.

 

Date: Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Time: 08:30 to 16:00
Venue: Senate Hall, Hatfield Campus, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
RSVP to Ms Lola Shyllon no later than Thursday, 2 December 2015, at [email protected]. No registration fee will be charged but pre-registration is essential.
 
Enquiries: Ms Lola Shyllon (012 420 4199 / [email protected])
 
GPS: 25°45'19.7"S 28°13'33.2"E

 

About the conference

In November 2010, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission) adopted Resolution 167 (XLVII): Resolution on Securing the Effective Realisation of Access to Information in Africa. By this resolution, the African Commission decided to begin the process of developing model ATI legislation for Africa, led by its Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa. On 23 February 2013, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted the Model Law on Access to Information for Africa (Model Law).

Though non-binding, the Model Law was developed as a tool to assist African states with the development of new or the amendment of existing ATI laws in compliance with regional and international instruments that impose an obligation to adopt such laws. Since the publication of the first draft of the Model Law in April 2012, the ATI landscape on the continent has improved significantly: the number of African states with ATI laws increased from five to sixteen there has been a noticeable trend of strengthened normative content of ATI laws. While the direct influence of the Model Law in fast-tracking the development of ATI bills or the adoption of ATI laws is on record in some cases, its role in other cases has been evident only by virtue of obvious similarities between the text of the Model Law and newly developed ATI bills or adopted ATI laws.

The conference thus seeks to examine as far as possible, with reference to concrete examples and empirical data, the impact of the Model Law on the adoption, review and implementation of ATI laws in Africa. In doing so, the conference aims to create a forum for sharing opportunities, experiences and challenges in respect of utilising the Model Law in the development and review of ATI laws. Drawing from these discussions, the conference also aims to formulate new strategies to ensure the increased adoption, review and effective implementation of ATI laws in Africa, as well as the broader implementation of similar emerging soft law standards in the African human rights system and the African Union.

 

Draft Programme

Download this invitation as a PDF

 

  • Contact: 012 420 5409

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