Amman, 24 January 2017 – Last week the first of several trainings on the implementation of the Access to Information (ATI) Law was held at the National Library in Amman. The first 3-day training session is one of five sessions being organized jointly by UNESCO Amman Office, Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) and Department of the National Library as part of the EU funded and UNESCO implemented “Support to Media in Jordan” Project.
The trainings, taking place between January and March 2017, are
targeting all 60 information officials in every government Ministry and other public
bodies in Jordan, as well as several journalists and local trainers from non-governmental
organizations and other bodies who will be able to carry on future training.
“UNESCO is pleased to be once again partnering with the National
Library as well as the Centre for Law and Democracy on the ATI training. We
hope that this training will help in mainstreaming the right to information in
the Jordanian public service, and in turn improving the overall freedom of
expression environment for not only media but all citizens in the country,”
said Ms. Hanadi Gharaibeh, Associate Project Officer at UNESCO.
The trainings will cover topics such as the importance of the right
to information, global trends, legal foundations including international law
and the Jordanian legal framework, as well as issues such as proactive
disclosure, how to process information requests and appeals, and how to
interpret exceptions in the Law. The full UNESCO-CLD ATI Training Manual is
available in Arabic
and English
on the Project website.
“For the first time in over 10 years, all of the information
officials in Jordan will receive this sort of training. It is a huge step
forward. But we also know that for a culture of disclosure to flourish, there
needs to be a system of ongoing training for other public servants at each public
body,” added Mr. Toby Mendel, Executive Director, CLD.
“The training is part of a joint cooperation with UNESCO to raise
awareness of the law and its implementation among government officials
responsible for providing the information [to the pubic] and liaisons officers
in particular. This will lead to more transparency, and it is a tool for
anti-corruption,” added Mr Mohammed Yonis Abbadi, Information Commissioner and
Director General of Department of the National Library. He noted that most
ministries and public bodies have assigned an information officer to liaise
with the Information Council, and that information request forms are now
available at most government bodies and on their websites.
“The training was very useful. At the Ministry of Health, we are
glad to be part of this training and learn more about how to handle information
requests,” noted Mr. Hatem Azrui, the spokesperson and information officer at
the Ministry of Health.
For a photo gallery of the first training session, see
here.
Background information:
UNESCO is known as the ”intellectual” agency of the United
Nations. At a time when the world is looking for new ways to build peace and
sustainable development, people must rely on the power of intelligence to
innovate, expand their horizons and sustain the hope of a new humanism. UNESCO
exists to bring this creative intelligence to life; for it is in the minds of
men and women that the defences of peace and the conditions for sustainable
development must be built. UNESCO’s mission in Jordan is to work with the government
of Jordan and other stakeholders to provide effective high quality educational,
scientific, cultural and communication programmes.
Centre for Law and Democracy
(CLD) is a non-governmental
organization based in Halifax, Canada that works to promote, protect and
develop human rights which serve as the foundation for or underpin democracy,
including the rights to freedom of expression, to vote and participate in
governance, to access information and to freedom of assembly and association.
The Department of the National Library was established in 1977 as one of the departments of the
Ministry of Culture. The department and the Center for Documents were merged
into the National Library in 1994. Its main tasks include: keeping, organizing
and introducing to the public the national intellectual product issued both
inside and outside Jordan, collecting and keeping books, manuscripts,
periodicals, photographs, recordings, videotapes, and other materials relevant
to Jordanian heritage in particular, to the Arab world and to Arabic and Islamic
civilization as well as to human heritage in general, as well as collecting
government documents from ministries and public departments and institutions. The
National Library provides logistical and administrative services to the
Information Council and the Commissioner. According to the Access to
Information Law, the Director of the National Library is the Information
Commissioner and deputy of the President.
For more information, please contact:
Lidija
Sabados (English)
Associate Project
Officer, Support to Media in Jordan
UNESCO Amman
Office
Tel.:
+962 (6) 5929621 Ext 328
Mob.: +962 (7)
96830012
Dina Baslan
(Arabic and English)
Coordinator,
Centre for Law and Democracy
Mob.: +962 (7) 77300069
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