“An active person is a well-informed person”: the Right to Know Days in Moldova

“An active person is a well-informed person”. This is the slogan of the 5th edition of the Right to Know Days unfolding in Moldova during September 22-28. The events are organized by the NGO promoting the freedom of expression and the access to information “Acces-info Center” in cooperation with other NGOs, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Right to Know Days started with a conference titled “The Access to Information: Legislation, Reality, Prospects”. More conferences, round tables and seminars are scheduled this week broaching the cooperation between public authorities, mass-media and the civil society, the relationships between the media and the state authorities, the freedom of assembly as a means of exerting the right to free expression, etc. For the first time, related events will be organized in other towns than the capital. Their goal is to inform the people on rights and ways of asking for official information, of appealing to a court, of making aware the public authorities of the need to strictly observe the right to information, etc. Acces-info's president,Vasile Spinei, has said the situation of the observance of the right to access to information has improved for the last 5 years. However the results of their last monitoring sessions are rather sad. “The things do not change over the night. When the question is about realizing one's right to access to information, we need to change the mentality of both the civil servant and of the citizen, of the NGO, of the journalist,” Vasile Spinei says. If Acces-Info has trained civil servants for two years, now it wants to work more with the people, who do not know their rights, including the right to be informed. “We must tell the citizen: you have the right to ask about your money, your work, your taxes. Ask where has your money gone, how much did building the road, the building cost, etc.” Vasile Spinei urges. The deputy Minister of Local Public Administration, Sergiu Tatarov, says the authorities are obliged to insure the access to information, but they cannot give this information if the citizen does not want it. Sergiu Tatarov says the communication system with the media and the citizens is continually improving and the things have considerably developed lately. So, the Government's sittings are public, all the central public authorities, and many local administrations, have web sites with the necessary information. All the central public authorities have press units or people responsible for relations with mass-media. “The law on the access to information obliges the authorities to offer the information, without asking for the reason why the citizen needs it. Certainly there are certain reserves as to carrying out these provisions,” Sergiu Tatarov says. According to the deputy minister, this is because of the level of the administrative culture of the public servants. The International Right To Know Day is observed annually on September 28 in about 65 countries around the world.