The United Nations (UN) will on September 28 commemorate online the 2020 International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) with the slogan: “Access to Information – Saving lives, Building Trust, Bringing Hope!” It will be the first commemoration of the Day since the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in October 2019 affirming the earlier proclamation of the Day by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2015.
The 2020 edition of IDUAI will be the first of such celebration after the UN proclamation of September 28 as IDUAI.
Recognising the significance of access to information, the 74th UN General Assembly proclaimed September 28as the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) at the UN level in October 2019. The day had been proclaimed by the UNESCO General Conference in 2015, following the adoption of the 38 C/Resolution 57 declaring September 28 of every year as International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI).
The focus of IDUAI 2020 will be on the right to information in times of crisis and on the advantages of having constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for public access to information to save lives, build trust and help the formulation of sustainable policies through and beyond the COVID-19 crisis.
UNESCO will organize a high-level online panel, “Access of Information – Saving lives, Building Trust, Bringing Hope!,” online at 2:00 p.m. (CEST) on September 28to launch the 2020 International Day for Universal Access to Information and its themes. The online panel will open with statements from the UNESCO representative and will also include statements made by representatives of the Liberian and Uzbek governments on the importance of the day, as well as interventions from UN partners, followed by Open Talks session.
Several Open Talk Webinars will take place with different moderators and speakers.
There would be Open Talks Webinar on “Access to Information, Transparency and Openness: Taking Forward Agenda 2030 in Times of Crisis” on September 28, 2020, from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM.
There would be another Open Talks Webinar that will explore the topic: “Access to Information implementation and Crisis Resolution during COVID-19 Outbreak” on September 29, 2020 from 4:30PM.
A third Open Talks Webinar will on September 29, 2020, from 3:00 PM 4:30 PM explore“Beyond the Numbers: Using Access-to-Information Data to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals”.
On September 30, 2020, between 3:00 PM and 4:30 PM, another Open Talks Webinar will look at the topic: “Media and Information Literate Youth: A Cornerstone to Implementing Access to Information Policies”.
The fifth Open Talks Webinar will explore the topic “Open Science for Building Resilience in the Face of COVID-19” on September 30, 2020, between 4:30 PM and 6:00 PM.
Also on September 28, 2020the Federation of African Journalists in close partnership with African media stakeholders will hold the African Media Stakeholders’ Conference on Access to Information under the theme “Right to Information in Times of Crisis: Saving Lives, Building Trust and Bringing Hope”. The virtual event will bring together over 100 participants drawn from the African Union Member states. Some of the topics to be addressed include access to information and the COVID 19 Crisis in Africa, the gender dimension of access to information in Africa and challenges in Covering COVID 19.
