WSIS Action Line C3: Access to information
UNESCO
Session 250
UNESCO Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Governmental Public Domain Information 2022
The workshop will discuss the scope of the new version of the Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Governmental Public Domain Information. The aim of the workshop is to gather input, review and update the Policy Guidelines, taking into account that:
· The updated Guidelines is to be developed to strengthen national frameworks of Access to Information and their implementation and are meant to be strictly advisory; they are not intended as a prescriptive or normative instrument.
· The updated Guidelines will build upon the Guidelines of 2004 and take into account recent UNESCO reports and research papers aimed at monitoring the implementation of SDG 16.10.2.
· The updated Guidelines will take into account recent trends related to the development and strengthening of the right of information through legal and policy frameworks and the application of new technologies in the field of ATI.
· The updated Guidelines will take into account the first OHCHR report specifically dedicated to the right of access to information.
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C3. Access to information and knowledge
Given the drastic changes in information management issues over the last few decades, the Guidelines needed an update. It is important for UNESCO to provide advice, including in the form of Guidelines, to States, officials, academics, civil society and others in improving the accessibility of public sector information in line with the WSIS Action Line C3 on Access to information and knowledge. This WSIS Action Line calls specifically on the development of policy guidelines for the development and promotion of public domain information as an important international instrument promoting public access to information. The 2003 version of the guidelines have been updated through a consultative process and address now the changes in the information environment and focus on the definition of access to information provided by Agenda 2030.
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Goal 16: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies
The updated Guidelines will build upon the Guidelines of 2004 and consider recent UNESCO reports and research papers aimed at monitoring the implementation of SDG 16.10.2.