What's New
2 May 2008
Statement by UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok on World Press Freedom Day 2008
Patrick Keuleers,
Team Leader,
Democratic Governance Practice Team 
Excellencies, distinguished guests, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
It is with honour and great pleasure that I join my colleagues from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance in celebrating the World Press Freedom Day in our region.
While the Asia Pacific region can celebrate important achievements in economic and human development, the region is also the scene of growing inequalities. One of the causes of this inequality is Knowledge Poverty, meaning the systemic lack of information that obstructs the economic, social and political participation of the majority of the poor and a lack of transparency that also enables corruption in all its forms to flourish in violation of universal ethical norms and standards.
Asia thus confirms its reputation as a region of paradoxes. Never before has the region witnessed so many privately-owned media outlets and news websites and the continent also has the largest number of Internet-users. At the same time, media outlets are often monopolized by private interests and many journalists practice some form of self-censorship, in particular when covering corruption, prostitution, human trafficking and other sensitive topics. According to Reporters Without Borders, Asia counted 17 journalists killed in 2007 because of their work. When excluding Iraq and Somalia, that represents more than half of all the journalists murdered worldwide. Every one of these tragedies, is one too many.
UNDP sees access to and freedom of information as one of the fundamental means to empower people to better control their lives. Freedom of information is not only a sine qua non for achieving more accountable governance, it is also the reflection of a transparent and inclusive society that is respectful of the fundamental human rights and principles.
We see human development as the process of expanding people’s choices and enlarging their freedoms to make those choices. That process requires opportunities and capacity for people to express their needs and articulate their views and concerns. Press freedom is one of the vehicles through which such capacity can be developed for the benefit of a larger group of stakeholders.
Today, in line with article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, most constitutions in the region guarantee citizens’ right to information and 8 countries have adopted Freedom of Information laws. New Information and Communication Technologies are reframing relationships between media, citizens and the state and lead to greater exchanges of information and ideas. An increasing number of countries now use the Internet to grant easy public access to a growing number of public documents.
While laws alone will not bring needed change, the region has an increasing number of success stories where Freedom of Information Laws have helped to improve access to education for the poor, facilitate the detection of illicit enrichments and bring to daylight flaws in public spending. The transparency gains that results from these improvements in information access constitute the best deterrent against corruption and abuse of power. Indeed, of the 10 best performers in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, all but one have legislation in place to ensure people’s right to information. On the contrary, of the 10 worst performers in the Corruption Perception Index, only one country has recently adopted a freedom of information law, but with substantive restrictions.
As Nobel laureate Amartya Sen argued, a free flow of information and public discussion are “an important requirement of good public policy”. That explains why access to information, support to an independent media and addressing capacity gaps in relation to new information and communication technologies are among the core pillars of UNDP’s development assistance. Last year, we formed a partnership with the private sector and BBC World to train journalists across the region on accountability and transparency. We also plan to support training for more balanced and neutral “peace journalism” that can foster increased levels of trust and hope in conflict-ridden communities. I also want to take this opportunity to inform you that our next Regional Human Development Report on Corruption has a chapter on media and transparency.
Ladies and gentlemen, today’s joining of forces among different development partners reflects the joint conviction that freedom of information and the existence of a well functioning and independent media are essential conditions for inclusive development and a crucial means to foster respect for human rights in the region. In an increasingly competitive world of power and money politics, those that are left behind in the development process often have no other means of redress than to aspire to the courage of journalists willing to bring their cry for justice into the public space.
I therefore would like to close by paying tribute to all the journalists all over the world who put their lives daily at risk while advocating for a more transparent and accountable society.
Thank you
