All have right to information, say stakeholders

Lalitpur, December 29

Stakeholders today stressed the need for making women, disadvantaged and marginalised groups aware of their right to information.

Speaking at an interaction organised by Media Advocacy Group and UN Women today, Commissioner at the National Information Commission, Kiran Pokharel, said, women and other disadvantaged groups should be made aware of their right to information as access to information empowers citizens. He also said that if citizens were well-informed, they could enjoy their rights better.

He claimed that if women were well-informed, it would benefit men too. He also stated that women were being deprived of services offered to them by the state due to lack of information. “Hence, women, disadvantaged and marginalised groups should be made aware about their rights and services offered to them by the state,” he added.

Anita Bindu, vice president, Federation of Nepali Journalists, said the misunderstandings among the public about the right to information should be cleared. “People think RTI is only for media persons, but it is not true. RTI is for every individual and everyone has the right to demand the information they need,” she said, adding, “Media is just a medium to disseminate information collected from various sources to a larger group.”

Babita Basnet, president, MAG, said women were still being deprived of their right to information.She stated that although the RTI act came into effect in 2007, a majority of women are still unaware of it.