Thirty Afghan media outlets on Thursday issued a joint letter protesting against what they said severe limitations in access to government-related information.
“Despite the fact that Afghanistan is one of the deadliest places to be a journalist, Afghan media is the freest in the region,” the letter said. “But the carelessness of the government has endangered this hard won achievement.”
In the letter, the outlets said that the government has a “double standards” when it comes to implementing the access to information, and supporting free media.
It cited a recent example of how the office of second vice president censored photo coming out of an event where the government had joined the coalition to support the free press.
According to the letter, all government institutions have shortcomings when it comes to providing access to information, but the worst ones are Supreme Court, Attorney General’s Office, National Directorate of Security, Office of the President and its procurement unit, Foreign Ministry, Finance Ministry, Defense Ministry, Interior Ministry, Public Health Ministry and Central Bank.
“We call on the Afghan government, the international community and media support organizations to act in the strongest possible ways to safeguard the free flow of information, our press freedom and our young democracy,” the media outlets said in the letter.
Meanwhile, the European Union called for full implementation of the Access to Information Law.
“Free flow of information is crucial for any democracy and progressive society. EU supports transparency and accountability in Afghanistan. All must partake to ensure continued media freedom to report in Afghanistan,” EU in Afghanistan said on Twitter.
UK Embassy tweeted: “Access to government information is a right of the Afghan people. Afghanistan has one of the best laws in the world on A21 but more needs to be done to ensure implementation. The UK supports the brave and committed journalists fighting to uphold this right.”
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also said that the Afghan authorities must fully implement the Access to Information Law.
“Given the country’s current situation, in particular, the disputed results of the last presidential election in 2019 and the Taliban-imposed war, the Afghan government’s failure to apply the law on access to state-held information is unacceptable,” said Reza Moini, the head of RSF’s Afghanistan desk. “It is the state’s job to ensure that journalists have unrestricted access to information.”
