Proactive disclosure of information post the 2013 Model Law on Access to Information: Assessing the compliance of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission with the Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections in Africa and the Declaration on Principles of Freedom of Expression in the 2023 harmonised elections.
Posted: 21 June, 2024 Filed under: Idirashe Amanda Chikomba | Tags: Access to Information, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, Constitution of Zimbabwe, Cyber and Data Protection Act, Declaration on Principles on Freedom of Expression, Electoral Management Bodies, Guidelines on Access to Information in Africa, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Model Law on Access to Information, national security, Presidential Proclamation, public accountability, right to access information, transparency, ZEC, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Leave a comment
Author: Idirashe Amanda Chikomba
Human rights lawyer
Introduction
Regional and international instruments guarantee the right to access information. Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (African Charter) and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provide for the right to access and receive information. Both treaties have been ratified by Zimbabwe. Section 62 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, 2013 (the Constitution) also guarantees the right to access information. The provision enunciates access to information to every Zimbabwean citizen or permanent resident, including juristic persons and the media. The duty bearers are outlined as any institution or government agency for purposes of public accountability.
AfricLaw 
Repressive Laws Silencing Dissidents, Deviants and Destabilisers in Uganda
Posted: 5 July, 2024 | Author: AfricLaw | Filed under: Contributors, Stella Nyanzi | Tags: Access to Information, Anti-Homosexuality Act (2023), Anti-Pornography Act, Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act, detained without trial, digital rights, Excise Duty (Amendment) Act, free expression, freedom of expression, General Comment 34, human rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), internet democracy without disruptions, Model Law on Access to Information, Musiri David, President Yoweri Museveni, public information, public media, restrictive laws, social media, Social Media Tax Law, state repression, Uganda, Uganda Human Rights Commission, Universal Declaration of Human Rights | 1 CommentWriters-in-Exile program, PEN Zentrum Deutschland
Fellow, Center for Ethical Writing, Bard College/ PEN America.
Summary
In Uganda, there is an incongruence between the legal regime governing access to information and freedom of expression on one hand, and a barrage of restrictive laws on the other. Although a decade has passed since the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights adopted the Model Law on Access to Information for Africa, growing state repression in Uganda generated laws aimed at silencing, denying access to information, criminalising and penalising government dissidents, deviants or minorities whose behaviours departed from societal norms, and destabilisers suspected of subverting the entrenchment of President Yoweri Museveni’s 37-year-old regime. I triangulate autoethnography with public media content analysis and law review to explore this incongruence within the right of access to information and free expression in Uganda.
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