The first in a series of lectures was held recently at the Harry C. Moore Library at The College of the Bahamas, where there was a lively discussion on the whole concept of freedom of information.
To date, ineffective freedom of information legislation, limited access to environmental decisions and even less public participation in the decision-making process, has made the task of getting information regarding governmental decisions quite difficult.
But, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon.
"Our Right to Know" is a multi-perspective lecture series sponsored by The College of the Bahamas and NGOs Save the Bays, BREEF and the Bahamas National Trust. The series has charged head on into the fray with an initial lecture series on the Freedom of Information Act and the Latin American and Caribbean regional instrument on Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration and their importance for government transparency.
The series, set to focus on pressing environmental law and policy issues, held its first lecture on October 22 in the library.
Lecturers included retired Justice Jeanne Thompson, Assistant Professor at The College of The Bahamas Lisa Benjamin and Dawson Malone, Eugene Dupuch Law School graduate of Callenders & Co.
Retired Justice Thompson started off the forum with an in depth look at the Freedom of Information Bill. With an absurdly long shelf life, The Freedom of Information Bill has sat through two successive governments, only to yield a bill with noted deficiencies.
As Justice Thompson took audience members through the bill's wording, cogent problems such as the lack of access to judicial or quasi-judicial bodies to challenge decisions made by ministers became increasingly apparent.
Further, Justice Thompson exposed the lack of a definition of "public interest". This is important because information concerning the public interest forms certain exemptions to information which would otherwise be excluded from disclosure. Justice Thompson asked, "How do we interpret any of these clauses if there is no definition of public interest?"
"What we seem to be left with is an act with no teeth," said Thompson. "We would still be in a position waiting for a whistle blower to let us know what is going on."
The second panelist, Lisa Benjamin, led spectators to consider the international perspectives on access to environmental decisions through the Aarhus Convention and the ongoing regional negotiation on Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration by Latin American and Caribbean States.
According to Benjamin, "The Aarhus Convention, which has not been signed or ratified by The Bahamas, is the only binding international convention that enshrines the three pillars of environmental democracy: Access to justice, access to Information and public participation."
Urging audience members to put more pressure on the Bahamian government to incorporate these principles into domestic law, Benjamin outlined the accountability the convention places on respective governments.
"Parties to the Aarhus Convention are bound by international law to incorporate the principles of access to justice, access to information and public participation in their domestic law to afford their citizens access to the decisions making process concerning environmental sustainability".
While Aarhus has been signed and ratified by 47 countries mainly centered in Europe, eighteen countries in the Caribbean and Latin American have adopted a regional approach to the institutionalization of access to information, access to justice and public participation.
The Declaration on the Application of Principle 10 on the Rio Declaration of Environment and Development (CELAC), signed by countries like Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, St. Vincent & Grenadines and the Dominican Republic, launched the way toward developing a regional instrument on access to environmental information, public participation and justice in June 2012.
The declaration has since gained traction through a series of negotiations and plans that have culminated in the Lima Vision for a Regional Instrument on Access Rights Relating to the Environment in October 2013.
In response to this vision, Caribbean and Latin American countries have since developed national legislation reflecting passive access to information, active access to information and arguably most importantly, the government's responsibility to disseminate information to the general public.
On the regional instrument Benjamin noted, "It is important to build a citizenry that is informed on sustainable development". Benjamin ended the presentation by emphasizing the need for countries like The Bahamas, where sustainable development is an important issue, to incorporate these international and regional conventions to make the government accountable.
The final speaker of the evening, Dawson Malone brought the debate home by placing the discussions of the Freedom of Information Act and international instruments on environmental democracy in the context of the largely controversial Bimini Bay development project.
Dawson explained the need for a viable Freedom of Information Act to prevent environmentally disastrous developments, stating, "If I am relying on access to the court to vindicate my rights, I must have information to do so".
The case against the Bimini Bay development project was unfortunately lost due to a number of factors. Dawson said, "It's difficult to say the decisions made by the court to go through with the development was access to justice."
Dawson emphasized the major pitfall in the case was the lack of information available to the public to stop the development in time.
"In order not to render your constitutional rights obtuse, you must have a Freedom of Information Act," he said.
"Our Right to Know" will continue the debate with the second part of the series on November 19th, 2014 in the Harry C. Moore Library.

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