Hosted by the Government of Sierra Leone with the support of the Right to Access Information Commission of Sierra Leone, the conference explored this year’s global theme, “Upholding Information Integrity in the Digital Age: The Role of Access to Information in Addressing Information Disorder”. The event gathered more than 200 participants from 41 countries, including information commissioners, government officials, members of the judiciary, journalists, experts and civil society representatives.
The conference was opened by H.E. Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, Vice-President of Sierra Leone, and Mariya Gabriel, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, who emphasized that “a law may establish the right, but our challenge today is to make rights work.” Quoting the message of the Director-General of UNESCO, Khaled El-Enany, she recalled that information is “a cornerstone of sustainable and democratic societies, but it can fulfil this role only when people have genuine and equal access to it.”
The opening ceremony was also marked by the signing of the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding between UNESCO and ICIC.
The plenary sessions included participants from Canada, Kenya and South Africa, government and NGO representatives from Albania, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Senegal and Sierra Leone, as well as international organizations such as OECD and the Open Government Partnership.
The 2026 Global Right to Information Stress Test, was presented by Toby Mendel, Director of the Centre for Law and Democracy, a Canadian-based international human rights organization. The first edition, launched for IDUAI 2025, covered 146 requests in 76 countries. This second edition covers 173 requests in 90 countries. Requesters obtained all the information they asked for in 33% of cases, down from 42% in 2025 which demonstrates that there is plenty of room for improving implementation of the ATI laws.
Finally, the participants have endorsed a joint outcome document, a Statement of the Conference.
To strengthen visibility of IDUAI, Mariya Gabriel co-signed the Op-Ed The Integrity Dividend: The Value of Knowing with David Walmsley, President of the World Editors Forum, and Liz Corbin, Director of News at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The authors call on governments to enforce access to information laws and to protect the bodies that oversee them. The Op-Ed was published by leading newspapers in Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, Poland, etc. In total, it appeared in 76 media outlets across 29 countries and territories and in 11 languages, with an estimated unique readership of 7.3 million.
The conference and its side-events also created a substantive bridge between ATI, information integrity, artificial intelligence, the rule of law, Media and Information Literacy, and UNESCO’s Information for All Programme (IFAP).
Access to data, UNESCO Pretoria initiative, media and information literacy work and its link with ATI was discussed. Professor Olunifesi Suraj, of the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Lagos, recalled that “African data is a collection of African history, culture, heritage, identity, diversity and livelihood. Hence, African right to access data is a function of African fundamental rights to sustainable development and the continent’s prosperity” For him, the African population “must acquire the necessary MIL competencies” to “engage actively and meaningfully in the emerging data society”.
A special event, opened by Guilherme Canela, Director of the Division for Digital Inclusion, Policies and Transformation at UNESCO, was held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of UNESCO’s IFAP. It also marked the recent inscription of the Swedish Freedom of the Press Ordinance of 1766 on the Memory of the World International Register, which is recognized as the world’s first legislation guaranteeing the free communication of information. This event also marked a major milestone for IFAP through the establishment of Sierra Leone’s National Committee.
The IDUAI celebration was reinforced by the side event on AI, Justice and the Rule of Law. Chief Justice Komba Kamanda in his opening speech emphasized the connection between access to information and access to justice. He highlighted the potential of AI to improve access to judgments and legal materials, support legal research and case management, and make judicial services more accessible. He also stressed that technological innovation must remain subordinate to the fundamental principles of justice: “AI must remain a tool in the service of justice, not an authority.” Linking the discussion directly to the spirit of IDUAI, the Chief Justice stressed that “Universal access to information must also mean meaningful access to justice.” Technology, he said, should be used to remove rather than create barriers between citizens and the justice system.
The IDUAI celebration was reinforced by the side event on AI, Justice and the Rule of Law, emphasizing the connection between access to information and access to justice. Guilherme Canela presented UNESCOs programme on AI, Justice and the Rule of Law, which has already trained more than 38,000 judicial operators from 165 countries through its MOOC, developed together with Oxford University.
Beyond Freetown, UNESCO offices and their partners organized close to twenty national celebrations of the Day. As custodian agency for SDG indicator 16.10.2, UNESCO monitors both the adoption and the implementation of guarantees for public access to information. Today, according to UNESCO report, 141 of the 193 United Nations Member States have legal guarantees for access to information.
read more: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/right-information-takes-center-stage-freetown?hub=701
