Wie freie Meinungsäußerung rund um Wahlen gesichert werden kann

Access to information during times of elections is increasingly becoming a focal-point across the world, and certainly in the African region. The rise of conservative political formations and populist movements, the growing prevalence of misinformation and disinformation and the scale of its amplification through technology, as well as the use of security and public order management by State actors as a strategy to suppress free expression and information, are just some of the major dimensions the discussion is taking in Africa as it pertains to living up to the responsibility of delivering free, fair and credible elections.

The credibility of recent elections in the region has been marred by violence, the restriction of speech and the functional means to access information about developments in elections including the closure of media outlets, the detention of journalists and the intentional disruption of telecommunication services by State actors. The implementation of coherent access to information frameworks and mechanisms in Africa has been a long-standing priority in the region. Without access to information throughout the elections cycle, the electorate is manifestly excluded from participation in these crucial political moments. This has direct implications for peace, security and stability.

Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections in Africa

To respond to this problem, a key development in the region has been the 2018 launch of the Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections in Africa by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. These Guidelines complement other regional instruments like the African Charter on Democracy, Election and Governance and the Model Law on Access to Information as well as build on the lessons learned from sub-regional initiatives such as the SADC Guidelines on Media coverage of Elections, which fesmedia Africa supported the development of in 2012. They provide a regional and technology-now set of standards for how freedom of information can and should be realized during times of elections, a list of the categories of information that specific stakeholders must proactively disclose as well as the roles and responsibilities of State and non-State actors.

World Press Freedom Day 2019

At the 2019 World Press Freedom Day, jointly organized by UNESCO, the Ethiopian Government and the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 1 to 3 May, FES hosted a session headlined “Doing what it takes: Making the Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections in Africa Work”. The fesmedia Africa organized session sought to explore ways of strengthening awareness and use of this soft-law instrument. The session was led by a panel consisting of journalists, civil society actors and development workers in the field of freedom of information and expression.

From the questions that emerged from the floor, it was clear that there was little awareness of the Guidelines and how they could be applied to strengthen or even frame electoral management legislation across Africa. Participants expressed their enthusiasm for the instrument as a measure that could potentially improve the credibility of elections in their respective countries. Many were interested in receiving examples of where the Guidelines had been adopted, what lessons had been learned in the process and how they had lent themselves to collaborative ways of working between electoral management bodies, journalists and civil society.

Being less than a year old, the Guidelines require further popularization and the appropriate regional and national scaffolding needed to make them enforceable. Our fesmedia Africa office is exploring projects and partnerships that would contribute towards making this possible through its programmes.