A milestone in Freedom of Information (FOI) and Access to Information has been laid in the Pan-Caribbean region with the launch of the MIC Freedom of Information Help Desk and Advocacy tool kit.
The Media Institute of the Caribbean (MIC) announced the initiative virtually on Monday, at the second seminar of the 4–part workshop series on FOI and ATI.
The Help Desk is a cloud-based, secure platform for journalists, civil society organisations and private individuals to submit their FOI/ATI requests to MIC. These requests would be reviewed by MIC’s support staff who will provide guidance to and advise applicants on how to address denials, implement follow up actions and any other course of action. MIC guarantees strict confidentiality as we commit to ensuring the safety of individuals contact information and related correspondence.
The Help Desk is one aspect of MIC’s FOI project which seeks to monitor and document press freedom violations in the English-speaking Pan-Caribbean region; provide advisory legal opinions to journalists when this freedom is being violated or is in danger; be a strong voice of advocacy for the protection of freedom of the press by providing recommendations for policy framework and legislation for Freedom of Information and Access To Information; and provide a coordinating mechanism to help enforce the right to freedom of the press by working with civil society and key stakeholders to develop recommendations and provide public information. To assist with the use of the Help Desk, MIC has also introduced The Advocacy Toolkit. This was created as a guide and resource for journalists seeking to do FOI/ATI requests and using the Help Desk. Written by journalist and lawyer Dionne Jackson-Miller, this Advocacy Tool Kit is a repository of information which includes research points, letter templates and lists of support organisations.
President of MIC Kiran Maharaj, in underscoring the timely launch of both resources, pointed to need for such tools, “the result of the necessity for journalists in the region to have better support and advice in an era where investigative journalism underpins our democracy and where the propagation of disinformation plagues our societies.”
The Help Desk and Advocacy Toolkit are available at www.mediainstituteofthecaribbean.com and submissions are now open. The FOI project is funded by UK AID.
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