6 May 2010 - This week World Press Freedom Day was marked with the worldwide theme of “Freedom of Information”. UNAMA has spoken to a number of people working in Afghanistan to see what they think about the issue.

Masooma Mohammadi, female journalist
“Over the past eight years access to information for Afghan women has been problematic largely due to a number of social, institutional and political constraints facing the country. There is still a huge lack of statistical data and information about gender issues particularly in the development, literacy and employment sectors. Efforts have been made, primarily through civil society and private media outlets, to enable women to voice their opinions in national processes such as elections. However, systematic and institutional improvements have remained weak particularly in the government.

Because a majority of women are illiterate, mostly in rural areas, newspapers, magazine and books are not the main sources of information for women.

Access to Internet and online information is also very limited to only well-educated and employed women in Kabul and other major cities. The flow of information to women in rural parts of the country largely comes from men and other male members of a household.

Freedom of expression must be upheld in Afghanistan for all. Women need support to both access information, promptly and effectively, and to impart their own information. Gender must be mainstreamed in the Government's overall information and public awareness management system and a number of symbolic, but strong, steps must be taken by the top leadership to support women. Even the spokesman of the Women's Affairs Ministry is a male; this must change not only in MoWA but across the ministries and talented women should be appointed to speak on behalf of their Government and people.

Currently, Afghanistan has around twenty Governmental and non-Governmental televisions, 60 radio stations around 300 daily, weekly and monthly newspapers.”

Robert Watkins, UN Humanitarian Coordinator and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan
“The press is very sophisticated and well-developed here. There is not a lot of information to be gotten and there is a serious problem of recording, storage and analysis of information. It is a real shortage you can not get reliable statistics on health services, or education. So I think the biggest problem is that there is not enough information to get, rather than people withholding the information. For instance, if you want to find out what’s the population of this country, what’s the gender breakdown, what’s the household activity breakdown you cannot get this information, not because someone is holding this back, it just doesn’t exist. We have to really help this country to put together a data and collection system.

The biggest thing to improve the situation is to build up the capacity within the Afghan Government so that it is able to collect this kind of important information we need in order to make development more effective and responsive to the needs of the population.”

Mohammad Hussain Shahryar, Information Analyst Officer of UNAMA
“My interpretation of freedom of information is that it is the people’s right to access or to have direct access to all political, social and economic resources.

All media sources are considered as the biggest source for the ordinary people. Through them, people can monitor the activities of Government so they can make the Government more accountable for their performance. For instance, the media discovered a lot of fraud and irregularities in the presidential elections last year and finally pushed the elections for the second round.

Media obtain information through ordinary people when they travel through the country; when they go to the city; when they meet other people, as well as from Government institutions and civil societies.

The Parliament and legislators should enhance the media law and push the Government to be obliged to it. The Government should train more professional journalists in order to handle these issues and should also eliminate or remove the media censorship. The environment of impunity should be removed for those who still abuse and intimidate media activities across the country.

The Government needs to do more to improve the security and economic development, such as the extension of electricity, telephone and Internet network. These are tools for the development of freedom of information.

David G Izadifar, Political Affairs Officer, UNAMA
“If there has been one huge progress in Afghanistan since 2001, then one big development was media.

We have two phases on the media side in Afghanistan. The first year you had huge public information when the country became free. The regime in place is attempting to stabilize itself to get more power and control over all the instruments. There is a need for comforting the population and the state. Then the media get caught under pressure.
Other things that have been the factors in the deteriorating of freedom of information for journalists were the religious scholars, Jihadi factions and powerbrokers. They went against journalists who want to report criminal activities.

With more insecurity in the country, those who are against freedom of speech have more freedom to kill or assassinate the journalists.

Compared with other counties in the region, Afghanistan’s journalists have more freedom. But still journalists are scared in each level in the country.”

By Kangying Guo, UNAMA