One of the temptations of all government is to restrict Freedom of Information. It sometimes seems that the strongest Freedom of information legislation is always the first Act, introduced by a reformist government before it has secrets to hide. Freedom of Information is one of the most central cogs in integrity systems and should be seen as such. To fulfill this role, the rationale for restrictions should be rethought and the procedures changed to reflect that.
We see the key to reform in emphasizing that the information belongs to the public. It is not the property of the politicians. It is the property of the public they claim to represent and on behalf of whom they are governing. It would be a serious abuse of power to use powers given to them by information legislation to protect themselves from the judgment of the people. It would be an even more serious abuse of power to use legislation such an Official Secrets Act to block the release of information that reflects adversely on their performance or exposes lies that they had told in order to pursue a particular policy or to hold on to office.
This is not to say that there are not some valid reasons for withholding the release of information. However, the presumption should be in favor of release. Rather than requiring someone to apply for the release of information, most documents that get beyond a certain stage in the policy process should be posted on websites (this will incidentally save the cost of handling FOI requests) and all other documents should be available without review in a matter of days at reasonable cost. Those who want to withhold documents should have to justify this decision to an independent body. The body might permit classes of documents to be withheld subject to spot checks of what was in those documents and subject to an FOI application from citizens for particular documents that they want (as is the case now).
It would be up to the official to initiate action to withhold information rather than up to the citizen to seek it. Such an approach would not only make it much easier to get information, it would help change attitudes to documents in government. It would be more difficult to withhold rather than release information and, for once, sloth and lack of time would be on the side of virtue!
Judicial Appointment
Judges perform a critical role in integrity systems. However, the reasons for the appointment of one judge over another are rarely public and sometimes partisan. There are four safeguards against ?stacking?.
- The first is the possibility of appeal and reversal against decisions made ? always a potential embarrassment as well as defeating the purpose of ?stacking?. This safeguard is, of course, non-existent in ultimate appellate courts.
- The second safeguard is the tenure of judges. Even here there can be problems where judges can be ?promoted? to another court.
- The third is that judges are joining a collegial institution where the opinion of their fellow judges is important to them. This works very well where judges have been appointed by different governments with different preferences and, especially, where they have appointed individuals with strong independent views. However, where a government holds power for a long time, stacking becomes a real possibility and the abovementioned safeguards are neutered.
- The fourth safeguard is that their decisions and reasons given are public. While few members of the general public read them, barristers do and judges are generally very keen to be thought to have integrity and ability by those who appear before them. This may seem ironic given the formally obsequious way in which barristers address the bench in many jurisdictions. However, in spite of this, or perhaps because of it, they appear very keen on the respect of their former peers.
Reforming judicial appointments is extremely difficult. Unfortunately, the power to appoint judges is much prized by Attorneys-General and governments. However, an attorney or government that bequeathed an improved system with a judicial commission to consider criteria, recommend appointments, provide judicial education, and recommend on disciplinary action, would be most valuable and in some jurisdictions, critical.
In examining the issue of freedom of choice, several factors must be taken into account. An Indian woman's reproductive decisions are influenced by societal factors which include the social, political and economic context in which she lives and the gender norms that shape her life. Also to be taken into consideration is a woman's life cycle stage and other socio-demographic characteristics that govern her contraceptive use, her childbearing experience and the three domains of her life - family, community and individual.
The majority of women in India are married off at a young age, sometimes even before they are able to understand the bodily changes that accompany puberty. As soon as she is married, family members pressured her to prove her fertility by getting pregnant before the first year of her marriage has lapsed. In most cases, if her first issue is female, she is again subjected to great pressure to produce a male progeny. This vicious cycle of events hinders a woman from educating herself about contraceptive use, the choices available to her, the methods she can use to effectively space her children and how she can conserve her own health, maintain a balance between household chores and child-bearing and manage her various roles effectively to the satisfaction of her husband, in-laws, and herself.
Whether she is an urban woman or from a rural area, she is most likely unaware that she can seek advice from her doctor. This is mainly due to a lack of awareness since most government programmes and campaigns are run sporadically. Moreover, there is little involvement of private practitioners in educating/ counseling a woman on her reproductive health options. Only a very limited number of Indian women have the opportunity to choose whether or when to have a child. Women, particularly women in rural areas, do not have access to safe and self-controlled methods of contraception. The public health system emphasizes permanent methods like sterilization, or long-term methods like IUD's that are provider dependent and require trained (health personnel). In fact, sterilization accounts for more than 75% of total contraception, with female sterilization accounting for almost 95% of all sterilizations. (Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in India, 2001) The idea of contraception is that it should be seen as a pillar of reproductive health rather than a means of population stabilization. Ideally, it should include spacing, safety and the health of mother and child. Presently, a plethora of contraceptive methods that are available India, with newer options intermittently introduced. There are oral pills (both low dose combined oral contraceptives and progestin-only contraceptives), the DMPA injectable contraceptive (which is excellent for mid-term spacing),Norplant implants, Intrauterine Devices (IUD's), condoms, vaginal creams and spermicides, and terminal methods such as female sterilization and vasectomy. Users have a range of methods of contraceptives from which to choose. But the question is, 'Can they make an informed choice? 'This means, when a person makes a freely thought-out decision based on accurate, useful information, it is called informed choice. How many couples have access to such information?
There are multiple benefits from informed choices: People use contraceptives longer if they choose the methods for themselves; access to a range of methods makes it easier for users to choose a method they like and to switch to other methods whenever needed. What's more, this process initiates a trusting partnership between users and providers and enables individuals and families to take more responsibility for their own health.
To make informed choices, people need ample, easy to grasp information about methods of contraception. An informed choice requires access to a range of methods and support for individual choice from social policies and community practices. The outcome should be a free, informed, conscious decision by the individual about whether or not she or he desires to obtain contraceptive services, and if so, what method or procedure she or he will choose and consent to receive!
The solution lies in providing information on safe, effective and tested contraceptive methods that have been used successfully in countries throughout the world. It also means a concerted effort by medical practitioners in the public and private sectors to disseminate correct, comprehensive and user-friendly information to women in the child-bearing age about the contraceptive options available to them. It further requires greater male participation in matters of maternal health, spacing and contraception as well as respectful dialogue amongst partners. Finally, it means that limiting family size is not the only objective, rather, complete reproductive health should be the target - which includes safe pregnancy, the well-being of mother and child, spacing options which allow a woman to plan her family effectively, general gynecological care, protection from sexually transmitted diseases (STD's) and their proper diagnosis and treatment. An underlying factor is improvement of the quality of counseling services to help women understand their reproductive requirements.
The increasing number of abortions proxy as evidence of widespread unmet needs for contraceptive methods and their apparent unavailability or inaccessibility. Therefore, the need for more options is already imperative. Meeting these needs permits women to exercise their reproductive rights and choose appropriate options from a basket of contraceptive choices.
Both Artur Victoria & Diepiriye S. Kuku-siemons are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Artur Victoria has sinced written about articles on various topics from Insurance, Organizational and Education. . Artur Victoria's top article generates over 9900 views. to your Favourites.
Diepiriye S. Kuku-siemons has sinced written about articles on various topics from Politics, Debts Loans and Medicine. Diepiriye S. Kuku-Siemons, MPH (Tulane) is a researcher/writer/consultant based in New Delhi, pursuing a PhD in Sociology focusing on urban sexuality and globalization. His primary areas of interest are Reproductive Health Justice and Public Health Commu. Diepiriye S. Kuku-siemons's top article generates over 3600 views. to your Favourites.