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The Right of Access to Information shall be restored at
the Parliament of Albania
October 12, 2006
According to the press release, the
Director for Public Relations at the Parliament of
Albania has notified the editorial offices of the
private media that starting from the date of October 11
2006, there shall be no direct broadcasting of the
plenary sessions of the Parliament of Albania. According
to this paper, taking this measure was reasoned with the
need of signing specific contracts with the private TV
stations.
Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC)
considers this not only as a hasty order, but also as a
move that is in contradiction with the right of access
to information based on the fact that public access to
uncensored information is guaranteed by international
instruments, the Constitution of the Republic of Albania
as well as the law on access to information in the
Republic of Albania.
Based on the article 79 of the
Constitution of the Republic of Albania, the
parliamentary meetings are open, with the exclusion of
the cases when holding in camera meetings is required
from the President of the Republic of Albania, the
Premier or 1/5 of the MPs and when this is voted by the
majority of the MPs.
Moreover article 105 of the Regulation of
the Parliament of Albania, stipulates that its activity
is open and is achieved through “…the coverage of the
activities of the parliament and its bodies in the print
and visual media”.
AHC estimates that any lack of clarity or
gap that could exist in the Regulation of the Parliament
or other provisions related to this issue should not
lead to issuing such orders.
AHC suggests to the Parliament of Albania
to urgently restore the violated right of access to
transparent information and not to condition it with the
drafting or adoption of formal or administrative
procedures.
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