A group of Nepalese civil society organizations and individual RTI campaigners have drawn an attention of SAARC secretariat to forward the agenda of promoting right to information to the 18th SAARC summit. Summit is going to be held in Nepal from 26-27 November 2014. They have opined that SAARC can lead the agenda promoting RTI in the reason. Reminding the previous commitments of SAARC to promote transparency and curb corruption they have objective of making transparent society can only be achieved if RTI get promoted in the reason. The letter of attention was handed over to the Secretary General of SAARC on 17 October 2014. freedom1 Forum Chairperson Taranath Dahal, Executive Director of National Law College, Dr. Ramkrisha Timalsina, President of GOGO Foundation Mr. Kedar Khadka, Executive Director of Citizens' Campaign for Right to Information, Mr. Tanka Aryal and former Secretary Mr. Shreeram Pant have signed the letter.
Freedom Forum is a prominent non-governmental organization in Nepal dedicated to institutionalizing democracy, protecting and promoting human rights, press freedom, freedom of expression, right to information, promoting audit accountability, open and accountable budget, public finance reforms, citizen engagement in public finance management and citizen participation in audit. Established in February 2005, the organization emerged in response to the political turmoil following Former King Gyanendra’s coup dated February 1, 2005, which imposed severe restrictions on media and democratic rights. A group of media professionals, legal experts, and academics founded Freedom Forum to safeguard Nepal’s hard-earned democratic freedoms during this repressive period.
