Access to information empowers everyone, including those living in poverty, to exercise their rights and learn new skills. It helps people improve their lives and hold their governments accountable. But this essential target was missing from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and that hindered progress on other development goals. This cannot happen again.
Over the past few months, country representatives have met at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York to discuss the post-2015 agenda. The Post-2015 Development Agenda seeks to provide proposals for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new set of goals that will succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015.
Some of the proposed goals address economic inequality, unemployment, and health. But discussion on one vital issue has been missing: access to information.