Publication and Free Access to Information; A System with Burnt Data

The judiciary and security, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies are unwilling to cooperate with the government's 'Publication and Free Access to Information' initiative, and a member of parliament states that the news and information available in this system are 'burnt.' The 'Publication and Free Access to Information' system was launched in July of last year by the government of Hassan Rouhani, with the presence of the Ministers of Culture and Communications and Information Technology. However, an examination of the documents, records, and information published in this system shows that there is no significant or up-to-date information available. Gholamali Jafarzadeh Eymani Abadi, a representative from Rasht in the tenth parliament, explained a few weeks ago why this situation exists, stating that 'many people fear transparency in the country.' Eymani Abadi, known for his candid remarks, added that 'the reason for the fear of transparency is that many of our activities are problematic.' This member of the Independent faction of parliament further stated that 'activating the free access to information system is merely to check a box. It is a superficial and contentless task.' According to this parliament member, 'there is no one to come and grade this system to see if it is functioning correctly or if it even lives up to its name or is merely just a system.' He also noted, 'Today, I can assert with certainty that this system contains burnt information and news.' What is the 'Publication and Free Access to Information' system? What is its purpose? What does it aim to do? Who manages it? What has its performance been over the past year? And how has the public responded to this system? This report attempts to provide clear and direct answers to each of these questions. The introduction of this system requires a prerequisite called the definition of the 'Freedom of Information Law' in the Islamic Republic. The law on the publication and free access to information was approved by the parliament in 2008 and was confirmed by the Expediency Discernment Council in 2009 after opposition from the Guardian Council, with the drafting of its executive regulations and their issuance taking until 2015. This law states that every Iranian citizen can access all non-classified government information. The Ministry of Culture of Hassan Rouhani's government also took steps to implement this law by launching the 'Publication and Free Access to Information' system in July 2017. The composition of the 'Publication and Free Access to Information' Commission is as follows: a - Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance (Chairman of the Commission) b - Minister of Communications and Information Technology or relevant deputy c - Minister of Intelligence or relevant deputy d - Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics or relevant deputy e - Head of the Organization for Management and Planning of the Country or relevant deputy f - Head of the Administrative Justice Court g - Head of the Cultural Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly h - Secretary of the Supreme Council of Information Technology. This system allows anyone to request any 'non-confidential' information and statistics from any agency or institution after registration. The 'Freedom of Information Law' and its associated system have now been operating with this approach for over a year, but as Eymani Abadi stated, these activities and the information available in the system are not impressive. Currently, this system contains not very important information from some official statistics, regulations, contracts, guidelines for public participation in the execution of the organization's powers, mechanisms for citizens' complaints about decisions and actions, administrative documents, and correspondence, many of which lack specific value. Major absentees from the system: Investigations show that to date, one year after the launch of this system, out of 646 executive branch agencies, 343 agencies and out of 10 legislative branch agencies, only eight agencies have connected to this system. From 11 judicial branch agencies, only one agency has connected to this system, indicating the weak presence of these agencies in implementing the law on publication and free access to information. These investigations also show that all 31 provincial governors have connected to this system, but out of 89 municipalities in the country, only 17 municipalities have joined this system. Among other governmental, administrative, and of course religious and military institutions, which number 427, only 40 agencies have joined this system. The Astan Quds Razavi, Astan of Hazrat Masoumeh, the Foundation of the Oppressed, the Al-Mustafa International University, the Executive Headquarters of Imam's Order, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, and the Law Enforcement Force are among the most important institutions for which no information is available in this system, and they have not cooperated with this system so far. The Guardian Council, the Expediency Discernment Council, the Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, the Policy Council of Friday Prayer Leaders, the Supreme National Security Council, and the Army can also be named as major absentees in this system. These institutions and agencies, despite repeated announcements from government officials and requests for information registration, have refrained from registering in this system and providing their information. Many of these institutions have also not cooperated in the government's citizen rights project and have not been mentioned in the recently published detailed report on citizen rights. This report implicitly names the IRGC, police, security and intelligence agencies, and Friday prayer leaders as the most important factors in preparing the report on the status of citizen rights in 31 provinces of Iran. The statistics and documents available in the system are categorized and published in 11 sections upon request from applicants, some of which we will review together. In the section of official statistics, about 20 documents have been published, the most important of which are statistics on Iranian and foreign games and statistics on fatalities from 1989 to 2006. In the section of contract information, 30 documents have been published, detailing the insurance contract for Arbaeen pilgrims and the housing projects in Kermanshah province as the most important ones. In the section of regulations and guidelines, 54 documents have been published, with the Press Law, collection of fees in municipalities across the country, and laws regarding the Ministry of Agriculture's organizations among the most important of these documents. In the section 'Participation of Individuals in the Powers of Organizations,' no documents are seen. In the section 'Types of Information and Access Procedures,' only two documents are available, and in the section 'Goals, Policies, and Guidelines,' six documents have been published. The section 'Powers and Duties of Senior Officials' has three documents published, and in the section 'Administrative Documents and Correspondence,' 25 documents are seen. All these documents and records are the result of more than a year of activity of this system, many of which can be found with a simple search on government websites. The status of requests and responses in the system shows that the names of 379 institutions and agencies are visible, each of which has one person responsible for responding to requests and inquiries from applicants. Recent surveys show that over the past year, more than two thousand people have registered in this system from Tehran province and have submitted a total of 359 requests. Most of these requests, with 251 cases, pertain to 'contract information.' Isfahan is the second province with 315 registrations and 120 requests, and Hormozgan province is third with 102 registrations and 68 requests. Sistan and Baluchestan province is at the bottom of the table with 43 registrations and three requests, and Ilam province is in the thirtieth place with 20 registrations and three requests. The summary of the status of requests in 31 provinces shows that so far more than five thousand and one hundred people have registered in this system and more than two thousand and nine hundred requests have been made. The questioned institutions have provided about two thousand four hundred and fifty responses to applicants during this period, with an average response time of 48 days. During this time, 305 complaints have been filed against institutions, of which only 130 have been addressed and responded to. In this system, 17 complaints have been registered against the Central Bank, 19 against the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, and seven against the Ministry of Energy. The Hormozgan Governorate has also topped the list of most complained institutions in this system with 65 complaints. Regarding the statistics of requests over the past year, investigations show that during this period, the parliament faced 47 requests, of which only eight were responded to. The Court of Audit and the Legal Deputy of the Parliament each faced seven and five requests, respectively, none of which received any response or reaction. In the executive branch, the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education faced 133 requests, responding to only 65 of them. The Central Bank responded to 128 out of 132 requests, and the Planning and Budget Organization responded to only 11 out of 72 requests. The evaluation of the system indicates that the overall performance of government institutions in the past year regarding responsiveness has been 'good,' and many of them have had acceptable activity during this period. As reported by the officials of this system, 104 individuals in the past year deemed the responses of 98 questioned institutions as 'insufficient.' 240 individuals expressed satisfaction with the responses, and 139 individuals stated that the responses of institutions to their inquiries were 'unrelated' to the subject. Among the 98 responding institutions, only the Ministry of Interior is noted, with 17 individuals not finding the responses of this institution satisfactory, and 45 individuals stating that the responses of this ministry were 'unrelated' to the subject of their inquiries. The Central Bank is the second institution where seven individuals deemed its responses insufficient, and four individuals stated that these responses were 'unrelated,' with only two individuals satisfied with the responses. Regarding the responses from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, six individuals found these responses insufficient, and two individuals stated that the responses were unrelated, with no users expressing satisfaction with this ministry's responses. In the case of the Ministry of Energy, five individuals stated they were not satisfied with the responses. None of the inquiries, responses, and complaints registered in this system are accessible to the general public, and Iranians abroad are also not allowed to submit any requests or inquiries to the institutions of the Islamic Republic due to certain restrictions and conditions of the system.