Background There is a strong history of collaboration between the UN and PICs on RTI, open government and good governance. In 2008, representatives from ten Pacific Island Forum Countries convened in Honiara, Solomon Islands for the first regional workshop on RTI legislation for Pacific Government officials.10 This workshop was organized by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat with the support of the UNDP Pacific Centre, and was intended to support work under the Pacific Plan. It brought together policy-makers and senior officials to discuss the value of RTI in strengthening and enhancing good governance in the Pacific region, as well as empowering participants to raise RTI awareness in their respective countries, share international best practice and standards in RTI lawmaking, and identify strategies for addressing some of the key practical issues that arise when implementing information disclosure regimes.11 Most recently in 2012, the UN Pacific Regional Anti- Corruption Project (UN-PRAC), a joint initiative of the UNDP and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was launched and has been working on RTI with PICs.12 UN-PRAC is supported by the Australian Government. Among UN-PRAC’s objectives are both the promotion of accession by PICs to UNCAC and assisting them in their effective implementation of the Convention. More specifically, UN-PRAC aims to assist PICs in meeting their commitments under UNCAC articles 5 and 10 to develop anti-corruption policies, practices and systems, as well as enhance transparency in public administration. In this respect, UN-PRAC provides responsive, demand-driven technical assistance to individual PICs in their development of RTI policies, laws and institutional frameworks, as well as capacity development support to existing national accountability institutions. An overview of the status of RTI in the Pacific region represents another important component of UN-PRAC’s continued support to PICs under the Pacific Plan and their implementation of UNCAC and SDG 16. It facilitates, in some measure, a stock-taking of the RTI advancements over the last 10 Rodrigues and Valemei, op.cit. 11 Ibid. 12 Pacific Office in Fiji. 2020. United Nations Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Project II. [online]. Available from: https:// www.pacific.undp.org/content/pacific/en/home/boperations/projects/effectivegovernance/Reg_UNPRAC.html
7
