6HSWHPEHU 3UHDPEOH Remembering the 1991 Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press and viewing the significant progress that has been made in the past 20 years on freedom of expression, access to information and the free flow of information; Stating that access to information (ATI) is the right of all natural and legal persons, which consists of the right to seek, access and receive information from public bodies and private bodies performing a public function and the duty of the state to prove such information; Emphasising that access to information is an integral part of the fundamental human right of freedom of expression, essential for the recognition and achievement of every person’s civil, political and socio-economic rights, and as a mechanism to promote democratic accountability, good governance; Acknowledging that access to information is instrumental to fostering access to education and health care, gender equality, children’s rights, a clean environment, sustainable development and the fight against corruption; Recalling Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948, which guarantees that: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions with- 6R7KLVLV'HPRFUDF\" We, participants at the Pan African Conference on Access to Information, organised by the Windhoek+20 Campaign on Access to Information in Africa in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Cape Town, South Africa, September 17 – 19, 2011: