of expression and access to information are fundamental pillars of sustainable development and a cross-cutting means of supporting the agenda’s implementation. Thus, the SDGs recognise that access to information is not a development outcome, it is a development catalyst. On our part, and through our role in the African Platform on Access to Information (APAI) campaign, we will make every effort to give life to the principles of the APAI Declaration. The Declaration speaks to the central role that access to information plays in furthering a number of rights including gender equality, health and education, which are all crucial to development. A victory for all citizens On Tuesday, November 17, 2015 the 38th General Conference of UNESCO adopted a resolution declaring September 28th International Day for Universal Access to Information. The resolution was the outcome of sustained campaigning by a global community of access to information advocates, spearheaded by the members of the Working Group of the APAI. As stipulated by the APAI Declaration: “... 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”. MISA heeds the call of the Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and its Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, Advocate Pansy Tlakula, to lobby the African Union (AU) to endorse this declaration. Indeed, it would be a fitting commemoration of 2016 as the Year for Human Rights. 4 So This is Democracy? 2015 Enjoy the read! Zoé Titus Regional Director zoe@misa.org