The APAI declaration. Photo: MISA Regional Secretariat images, 2014. Access to information and the African Platform on Access to Information MISA is the secretariat of the APAI Working Group and thus a driving force in the campaign, which continued to gain momentum in 2013. Following the APAI resolution in 2012 and after intensive lobbying efforts from MISA and its partners, the PanAfrican Parliament adopted the ‘Midrand Declaration on Press Freedom in Africa’, which further recognised the APAI Declaration, calling on African Union (AU) member states to review and adopt access to information laws. Also in 2013, Rwanda became the eleventh country in Africa to adopt an ATI law and the sixth country to do so since the APAI campaign was initiated. At an international level, representatives from MISA and the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC) travelled to Paris on behalf of the APAI working group, where they succeeded in placing APAI on 24 the agenda of a meeting of African delegates representing the Africa group within UNESCO, and pushing for it to be placed on the agenda of the next UNESCO executive board meeting. In addition to efforts at a policy level, the APAI working group undertook a research survey using the principles of the APAI Declaration as a benchmark to ascertain the current state of access to information in 15 African countries. The research was launched on International Right to Know Day, 28 September 2013 and supported by a continentwide awareness drive on the importance of effective ATI legislation. Campaign to repeal laws criminalising free speech In 2012, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, Pansy Tlakula, appointed MISA the regional focal point for a southern African campaign to repeal laws that criminalise free speech.