Access to information on 28 September: how open data can resist false claims

A date with practical meaning

The International Day for Universal Access to Information is observed on 28 September. UNESCO established it in 2015, and the UN General Assembly recognised it globally in 2019. The 2026 conference runs from 28–30 September in Sierra Leone and focuses on information integrity in the digital age.

The right of access means more than being allowed to send a request to an authority. It includes timely publication of budgets, statistics, decisions, registers and methods in forms that people can find, download, compare and verify.

Why an open web page is not necessarily open data

A document can formally sit on a website while remaining unusable: an unsearchable scan, a table embedded in an image, a file without an update date or a figure without a method. That creates the appearance of transparency without making the conclusion reproducible.

For journalists and readers, a reliable dataset should answer four questions: who created it, when it was updated, how the measure was produced and whether earlier versions remain visible. Those signs help distinguish a correction from a silent substitution and a fact from an interpretation.

How this resists false claims

Open primary data narrows the space for manipulation because a dispute can return to a source that others can check. It does not remove the need for editorial work: figures still require context, comparison and clear explanations of their limits.

Sources: UNESCO on the International Day for Universal Access to Information and the UNESCO 2026 programme.