What’s New
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10 December 2004
Information Requests Reveal Destruction of Records by Administrative Agencies in Japan
Information Clearinghouse Japan, a non-profit organization, conducted an investigation based on information requests filed under the Japanese public information disclosure law regarding the destruction of official records before that law came into effect in March 2001. The records showed that at least ten agencies significantly increased their disposal of documents during fiscal year 2000, some […]
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5 November 2004
Serbian Parliament Adopts Access Law
The Serbian National Assembly, in its Plenary Session on November 2, 2004, adopted the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance. The Law will enter into force eight days after its publication in the Official Gazette of Serbia. The Law establishes the right of free access to information in the possession of public […]
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30 June 2004
FILM: Right to Information
BACKGROUND NOTE ON THE DOCUMENTARY ON THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION MOVEMENT IN INDIA The MKSS has had a series of films made to document various aspects of its work. The most successful campaign run by the MKSS was the Right to Information campaign. The campaign had a modest beginning as an effort to document that […]
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30 June 2004
The Right to Know is the Right to Live: Profile of a Remarkable Peoples’ Movement in India that Links Information to Livelihood
The pioneering right-to-information work of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in India has won remarkable victories in the struggle against corruption, both at the village and national levels, according to the latest case study posted today by the freedominfo.org virtual network of international openness advocates. Compiled and edited by MKSS member Vivek Ramkumar, a […]
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30 June 2004
Beyond Democratic Rights and Electoral Reform Campaigns: Challenges Dacing Non-Party Political Movements
by Vivek Ramkumar Download the entire report in Adobe PDF format (40 pp.) Beyond Democratic Rights and Electoral Reform Campaigns: Challenges facing Non Party Political Movements (360 KB) In India, people’s movements and grass roots campaigns have traditionally participated in the political process by articulating the needs of the poor and socially marginalized and by […]
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30 June 2004
Bibliography of MKSS Writings, Articles and Other Reports
The following documents are available for sale in a CD with the MKSS. To obtain a copy of this CD please contact the MKSS at mkssrajasthan@yahoo.com. From Information to Accountability – Reclaiming Democracy Survival And Right to Information – Gulam Rasool third memorial lecture by Aruna Roy Information, Democracy And Ethics – Aruna Roy (12th […]
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30 June 2004
MKSS Photo Gallery
PHOTO GALLERY OF THE MKSS Women resting in the tent put up by Jan Nithi Abhyan (JNA) and Akal Sangharsh Samithi (ASS) during a 10 day public meeting in the fall of 2003. The JNA was a campaign for a peoples’ manifesto launched by civil society groups from across Rajasthan including the MKSS in 2003 […]
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16 June 2004
Bulgaria’s Access to Information Program: Fighting for Transparency during the Democratic Transition
Changes in the information regime in Bulgaria have been slow and incremental since the fall of the communists in 1989. But the work of the Access to Information Programme, an NGO that has been at the forefront of the freedom of information movement in that country, has succeeded in opening up what was once one […]
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20 May 2004
Ecuador Enacts ‘Transparency and Access to Information Law’
By Carlos Osorio and Katherine Costar With refreshing democratic language, the new Ecuadorian Transparency and Access to Information Law establishes that "[a]ccess to information is a right of the person guaranteed by the State" and requires that government agencies proactively publish functional, operational and financial information. At the same time, a number of inconsistencies within […]
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14 May 2004
INDIA: The Largest Democratic Election in Human History
By Vivek Ramkumar The largest democratic election in human history ended yesterday in India. Most of the headlines today focused on the horse race, that is, the surprising defeat of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the return to power of the Congress Party. But the election process itself deserves attention, both for its extraordinary […]
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20 April 2004
Shanghai Advances the Cause of Open Government Information in China
While the Chinese State Council mulls over a draft of China’s first freedom of information legislation, the bustling metropolis of Shanghai, home to some 16 million people, adopted China’s first provincial-level open information legislation on January 20, 2004. The Provisions of Shanghai Municipality on Open Government Information (the Shanghai Provisions) represent the most comprehensive framework […]
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13 April 2004
The Transparency Labyrinth in Argentina
[See also: “The Freedom of Information Campaign in Argentina,” by Martha Farmelo, 14 OCTOBER 2003] A leader of Argentina’s openness movement, María Baron of the Centro de Implementacion de Politicas Publicas Para la Equidad y la Crecimiento, describes for freedominfo.org the reasons why President Nestor Kirchner decreed access to information rights in December 2003 (while […]
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23 February 2004
ARMENIA: Amendments threaten to undermine FOI law
Freedom of Information Civic Initiative Yerevan, 19.02.2004 STATEMENT Proposed amendments to the Armenian Law on Freedom of Information will undermine the right of access to information if adopted by the Armenian parliament. The amendments, to the FOI law adopted in September 2003, limit the information which should be made available under the law and provide […]
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20 February 2004
Armenia: Amendments Undermine FOI Law
The Freedom of Information Civic Initiative issued a public statement suggesting that the proposed amendments to the Armenian Law on Freedom of Information will undermine the right of access to information if adopted by the Armenian parliament. The amendments, to the FOI law adopted in September 2003, limit the information which should be made available […]
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7 February 2004
Jamaicans Using Access to Information Act
The Jamaica Observer reports that Jamaica’s landmark Access to Information Act has been getting plenty of use since it went into effect January 5. “Commendably, media houses are among the earliest applicants for official documents,” said information minister, Burchell Whiteman, noting that 56 applications were received in the first 24 days of the act. Whiteman, […]
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16 January 2004
JAPAN: Assembly Chief Leaks Requester’s Data
The Asahi Shimbun (Japan) reports on a Nagano man, who applied for the release of travel data on three assembly members who had gone on business trips using public funds, and found that government officials leaked his personal data to the very people he was requesting information on. The leaked data included the man’s name, […]