What’s New
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30 January 2012
UK Issues Responses to Open Data Consultation
The United Kingdom government has posted the almost 500 responses to its consultation on open data. The “Making Open Data Real” effort was launched in August with an October deadline for answers to questions “aimed at informing Government’s strategy to embed transparency and open data as core operating principles of the public services,” according to […]
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27 January 2012
CSO Member to Help Chair OGP; Panama to Join
We have an #OGP civil society co-chair!! That’s Martin Tisne’s enthusiastic tweet about a development in the closed meeting of the governance subcommittee of the Open Government Partnership. The subcommittee met Jan 26 and 27 in Washington to work out further details of the unusual Steering Committee structure that includes both government and civil society […]
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27 January 2012
Sierra Leone Portal No Substitute for FOI Law, Advocates Say
Promises by Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma to pass a freedom of information law have resulted in no action, so when he announced a Transparency Sierra Leone portal Jan. 24 and said it would lead to an “unprecedented level of openness,” FOI supporters reacted with annoyance. Executive Director of the Society for Democratic Initiative, […]
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27 January 2012
Kenyan Draft FOI Bill Subject to More Review
The Kenyan Constitutional Implementation Commission has asked for further modifications of a draft freedom of information law, according to an expert who attended the meeting. A few issues proved contentious and a technical committee was asked to seek further submissions from stakeholders and to make further recommendations. Below are the main provisions on which the […]
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27 January 2012
FOI Notes: Open Data, Climate Change, FOI Survey
Accountability: One World Trust issues its latest report on accountability (pdf). The accountability framework methodology and indicators have been changed in 11 key ways. “These range from giving more weight to the role of top level strategy, changing the way in which we score (e.g. moving from a binary to a scaled scoring system), new […]
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27 January 2012
Ruling Underscores Need for RTI Bill in Pakistan
By Ikramul Hag and Huzaima Bukhari The writers are lawyers and visiting professors at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. This article first appeared Jan 17 in The News, and is reprinted by permission of the authors. “Every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject […]
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20 January 2012
OGP Seeks Input on Topics, Side Meetings for April
The Open Government Partnership is continuing its preparations for the April meeting in Brazil, putting out calls for suggestion of panel topics and “thematic side meetings.” The OGP also reminded member nations to submit short updates on their efforts to develop national action plans, which are due by the April 16-18 meeting in Brasilia. In […]
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19 January 2012
Hearings on South African Secrecy Bill to Start
The National Council of Provinces has announced plans to hold public consultations on the Protection of State Information Bill in all nine provinces. The NCOP’s 15-member ad hoc committee is considering the bill following its passage in 2011 by the National Assembly. The NCOP’s committee is chaired by Raseriti Tau. The first hearing is Jan. […]
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19 January 2012
Indian Commission to List Pending Cases on Website
The Indian Central Information Commission has started making public on its website a list of pending cases. The new feature, at the top of left column, began Jan. 9 and will be updated monthly. Shailesh Gandhi, one of the five central information commissioners, said this will “reassure citizens that there is fairness in taking up […]
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13 January 2012
OGP to Hire Civil Society Coordinator; Costa Rica Joins
The Open Government Partnership is advertising for a coordinator of civil society organizations and Costa Rica has joined, making the OGP a 51-nation multilateral effort to promote transparency. Hivos, a Dutch development organization “guided by humanist values,.” is doing the hiring for the new position. (Read the job description here. Applications, which will be made public, […]
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13 January 2012
Argentina: Opening Up the Governance of the Judiciary
By Natalia Torres Torres is Senior Researcher at the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information (CELE) in Argentina. See this article Spanish. At the end of December 1999 the National Congress approved the National Law of Ethics in the Practice of Public Functions. This established, among other things, a process […]
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13 January 2012
Argentina: abriendo el gobierno de la justicia
Por Natalia Torres Investigadora Principal del CELE, Centro de Estudios en Libertad de Expresión y Acceso a la Información (See this article in English.) A fines de diciembre de 1999 el Congreso de la Nación aprobó la Ley Nacional de Ética en el Ejercicio de la Función Pública que establecía, entre otras cosas, un régimen para […]
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13 January 2012
US Creating FOI Portal for All Agencies
The United States is nearing creation of a multi-agency portal that automates freedom of information processing and reporting, stores FOIA requests and responses in a repository and keeps records electronically, according to a blog post on the site of the national FOIA ombudsman. The site to go live in the fall of 2012 will allow […]
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13 January 2012
Debate Over UK FOI Act Reform Building
The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Justice has indicated new entities to be covered by the Freedom of Information Act, one of many changes being contemplated as part of a major ongoing government review. The Campaign for Freedom of Information is gearing up its efforts to monitor and influence the review. A recent blog post by the […]
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13 January 2012
Dunion Makes Case for Scottish FOI Reforms
Outgoing Scottish Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion has urged reform of the 2002 Scottish freedom of information law, making his case in a report and warning that Scotland is in danger of falling behind other countries. Public awareness of FOI rights are at an all-time high, he said, but authorities are failing to deal with requests properly […]
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13 January 2012
June Passage of FOI Bill in Philippines Predicted
The version of freedom of information legislation supported by Philippines President Benigno Aquino is being called the People’s Ownership of Government Information bill, or POGI, which is Filipino slang for handsome, and supporters continue to be hopeful it will pass, although some have expressed concern that it is not officially on the list of bills […]
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13 January 2012
UAE Announces Plans to Publish Data
The United Arab Emirates has announced plans to publish more data, according a Jan. 9 report in Gulf News.com by Zaher Bitar. The federal government “has urged its ministries and departments to publish more open data on their websites to enhance e-readiness and help promote the concept of open government, one of the pillars of […]
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13 January 2012
FOI Notes: Budgets, World Bank, UK, Job
Budget Transparency: The International Budget Partnership has just published Working Papers that “address some of the gaps in the literature” on budget transparency , and verify the usefulness of its Open Budget Index as a measure of budget transparency. “As subnational governments are increasingly charged with implementing government spending, a clear understanding of where, when, […]
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6 January 2012
Ghana Parliament Questioned on Missing RTI Report
Amnesty International Ghana on Jan. 6 called on the Parliamentary Task Force on Right to Information to report, as promised, on public consultations about a long-pending RTI bill. Parliament held nationwide consultations on the bill last summer and was expected to prepare a report. “Amnesty International (and indeed the Coalition on the Right To Information) is […]
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6 January 2012
OGP Issues Invitation for CSO Participation in April Meeting
The Open Government Partnership has invited applications from civil society organizations (CSOs) for participation in the OGP April meeting in Brazil. The OGP has clarified that contrary to earlier indications, the CSO representatives, possibly more than 100, will be allowed to participate in all sessions at the meeting. In addition, the OGP has issued guidance […]