What’s New
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21 November 2012
FOI Notes: African Model Law, Music, Jobs, Open Data
African Model Law: A posting on the Open Society Foundations website by Maxwell Kadiri & Chidi Odinkalu describes the effort to create a model RTI law for Africa. The report says that Pansy Tlakula, the Human Rights Commission’s special rapporteur on the right of access to information “has delivered” on the project begun in 2010. […]
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21 November 2012
FOI Notes: Latin America, Austerity and RTI, WikiLeaks
Research: A new study ranks the openness of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. To build the ranking 4 main factors were considered: 1) regulations (normatividad); 2) parliamentary labour (labor parlamentaria); 3) budget and administrative management (presupuesto y gestión administrativa) and 4) citizen participation and attention (participación y atención ciudadana). Factors have different weights (see […]
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19 November 2012
UK OGP Officials Exploring Corporate Transparency
Officials in the United Kingdom who are managing the UK’s leadership stint with the Open Government Partnership are exploring how to place more emphasis on corporate transparency. While always an area in which member countries were encouraged to make commitments, corporate transparency was rarely addressed in the national action plans. UK officials are at the early […]
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19 November 2012
President Obama Says Myanmar Plans to Join OGP
U.S. President Barack Obama Nov. 19 said he welcomed Myanmar’s intention to join the Open Government Partnership. In advance of Obama’s arrival, the Myanmar government pledged to join the OGP by 2016. Obama cited the move during a speech at the University of Yangon in Rangoon, saying, “And I very much welcome your government’s recent […]
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19 November 2012
Global RTI Index: Study’s Goals Clarified
By Sheila Coronel Coronel is the Toni Stabile Professor of Professional Practice, and Director, Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University Helen Darbishire and Toby Mendel make interesting points but seem to misunderstand the intent of my paper, “Measuring Openness: A Survey of Transparency Ratings and the Prospects for a Global Index.” […]
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16 November 2012
Evardone Pledges to Meet Again on Philippines FOI Bill
The Philippines’ House committee chairman who has delayed action on freedom of information legislation is promising it will be the only topic for a Nov. 27 meeting. Rep. Ben Evardone Nov. 16 said the FOI bill “will be our only agenda” when the committee meets, according to a text message reported on by the Inquirer. […]
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16 November 2012
Zimbabwe Considers Flawed RTI Constitutional Clause
A proposed constitutional provision on right to information would be too restrictive, according to RTI experts following the process. In particular, the latest draft would guarantee access to information held by a public body only when necessary for the exercise of other citizen rights. Such requirement would require a requester to justify the intended use, […]
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16 November 2012
Date Set for Committee Action on SA Secrecy Bill
Nov. 21 could be the date for a South African parliamentary committee to vote on the controversial secrecy bill, which has been revised again with the removal of several previous concessions. The reversals, which have drawn objections from the bill’s critics, would retain certain stiff penalties and drop language guaranteeing that the protection of state information bill […]
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16 November 2012
FOI Notes: United States, World Bank, Funding, More
United States: A Congressional Research Service report addresses government transparency. The report “assesses the meaning of transparency and discusses its scholarly and practical definitions. It also provides an analysis of the concept of transparency, with a focus on federal government transparency in the executive branch.”It is described by Steven Aftergood in a Secrecy News blog […]
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13 November 2012
Delay May Doom FOI Bill in Philippines House, Again
A committee of the Philippines House Nov. 13 failed to pass the much-delayed freedom of information bill prompting supporters to declare the bill not only dead, but “murdered.” Committee Chairman Ben Evardone forced the adjournment of the inconclusive meeting with a procedural move, thwarting Representatives supporting the bill, who had demanded a final vote, according […]
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12 November 2012
Mexican Senate Moving Closer to FOI Legislation
The Mexican Senate is considering significant changes to the Mexican freedom of information regime, most considered positive by FOI advocates, and getting to the stage where the specifics are being debated. The drafting of constitutional amendments and legislation is under way behind the scenes, according to several close observers of the process. The three major […]
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12 November 2012
OGP Plans December Meetings in London
The Open Government Partnership Steering Committee has scheduled a Dec. 4 meeting to consider a variety of organization topics, including fine-tuning its independent review mechanism and possibly settling on a revised strategic plan. Public comments on both matters were just posted on the OGP website. Also posted was a long summary of the civil society […]
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12 November 2012
FOI Notes: Conference, New Group, Anti-Corruption, Latin American Research, More
Conference: The Nov. 13 London Open Up! conference is being live streamed. Topics include “Open Development: Improving Service Delivery,” “Open societies, Open Economies,” and “Participation: empowering citizens to demand change.” Open Government: The new organization “Opening Government “ held an event in London Nov. 9-10 that began with a dinner at 10 Downing Street. A large […]
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9 November 2012
House Meeting May Decide Fate of FOI Bill in Philippines
Tuesday, Nov. 13, is looming as a potentially big day for freedom of information legislation in the Philippines. A House committee, after much delay, is scheduled consider the bill on that day. A leading supporter on the House said he is “optimistic” it will pass “as long as the chairman has the courage to support […]
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9 November 2012
Five ‘Late’ Governments Report on OGP Activities
Five governments that missed the April deadline to submit their Open Government Partnership national action plans have either submitted plans or are working on them, according to information provided by the OGP to FreedomInfo.org. The plans for two of the countries – Azerbaijan and Macedonia – are now posted (look under “related files”). The other […]
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9 November 2012
FOI Notes: Open Contracting, UK Data Strategy, Much More
Open Contracting: The first global meeting on open contracting is held in South Africa. See website here. The description says: Within the context of improved governance and service delivery, Open Contracting refers to norms, practices and methodologies for increased transparency and monitoring in public contracting, including contracts implemented by multilateral donors. Open Contracting begins with […]
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9 November 2012
Measuring Openness: Darbishire, Mendel Comment on Coronel Article
By Helen Darbishire and Toby Mendel Darbishire is Executive Director, Access Info Europe, and Mendel is Executive Director, Centre for Law and Democracy Sheila Coronel’s paper, Measuring Openness: A Survey of Transparency Ratings and the Prospects for a Global Index, is the first serious piece of research about the systems for assessing government openness which […]
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9 November 2012
Japan’s Nuclear Power Plants and Information Disclosure
By Lawrence Repeta Repeta teaches law at Meiji University and is a regular FreedomInfo.org contributor. The following report on a seminar includes information one speaker’s proposal that the Tokyo Electric Company, which operates several major nuclear power plants, be covered by Japan’s information disclosure law. He writes: The political stalemate described in my post of […]
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9 November 2012
Bulgarian Sports Minister Told to Supply Information
The Bulgarian sports ministry has been ordered to provide information about its contracts with the Bulgarian Ski Federation, and another sport-related transparency case is pending, according to information from the Access to Information Programme. The Ministry of Physical Education and Sports was instructed to provide information on all its contracts (their objects, prices, documents on […]
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7 November 2012
World Bank Proposes Loan for Tunisia With Access Clause
Improved access to information is a goal and condition of a proposed $500 million loan for Tunisia soon to be considered by the World Bank Executive Board. The goal established is for Tunisia to have granted “at least 25 requests for information by citizens” by the end of 2014.” This goal would be established if […]