G-20: “After feedback through the C20 Conversations platform, the final position papers for the four C20 working groups are now online. You can read the papers now around:
These position papers will form the basis for discussions at the C20 Summit and the key recommendations from civil society to the G20 in 2014. Find out more about the program and speakers here.
The governance paper emphasizes action on beneficial ownership, tax transparency and anti-corruption ?tools including open bidding processes, the public disclosure of all contracts and licences as well as revenue and budget transparency. Also mentioned is requiring oil, gas and mining companies to publish payments made to governments on a country-by-country and project-by-project basis. equivalent to the EU Accounting and Transparency Directives. G20 members should ramp up efforts to combat foreign bribery, the paper also says.
Environment: The Environmental Democracy Index is a diagnostic tool, legal index, and interactive map being developed by The Access Initiative (TAI) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) to assess the status of a country’s laws against the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Guidelines for the development of national legislation on access to information, public participation, and access to justice on environmental matters
United States: The groupReinvent Albany says New York City could save $23 million by using a citywide, online database to track and respond to Freedom of Information Law requests from the public, then publish the responses to those requests online.
United States: A new weekly round-up of FOI news, by David Schick for the Society of Professional Journalists.
United States: “The Environmental Protection Agency is testing and piloting a suite of e-discovery tools to both bolster its litigation support and to help the agency respond to an upsurge of Freedom of Information Act requests,” according to an article by John Moore.
Research: A guide to monitoring and evaluation.
Employment:The Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) is seeking an energetic Executive Director with strong leadership, management and collaboration skills, to build on the OCP’s achievements and brand, and lead the Partnership in further developing and promoting its mission. Please access the full job announcement here
Pakistan/Video: RTI in Punjab is the subject of this short video.
Stupid FOIA requests: Advice on handling stupid requests by UK blogger Tim Turner.
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