What’s New
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9 October 2014
FOI Notes: OGP Research Call, Resource Transparency, Open Data, UK, US, Brazil
Open Government Partnership: The Transparency and Accountability Initiative is seeking research proposals on: when and how are pro-reform actors able to leverage OGP – its processes, spaces and resources – to pursue improved government responsiveness and accountability? Due date is Oct. 27. Resource Transparency: The Resource Governance Index finds that only 11 of the countries—less than […]
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9 October 2014
The Pre-Election State of FOI in the UK
By Paul Gibbons The author writes the FOIMan website where this article was published Oct. 8. It seems like only yesterday that I coined the hashtag #saveFOI when, provoked by the launch of the government’s post-legislative scrutiny, it seemed that everybody and their uncle wanted to pile in with their FOI horror stories. And a […]
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9 October 2014
Is alleged misconduct by a public official deserving of privacy protection?
By Peter Timmins The author writes the Australian website Open and Shut, where this article was published Oct. 6. A companion article Oct. 7 says that when it comes to the the performance of normal governmental functions, sensitivity about disclosing names of officials “should usually take a back seat to transparency, responsibility and accountability. I’d […]
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8 October 2014
DRC Civil Society Mobilizing to Demand ATI Law
By Longendja Isa Mboyo Henri Christin The author is the Executive Director of CODHOD, Executive Director of COLLECTIF 24. This is a chapter in a recently issued State of Right to Information in Africa Report 2014 and is reprinted with permission. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.) Apart from the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the […]
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7 October 2014
Slovenian Court Invalidates Part of Transparency Law
The Constitutional Court of Slovenia has suspended part of a recently passed law mandating that state-owned banks release data on all bad loans on their books. The court did not suspend a requirement that banks publish information about bad loans transferred to the so-called Bad Bank, the new public sector Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC) […]
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7 October 2014
Mexico’s Federal Prosecutor Must End Secrecy over San Fernando Massacres
By Jesse Franzblau and Emi MacLean Franzblau is a writer working with the National Security Archive, an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. MacLean is a legal officer for freedom of information and expression with the Open Society Justice Initiative. This article first appeared Sept. 25 on […]
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2 October 2014
Africa’s Progress on RTI Assessed in Two Reports
Two key groups advocating for right to information laws in Africa have issued detailed reports, both calling for intensified efforts to continue progress and taking a close look at national situations. The Africa Freedom of Information Centre Sept. 29 launched its first State of the Right to Information in Africa Report. The report is on […]
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1 October 2014
Criticisms Mount Against South African Government
The Right2Know Campaign in South Africa Sept 28 called on President Zuma to refuse to sign the controversial “secrecy bill” that has been on his desk for 316 days and questioned the government’s leadership role in the Open Government Partnership. The Right2Know Campaign also urged Parliament to revoke the apartheid-era 1982 Protection of Information Act and to write a new classification […]
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1 October 2014
Article 19 Criticizes Draft Moroccan RTI Legislation
The new Moroccan Draft Law No 31.13 on the Right of Access to Information “fails to adequately recognise the right to information and threatens free expression,” according to Article 19. “The new draft is significantly weaker than previous versions,” said the British freedom of expression group, which had reviewed the previous two drafts of the bill. […]
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1 October 2014
Two Pakistani Provinces Resisting New RTI Laws
The bureaucracies in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) are offering “stiff resistance” to the new right to information laws, according to the Centre for Peace and Development Initiative (CPDI). Information was withheld in over 87 per cent of the requests, the group said. CPDI sent in 924 information requests to the governments […]
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1 October 2014
New Paraguay FOI Law Culmination of Campaign
By Jonathon David Orta This report was published by the Knight Center for Journalism at the University of Texas and is reprinted with permission. On Sept. 18, Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes signed the country’s first freedom of information (FOI) law, making it the 100th country in the world to pass similar legislation. Officially titled the […]
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1 October 2014
FOI Notes: Commentary, UN Agenda, E-Access, Kenya, Wood Carving
Commentary: The Centre for Law and Democracy addresses the passage of the 100th RTI law. Among other observations: One hundred RTI laws is a momentous achievement but, amidst the celebrations, we must bear in mind that this represents only about half of the world’s countries. In other words, the average RTI law still lacks nearly […]
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1 October 2014
Indian Court Reverses Ruling on Requester Justifications
The Madras High Court in India has reversed its ruling that justifications must be supplied for requests, saying that it had overlooked a contrary provision in the law. The Sept. 23 reversal deleted two paragraphs from its Sept. 17 ruling. (See previous Freedominfo.org report.) The court said: 2. In the said […]
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30 September 2014
Progress, But Still Problems, Says Serbian Commissioner
This article, published Sept. 30, is reprinted with permission from infoserbia.com. BELGRADE – Serbia has made certain progress in the area of freedom of access to information of public importance, but the fact that the office of the commissioner for information of public importance and personal data protection continues to receive a large number of […]
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25 September 2014
OGP Celebrates Anniversary, OKs Civic Space Policy
The Open Government Partnership Sept. 24 celebrated its third anniversary with speeches from world leaders and civil society representatives praising the now 65-nation effort. US President Barrack Obama, Mexican President Peña Nieto and 9 other heads of state attended, along with over 30 ministers and more than 300 civil society leaders from around the world, […]
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25 September 2014
Tanzanian President Pledges FOI Law in February 2015
The president of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, said Sept. 24 that a freedom of information bill would be approved in February, 2015. His commitment came at a meeting in New York commemorating the third anniversary of the Open Government Partnership (video link). In October 2013 at the OGP summit in London, he had pledged to pass a […]
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25 September 2014
Deadlocked EU transparency reform finds new impetus
By James Crisp This article first appeared in EurActiv.com. At the end of the article are many links. EXCLUSIVE: The new European Commission must look again at the European Union’s deadlocked transparency regulation and push through long-delayed reforms, the EU Ombudsman, MEPs and activists have said. Embarrassing court defeats for the European Commission and Council, […]
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25 September 2014
Indian Court in Madras Says Requests Must By Justified
The Madras High Court in India has ruled that applicants must give reasons for seeking information under the right to information act. The judgment was delivered by Justices N Paul Vasanthakumar and K Ravichandrababu while hearing a challenge to the Central Information Commission direction to the High Court to provide certain information, according to news articles […]
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25 September 2014
Malawi Government Delays Action on FOI Legislation
A freedom of information law for Malawi has been delayed. Minister of Information and Civic Education Kondwani Nankhumwa recently said that action will not be taken during the current session of Parliament. The bill remains under review by the Ministry of Justice, he said, according to a news report in the Malawi Nyasa Times. “We […]
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25 September 2014
Kenyan Draft Law Faulted in Analyses by Two Groups
A draft freedom of information law for Kenya (text) has been critically reviewed critiqued by two international organizations. “Although the draft is relatively robust,” according to one analysis, “it is significantly weaker than the version which was proposed in 2012. The Attorney General submitted the draft bill, and the legislation remains under consideration in the […]