What’s New
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25 September 2014
European Union Institutions Need Transparency
By Sophie in ‘t Veld The author is a member of the EU Parliament from the Dutch social liberal party Democrats 66 and of the ALDE group in the European Parliament. This article first appeared in EurActiv.com. Sir Humphrey Appleby to Prime Minister Jim Hacker: “Open government, Prime Minister. Freedom of information. We should always tell the press freely and […]
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25 September 2014
Battling for Right to Know in South Africa
By Catherine Kennedy and Piers Pigou Kennedy is the Director of the South African History Archive. Pigou is a member of the SAHA board of trustees. This commentary was published first on Sept. 23 in The Mail and Guardian. As information activists around the world mark International Right to Know Day on Sunday, there seems […]
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25 September 2014
FOI Notes: RTK Day, Environmental and Legislative Transparency, Much More
International Right to Know Day, Sunday, Sept. 28: See FOIA Advocates Events map. (Spanish) Find more resources for International Right to Know Day here. (Spanish) Environmental Transparency: A survey on open data and climate change is being conducted by the Belmont Forum E-Infrastructure & Data Management Collaborative. United Kingdom: BBC’s Martin Rosenbaum reports on the […]
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22 September 2014
No FOI Legislation Until 2016, Bahamas Minister Says
A freedom of information act for the Bahamas won’t be ready before spring of 2016, Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald said recently, disappointing FOI supporters. The was termed a “damn shame” by Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) Chairman Robert Myers, saying he was “very disappointed,” according to one news article. Fitzgerald said […]
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22 September 2014
Two New Commissioners Appointed in Bangladesh
An academic and a retired public servant have been named as members of the Bangladesh Information Commission. Nepal Chandra Sarkar, who served as the first secretary to the Commission when it was formed in 2009, but was elsewhere in government recently was one appointee. The other is Khurshida Begum Syed, a professor of government and […]
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18 September 2014
Reaching 100 FOI Laws, Movement Looks to Future
By Toby McIntosh This article also appeared Sept. 19 in The Guardian. Paraguay on Sept. 18 became the 100th country in the world to have freedom of information law, a milestone for Paraguay and for the transparency movement. A bedrock of government openness, FOI laws (also called right to know or access to information laws) […]
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18 September 2014
UN Lacks of Freedom of Information
By Matthew Russell Lee The author is senior reporter at Inner City Press, which focuses on the UN, where this article first appeared. It references a recently started organization, the Free United Nations Coalition for Access (FUNCA). UNITED NATIONS, September 15 — The UN’s lack of accountability, from bringing cholera to Haiti to using as “peacekeepers” […]
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16 September 2014
New India Government Disappoints on Transparency
By Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri The writers are social activists working on issues of transparency and accountability in governance. This commentary first appeared Sept. 12 in Indian Express. Achhe din, meaning good days, are coming was the slogan of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 Indian general election, coined by BJP’s Prime Ministerial […]
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16 September 2014
Senate Judiciary Schedules Meeting on FOIA Legislation
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a Sept. 18 meeting at which one agenda item is S.2520, the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014. Under Senate rules, a matter may be “held over” to the next meeting at the request of any committee member, so there is a possibility that approval of the bill will be […]
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15 September 2014
FOI Notes: Transparency Research, Open Contracting, Global Conference Invites Papers
Transparency Research: A new version of the #OpenGovNow portal includes data from a survey conducted in 62 countries to measure perceptions and demand for openness. Country by country data is available on the answers to the questions of “How open is your government?” and “Do you want your government to be more open?” It also includes […]
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13 September 2014
OGP Moving Toward Approval of Revised Civic Space Policy
By Toby McIntosh The Open Government Partnership is nearing approval of a policy to address complaints that some member governments are interfering with nongovernmental organizations or reducing fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression. The so-called “response space” policy, to be discussed by the Steering Committee Sept. 25, has been modified during nine months of […]
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11 September 2014
FOI Center of Armenia Issues Comprehensive Evaluation
Using a new and comprehensive assessment tool, the Freedom of Information Center of Armenia has evaluated and compared the level of transparency and openness of the Armenian government bodies. The center used 53 criteria to create the transparency ratings and plans to repeat the study annually. Thirty-seven state administration bodies were evaluated this year including […]
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11 September 2014
Appointments Said to Violate New Law in Sierra Leone
The appointment of a government appointee as the first chief information commissioner and the selection of an executive secretary for the commission by the president of Sierra Leone violate the new law, according to Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, Executive Director of the Society for Democratic Initiatives. In a letter to President Ernest Bai Koroma, Abdulai said […]
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11 September 2014
TI UK Issues Report on National Security, Access
A new report from Transparency International UK’s Defence and Security Programme “calls for better legislation that balances national security concerns with the public right to access information,” according to a Sept 11 press release. “A strong defence and security sector can coexist with the ability of citizens to access to information and hold leaders to […]
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11 September 2014
Praise for New Access Law in Mexican State of Coahuila de Zaragoza
The following report on the new law in the Mexican state of Coahuila was prepared by the state information commission. Along our history and mainly in the last decade, the Mexican society is fighting to demonstrate its indeclinable will of progressing in our country’s democratic life, developing and strengthening the fundamental principles of plurality, freedom of expression […]
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11 September 2014
Ghana Parliamentary Panel Praised for Passing RTI Bill
A committee of Ghana’s Parliament has recommended a right to information bill, making changes that were welcomed by the RTI Coalition. The Coalition in a statement praised the “good work” of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, chaired by Nadowli West and in-coming Majority Leader, Alban Bagbin. They involved civil society […]
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11 September 2014
OGP Group Proposes Draft Open Data Charter
A draft international Open Data Charter is being proposed by the Open Government Partnership Open Data Working Group Steering Committee. “This Charter is based on the principles of the G8 Open Data Charter,” according to an announcement which continued, “It has been lightly revised from the original G8 language to make it more internationally focused.” […]
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11 September 2014
New Moroccan Proposal Weaker Than Before
The latest version of Morocco’s draft right to information law (Draft Law No. 31.13) “is substantially weaker than the draft published in August 2013,” according to an analysis by the Centre for Law and Democracy. An assessment of the draft Law using the RTI Rating assessment tool (www.RTI-Rating.org) gives the latest draft 65 points out […]
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11 September 2014
FOI Notes: Drafting Advice, Gaps, Peru, US, UK, New Zealand, UNCITRAL
Legislation: Generic advice for drafters of transparency legislation by Daniel Shuman, policy director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a non-profit organization in Washington. He makes eight main points: Understand the context Use flexible implementation authority Create external checks on implementation Make information public by default Build in feedback loops Keep close […]
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10 September 2014
Why FOIA’s Loophole Needs Legislative Suture
By Lauren Harper The author is a research assistant at the National Security Archive focusing on FOIA advocacy and open government, as well as on U.S.-Iraq relations. This article originally appeared in The Brechner Report. The Tampa Tribune reporter Howard Altman submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Veterans Affairs earlier this year to learn the […]