Latest Features
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22 April 2014
Tackling Corruption in Armenia With High- and Low-Tech Tools
By Jed Miller The following article appeared April 15 on the Voices blog of the Open Society Foundations. Data publishing is just another form of news publishing. An aspiring government watchdog in Armenia is facing an uphill battle. Weak safeguards against corruption and a government-dominated media have led to widespread distrust of elected officials and […]
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11 April 2014
Las reformas de transparencia en México, Parte II
Por Jesse Franzblau El Senado de México ha terminado el proceso de evaluar 158 aspirantes, siete de los cuales estarán en el fundo de decisiones cruciales con respecto al gobierno abierto y el derecho a la verdad. Para los activistas por la transparencia y defensores de derechos humanos, la selección de los siete asientos del […]
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7 April 2014
Mexico selection of new IFAI important for migrant rights
By Jesse Franzblau This report was posted April 4 on Migration Declassified. It is the second in a series on Mexico’s FOI reforms and information relating to migrant rights. See first report in English, Spanish. Mexico’s Senate is now in the process of selecting the country’s new information commissioners who will be at the center of […]
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4 April 2014
China Deepens Its Disclosure Regime
By Jamie P. Horsley Horsley teaches at the Yale Law School China Law Center. Even as the Chinese Government continues to restrict freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it is gradually expanding the scope and depth of Chinese citizens’ access to government-held information in potentially significant ways. On March 17, 2014 China’s State Council […]
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4 April 2014
Mexican court orders a new review of massacre
By Michael Evans and Jesse Franzblau The following article was published March 28, 2014 in Migration Declassified, a project of the National Security Archive. In a case that with important ramifications both for access to information and for human rights investigations in Mexico, a federal judge declared last week that the country’s information commissioners can and should […]
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4 April 2014
Masacre de San Fernando: los familiares tienen derecho a saber por qué
Por Michael Evans y Jesse Franzblau Este artículo fue publicado 28 de marzo 2014 en Animal Político. En un caso de suma importancia con respecto al acceso a la información e investigaciones sobre derechos humanos en México, un juez federal declaró la semana pasada que los comisionados de IFAI pueden y están obligados determinar si […]
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4 April 2014
The Next FOIA Fight: The B(5) “Withhold It Because You Want To” Exemption
By Nate Jones Originally posted at the National Security Archive’s Unredacted blog on March 27, 2014. Candid remarks on b(5). Documents from The Department of State was Hiding This . Something troubling happened this Sunshine Week. At the 16th Annual National Freedom of Information Day at the Newseum’s Knight Conference Center, former White House Office of Information and Regulatory […]
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3 April 2014
African Conference Addresses FOI Implementation Issues
The following article is from the Media Rights Agenda website. A two-day Africa Regional Conference on Freedom of Information Implementation bringing together over 100 state and non-state actors from Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, was held in Abuja, Nigeria. The conference discussed and identified some emerging positive […]
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21 March 2014
Analysis of Oversight Mechanisms in Africa
By Gilbert Sendugwa Sendugwa is Coordinator & Head of Secretariat at the Africa Freedom of Information Centre. This analysis also is available in a Power Point version. It was presented at a regional conference on FOI implementation held March 18-19 in Abuja, Nigeria. The keynote speech was by Major General Chris Olukolde, “Protecting National Security […]
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14 March 2014
The Importance of RTI in Corruption fight
By Zibusiso Dube Dube is the Information Manager at Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA). He writes in his personal capacity. This article first appeared March 3 in Southern Eye. Zimbabwe’s terrible corruption has been laid bare for all to see. Chief executive officer (CEO) of Premier Services Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) Cuthbert Dube allegedly earned […]
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10 March 2014
Mexico’s Transparency Reforms, Part I: Migrant Rights and IFAI
By Michael Evans and Jesse Franzblau This article first appeared March 7 in Migration Declassified, a project of the National Security Archive, the parent organization of FreedomInfo.org. Clearing the decks after a recent overhaul of Mexico’s transparency regime, the Mexican Senate last week rejected a request by the current group of Federal Institute for Access to Information (IFAI) […]
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6 March 2014
Insuring transparency isn’t the cost of outsourcing
By Steve Wood Wood is the Head of Policy Delivery at the UK Information Commissioners Office. This article appeared in the ICO blog on March 5. As talk of austerity continues to echo through the corridors of the public sector, the value of cost savings grows ever-more attractive. And if a CBI report is to […]
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6 March 2014
Setting the stage for a Philippines FOI law
By Purple S. Romero and Jerryll Reyes The authors co-wrote a chapter on the “Politics of Freedom of Information Bill in the Philippines” in the book Room for Maneuver: Social Sector Policy Reform in the Philippines. The book, published by The Asia Foundation, will be launched on March 4. This article appeared originally March 1 […]
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4 March 2014
Freedom of Information in Ireland: changing of the guard
By Tony Lowes Lowes is a Director of Friends of the Irish Environment In what is a serious blow to Freedom of Information in Ireland, the newly appointed Information Commission and Ombudsman Peter Tyndall has withdrawn his predecessor’s appeal to the Supreme Court against a High Court judgment that the constitutional right to cabinet confidentiality […]
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21 February 2014
Ill wind in Canberra on the transparency front
By Peter Timmins This article appeared Feb. 20 in Timmins’ Open and Shut blog. It’s still summer, it is not completely dark and gloomy (this Freedom of Information disclosure by Defence to Sean Parnell of The Australian is one to keep hope alive) but these straws plucked from the mist are telling: Tone at the […]
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14 February 2014
`Insatiable’ Desire to Suppress Information in Malaysia
By Charles Santiago Santiago is a member of the Malaysian Parliament. This article first appeared Feb. 13 in The Malaysian Chronicle. After an intense fight of eight years, we lost the battle. The Federal Court dismissed our application for a judicial review of the Court of Appeal’s decision from accessing the concession agreement of water […]
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14 February 2014
ATI Used in Brazil to Get Access to Water
This report by Article 19 appears on the Article 19 website here. Freedom of expression and information are key in the battle to fight poverty and improve people’s lives. The availability and accessibility of information promotes transparency, ensures better governance and reduces inefficiency and corruption. Information gives people the opportunity to improve their own lives, participate […]
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7 February 2014
EU Council Obstructs Ruling on Transparency
By Staffan Dahllöf This article first appeared in Wobbing EU on Feb. 7. Dahllöf is a freelancer who regularly contributes to the website Wobbing EU. (FreedomInfo.org reported on the referenced October ruling.) The Council of the EU has classified its own reaction to a landmark ruling on transparency by the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg. […]
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24 January 2014
2013 – A Watershed Year for RTI Movement in Pakistan
By Zahid Abdullah Zahid Abdullah works for Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) and is also Coordinator of Coalition on Right to Information, (CRTI). 2013 will always be regarded as a watershed year for right to information movement in Pakistan. Although Pakistan was the first country in the South Asia to have introduced a […]
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22 January 2014
ECtHR extends case law on information on health risks
By Lieselot Verdonck Lieselot is a Ph.D. candidate at the Human Rights Centre, Faculty of Law of Ghent University. More information on the author can be found here. This article first appeared Jan. 20 on the blog Strasbourg Observer, which comments on developments in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights Over […]