Latest Features
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5 August 2013
Policy Research and Access to Information in Venezuela
The following post was first published in Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights, a blog hosted by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), “a unique resource for journalists, policymakers, scholars, activists and others interested in understanding Venezuelan politics and human rights.” The posting is an interview by David Smilde, moderator of the blog, a WOLA […]
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31 July 2013
Nigerian Judge Has It All Wrong
By Edetaen Ojo Ojo is Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda in Lagos, a former Chair of the Steering Committee of and a member of the Working Group of the African Platform on Access to Information (APAI).This article was originally published on the Media Rights Agenda website. In a recent ruling, his lordship, Justice Gabriel […]
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31 July 2013
Colonial Mindset Visible in RTI Responses
By Raja Muzaffar Bhat The author is an RTI / Social activist and the founder of J&K RTI movement. Reach him at muzaffar.rti@gmail.com. This article was originally published July 30 in Greater Kashmir. Background From the last nearly eight years I have been drafting applications under Right to Information Act (RTI) to seek information from different […]
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26 July 2013
Summer Reading: Will the Public Interest Test Prevail?
By Helen Darbishire Darbishire is Executive Director of Access Info Europe. For FOI Geeks interested in the application of the public interest test who also like a good quick read over the summer, there’s a recent decision that can compete with page-turning novels. There’s no sex, but we do learn about the intimate and very […]
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22 July 2013
How Does Government Secrecy Change?
By Steven Aftergood Aftergood is Director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. This article first appeared on the FAS blog, Secrecy News, on July 22. Sometimes it seems that the national security classification system is static, monolithic and hopelessly inert. But in fact it is relentlessly in motion, with […]
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22 July 2013
RTI Environment in Nepal Shows Positive Signs
By Anurudra Neupane The author is Program Manager at Freedom Forum. The interim constitution of Nepal has recognized Right to Information (RTI) as one of the fundamental rights of people. RTI Act 2007 and Rule 2009 help citizen exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to know. Though the posts of information commissioners are currently vacant, we […]
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19 July 2013
Indonesian FoI Commission Needs Strengthening
By Mohamad Mova Al’Afghani The writer is a member of the Indonesian FoI Network. He has a PhD in law from the University of Dundee, UK. This article originally appeared in the Jakarta Post. The House of Representatives has elected seven members to the National Freedom of Information (FoI) Commission who will serve for the […]
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19 July 2013
RTI in Nepal – A civil society perspective
By Pranav Bhattarai Pranav Bhattarai is the Chief Operating Officer of the Good Governance (GoGo) Foundation, Nepal Right to Information (RTI) is one of the eight basic consumer rights as per the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection. This is also an integral part of our Consumer Protection Act and one of the fundamental rights guaranteed […]
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19 July 2013
Steps Toward RTI in Pakistan Provinces Considered Inadequate
(The following article was prepared by the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) and summarizes a longer report.) Rhetoric aside, the PML-N (the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz) and PTI (the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) are awkwardly alike in denying the public the right to information as their provincial governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have […]
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14 June 2013
Cayman Islands Freedom of Information Review Was Private
By Brent Fuller The following article published June 13 is reprinted with permission from the Cayman Compass. A related report in FreedomInfo.org describes legislative action on proposed FOI amendments. A Caymanian Compass news story from December 2010 that caused considerable uproar among lawmakers and which led to calls for the newspaper to face criminal prosecution was apparently […]
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20 May 2013
Future of FOI Bill in Philippines Remains Up to Aquino
By Benjamin Diokno Diokno served as Secretary of Budget and Management from 1998 to 2001. He teaches Public Economics at the UP School of Economics. This article first appeared in the Malay Business Insight. Is President Aquino afraid of the Freedom of information (FOI) Act? During the 2010 presidential campaign, he said he fully supported […]
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10 May 2013
Moldova Not Implementing RTI Law, World Bank Reports
Little has been done to implement Moldova’s 2000 right to information law, according to a report prepared for the World Bank. “After almost a decade, the RTI system has been very inadequately institutionalized,” according to an examination of Moldova that was done as part of a broader World Bank report of the implementation of right […]
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22 April 2013
Model Access Law for Africa: A Response to Felt Need
By Gilbert Sendugwa Sendugwa is Coordinator & Head of Secretariat, Africa Freedom of Information Centre. The Model Law on Access to Information for Africa recently launched by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) an outcome of felt need and an inclusive process. The past decade marked an explosion of access to information […]
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19 April 2013
Right to information? You are in queue!
By Shailesh Gandhi Gandhi is a former commissioner at the central information commission. This article is reprinted with permission from GovernanceNow, where it was first run on April 17. “GovernanceNow is a multi-media initiative for participatory reportage and analyses related to governance of all institutions and processes that are vital to public life in India.” […]
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5 April 2013
Uganda Access Law Faces Many Challenges, Report Says
Implementation of Uganda’s law on access to information suffers because of weaknesses in the judicial system and a culture of secrecy, among many other factors, according to a detailed World Bank report. The report was written by Anupama Dokeniya, a World Bank staff member who also wrote a recent World Bank report on the implementation […]
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29 March 2013
UK FOIA Effective, According to Report by World Bank
The United Kingdom’s freedom of information act “is relatively effective and firmly entrenched,” according to an evaluation prepared for the World Bank. The 36-page report prepared by consultant Tom McClean is one of eight case studies prepared as part of a World Bank project on the implementation of right to information laws. (See previous FreedomInfo.org […]
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25 March 2013
Romanian FOI Law Is Well-Utilized, Report Says
Positive rulings from the courts have strengthened the 10-year-old Romanian freedom of information law and made it a well-used instrument, according to a new report funded by the World Bank. “The media and civil society embraced the law and have used its provisions to create positive legal precedents, good practices, and monitoring tools,” according to […]
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20 March 2013
Lack of Regulation Hampers Albanian RTI Law, Report Says
The Albanian right to information law is being hampered in a variety of ways, including by a lack of implementation regulations, according to a report prepared for the World Bank. A summary lists four main factors: – an administrative culture of secrecy and confidentiality persists,- – the government has not developed procedures for ensuring RTI […]
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8 March 2013
The Hobbit and Commercial Information: A Cautionary Tale
By Dani Gardiner Gardiner is a senior associate with the New Zealand law firm ChenPalmer. The recent decision of Ombudsman David McGee concerning The Hobbit documents stands as a reminder to businesses to exercise care when disclosing commercially sensitive information to the Government. The Ombudsman found that the Government was not entitled to withhold a […]
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7 March 2013
Access and Privacy: Where Do We Draw the Line?
By Robert Freeman Freeman is Executive Director of the Committee on Open Government, a unit housed in the New York State Department of State that oversees and advises the government, public, and news media on Freedom of Information, Open Meetings, and Personal Privacy Protection Laws. He was a close observer when the state of New […]