Latest Features
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22 August 2012
Liberian FOI Law Needs Support System
By JM Cassell JM Cassell is a former features editor of the New Liberian newspaper. He is currently the President of Quality Resource Solutions, LLC, a Walnut Creek, California based pharmaceutical quality assurance recruiting firm. He can be reached at monjue@gmail.com The Liberian government took an aggressively bold and somewhat courageous step recently by being the first West African […]
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15 August 2012
Push, Pass the FOI Act Now!
By the Right to Know, Right Now Coalition The following editorial ran in many paper in the Philippines July 15. In 1986 at EDSA, the first people power revolt ended 21 years of a government so dark and so opaque, and ushered in one of light and transparency. The strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos was […]
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15 August 2012
Botswana Editors Protest Government Resistance to FOI
By Spencer Mogapi Mogapi is chairman of the Botswana Editors Forum. Over the last few weeks the nation has been treated to varying and conflicting versions of what Freedom of Information Act is, who stands to benefit from it and why the country does not need such a law. During that time extraordinarily bizarre reasons have […]
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3 August 2012
Who Opposes the FOI Bill in the Philippines?
By Nepo Malaluan Malaluan is a Trustee at the Action for Economic Reforms and Co-Director of the Institute for Freedom of Information. He is also Co-Convenor of the Right to Know. Right Now! Coalition, a network of more than 150 organizations from various sectors that have long been campaigning for the passage of the Freedom […]
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30 July 2012
The South African Secrecy Bill; Taking Stock
By Caroline Stone Stone is an Advocate, Bar of England and Wales, specialising in public and employment law and was a Legal Resources Centre intern, Cape Town, in the Autumn of 2011. This article has previously been published on Constitutionally Speaking and Legalbrief Today. Progress at last? When two Nobel Laureates, an eminent constitutional lawyer […]
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27 July 2012
Access to Information in Colombia: 124 Years Later
By Natalia Torres Torres is Senior Researcher at the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information (CELE) in Argentina, and regular FreedomInfo.org contributor. See this article Spanish. If one were to set out to make a genealogy of the right to know movement in Latin America, the story begins with Policy […]
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27 July 2012
Acceso a la información en Colombia: 124 años después
Por Natalia Torres Investigadora Principal del CELE Si uno quisiera realizar una genealogía del derecho a saber en América Latina la historia comenzaría con el Código de Organización Política y Municipal que Colombia adoptó en 1888. El código permitía que los ciudadanos solicitaran documentos públicos a organismos gubernamentales salvo que alguna ley dispusiera lo contrario. Ciento […]
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12 July 2012
Un caso chileno: acerca de la publicidad de nombres y honorarios de asesores jurídicos
Por Dolores Lavalle Cobo Lavalle Cobo es abogada argentina, miembro del Centro para la Información Ciudadana y autora de diversos artículos y libros. El derecho de acceso a la información pública como derecho fundamental no es un derecho absoluto, sino que encuentra límites para su ejercicio. Sin embargo, en su regulación y aplicación a casos […]
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12 July 2012
A Chilean Case: About the Disclosure of Names and Fees of Legal Advisor
By Dolores Lavelle Cobo Lavalle-Cobo is an Argentine lawyer, member of Centro para la Información Ciudadana (Center for Citizen´s Information) and author of books and articles. The right of access to public information as a fundamental right is not an absolute one. Its exercise has specific limitations. Nevertheless, in its implementation and application to concrete […]
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6 July 2012
Are Qualified Commissioners Being Appointed in India?
By Shonali Ghosal Ghosal is a correspondent with Tehelka where this article first appeared. Last month, on 9 June, Ratnakar Gaikwad, former chief secretary, Maharashtra, was sworn in as the state’s Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). Curiously, his appointment came just over a week after his retirement as chief secretary. This, after the post of CIC […]
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2 July 2012
Argentina: Lights and Shadows in a New Provincial Law
By Natalia Torres Torres is Senior Researcher for the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information (CELE) in Argentina. See this article Spanish. In a recognized paper, Pollitt and Bouckaert laid out in words and evidence a fact that has been obvious for analysts of public policy: “All other things being […]
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2 July 2012
Argentina: claroscuros de una nueva ley provincial
Por Natalia Torres, Investigadora Principal del CELE En un célebre trabajo, Pollitt y Bouckaert le pusieron palabras y evidencia a un hecho bastante obvio para los que analizamos políticas públicas: “Todo el resto de las variables constantes, las reformas en los estados descentralizados –ya sean unitarios o federales- tienden a tener menos alcance y a […]
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28 June 2012
Acceso a la Información en México: Seguridad Nacional y Migración
Evaluando Solicitudes Mexicanas de Acceso a la Información Sobre Migrantes Centroamericanos Cruzando Por México: Resultados Mixtos Por Lydia White, estudiante de maestría en American University, Washington, D.C., EEUU. [click here for English version of the report] En Octubre 31, 2011, 33 mujeres iniciaron un viaje en búsqueda de parientes desaparecidos. Conocidas como la Caravana de […]
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28 June 2012
Access to Information in Mexico: Migration and National Security
Evaluating Mexican Freedom of Information Requests on Central American Migrants Crossing through Mexico: Mixed Results By Lydia White, M.A. candidate of International Affairs at American University, Washington, D.C. [clic aquí para la versión en español] On October 31, 2011, 33 women set off on a journey in search of missing relatives. Known as the Caravana […]
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21 June 2012
Department of Justice Accused of Undermining FOIA Ombudsman
By Jason Leopold The following copyrighted article appeared June 15 in Truthout.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing independent news and commentary, and is reprinted with permission. The Obama administration continues to disseminate a flawed narrative about President Obama’s commitment to open government. Just last week, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters during a […]
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3 June 2012
U.S. State Statutes Honeycombed With Loopholes
By Caitlin Ginley Ginley wrote this article for the State Integrity Investigation, “an unprecedented, data-driven analysis of each state’s laws and practices that deter corruption and promote accountability and openness.” Early last month, lawmakers in Iowa completed work on a new open records statute. Senate File 430 creates the Iowa Public Information Board, a nine-member […]
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1 June 2012
To Stop Corruption: Egypt Needs a Freedom of Information Law
By Mark Salah Morgan and Sahar Aziz Morgan is Counsel at Day Pitney LLP and Aziz is Associate Professor of Law, Texas Wesleyan School of Law. Both are members of the Egyptian American Rule of Law Association, a nonprofit organization committed to promoting rule of law through access to information. EARLA published “Freedom of Information […]
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14 May 2012
Access to Public Information in Brazil: What Will Change With Law No. 12.527/2011?
By Marcelo Sarkis Sarkis is a lawyer, Institutional and Governmental Affairs at ALCÂNTARA&HOLSTAD International Consultancy, Brasília – Brazil. www.alcantaraholstad.com Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. (Art. […]
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11 May 2012
Taking Stock of OGP
By Abhinav Bahl Bahl works for Global Integrity, which published this article May 9. The Open Government Partnership is officially afoot with the Articles of Governance formally approved and adopted at the first annual meeting in Brasilia last month. With distance gained from the meeting, this is a good moment to take stock of where […]
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7 May 2012
More Fees, Discretion to Refuse FOI Requests Recommended In Australia
By Avinesh Chand and Barry Dunphy This article appeared April 26 on the blog of the Australian Clayton Utz law firm and is reprinted with permission. Key Points: Agencies could have greater discretion to refuse freedom of information requests, and charge more fees – but applicants would get a cheaper alternative to FOI If recent […]