Latest Features
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27 September 2011
Let a Thousand Flowers of Information Bloom
By Rakesh Rajini Rajani is head of Twaweza Tanzania. This article is an edited version of a presentation he made on behalf of civil society at the Sept. 20 launch of the Open Government Partnership in New York on Sept. 20. Perhaps the most important reason we need open government, in a world marked by […]
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22 September 2011
Access Advocates Organize, Raise Support in Paraguay
By Julia Fernández Cruz Cruz is a staff member of the Alianza Regional por la Libre Expresión e Información (Regional Alliance for Freedom of Expression and Information) The Alianza Regional por la Libre Expresión e Información has been supporting, since 2008, the Promoting Group on Access to Public Information (GIAI), a coalition of Paraguayan civil society organizations […]
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16 September 2011
Is Open Data a Good Idea for the Open Government Partnership?
By Nathaniel Heller Heller is Managing Director of Global Integrity and managing the Open Government Partnership Networking Mechanism. This post appeared Sept. 15 on the Global Integrity website. As we’ve blogged before, Global Integrity is working to promote the new Open Government Partnership by serving as the OGP’s Networking Mechanism, which aims to connect aspiring […]
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12 September 2011
Secrecy Bill: The Stories That Couldn’t Be Told
By Ilham Rawoot This author is a journalist with the The Mail & Guardian in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her article was published Sept. 9 in The Mail & Guardian and is reprinted with permission. Once the Protection of Information Bill becomes law, which most likely will be before the end of this year, journalists and members […]
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29 August 2011
Implementation of Nepal RTI Law Called Unsatisfactory
By Tanka Raj Aryal Aryal is Executive Director, Citizens’ Campaign for RTI Despite the legal and institutional setup‚ the implementation status of RTI is not satisfactory. Many public agencies have not appointed information officers; and where they have been‚ they are without the necessary training‚ capacity and resources. Capacity and orientation of the information officer […]
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9 August 2011
Bangladesh: RTIA and People’s Right to Know
By A.J.M. Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan Dr. A.J.M. Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan is an Associate Professor of Mass Communication and Journalism at the University of Dhaka. He is a news media and Internet researcher. This article first appeared in The Star and is reprinted with permission of the author. Can or will the Right to Information Act […]
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27 July 2011
Classified: The Classifiers, Until Now; An Indian Saga
By Venkatesh Nayak Nayak is Programme Coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative We are all aware of the practice of bureaucrats who classify files, records and various kinds of electronic information as ‘top secret’, ‘secret’ and ‘confidential’. However the rules governing such classification are themselves secret in India. These instructions are contained in […]
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22 July 2011
Challenges, Prospects for a FOI Law in Sierra Leone
By John Baimba Sesay – Freetown Reprinted with permission of Sierra Express, where this article was published July 19, 2011. When Nigeria started its campaign for an access to information law, it was not an easy task especially during the days of former President Olusegn Obasanjo, a former military General. He had his own misgivings […]
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8 July 2011
The Case of the Military Logbook of Guatemala
By Natalia Torres, CELE Senior Researcher Articles on freedom of information in Latin America, written by the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information (CELE) in Argentina, will be a regular feature in FreedomInfo.org. See this article Spanish. It is difficult to talk about the evolution of the right to know in […]
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8 July 2011
El caso del Diario Militar de Guatemala
Por Natalia Torres, Investigadora Principal del CELE Difícil hablar de la genealogía del derecho a saber en Latinoamérica sin considerar las batallas por el derecho a la verdad, el derecho de familiares de personas desaparecidas a saber qué ocurrió con ellas, cuál fue la conducta estatal, independientemente de las posibilidades de persecucio?n penal. En esta […]
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29 June 2011
Amending Access to Information Legislation
By Toby Mendel Toby Mendel is Executive Director of Centre for Law in Democracy The following is the concluding chapter (minus footnotes) of a recent report entitled Amending Access to Information Legislation: Legal and Political Issues. It is the seventh paper on access to information in the Governance Working Paper series published by the World […]
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17 June 2011
Against Automatic Secrecy: An Agentinian Case
By Natalia Torres, CELE´s Senior Researcher Articles on freedom of information in Latin America, written by the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information (CELE) in Argentina, will be a regular feature in FreedomInfo.org. See this article Spanish. On April 19th, the Supreme Court of Argentina ratified the decision of the National […]
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17 June 2011
Contra el Secreto Automático
By Natalia Torres, Investigadora Principal del CELE. El 19 de abril la Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación de Argentina confirmó una sentencia de la Cámara Nacional de Apelaciones en lo Contencioso Administrativo haciendo lugar a la demanda de un particular para acceder a sus datos personales en sede de la Secretaría de Inteligencia […]
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27 May 2011
U.S. Issues New Guidance in Wake of Court Decision
By Harry A. Hammitt Hammitt publishes Access Reports, a biweekly newsletter. This article is reprinted with pemission from his latest issue. The Office of Information Policy at the Justice Department issued agency guidance May 10 on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Milner v. Dept of Navy, 131 S.Ct. 1259 (2011), both explaining the decision and […]
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13 May 2011
Namibians Denied Right to Information by Government
By Nghidipo Nangola Nangola is a film maker and producer May 3 is World Press Freedom Day and Namibia can pat itself on the shoulder for having guaranteed the freedom for journalists to collect, produce and disseminate information without hindrance. Aside of a few local journalists being roughed up by overzealous security men and one […]
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15 April 2011
Bangladesh RTI ACT, 2009: Present Status and Scope
By Sanjida Sobhan Coordinator, Manusher Jonno Foundation Perhaps the Right to Information Act, 2009 is one of the much talked about issues in Bangladesh after Nari o Sishu Nirjatan Domon Ain 2003 (songshodito) [Act for Suppression of Violence against Women and Children]. Demand for such Act came from every corner of the society like human […]
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25 February 2011
The Case for Freedom of Information in Ghana
By Yakubu Abdulai The writer is a student of Tsinghua University in Beijing. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree in International Development. Hardly a day passes without any media house carrying stories relating to corruption in Ghana. Some of them are high level corruption cases whilst others are simple petty corruption. Corruptions usually starts […]
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10 February 2011
RTI Martyrs: Saluting the Brave
By Amitabh Thakur IPS officer from UP and President, National RTI Forum “RTI Martyrs ! Who the hell are they?” someone might ask. And the reason is obvious. For long we have listened the word martyr as someone who has sacrificed his or her life at the altar of human well-being. Each society and each […]
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31 January 2011
My Fight for Irish Freedom (of Information)
By Rodney Breen This article was posted Jan. 25 on Mr. Breen’s blog “Life as it Happens.” It is reprinted with permission. There are many things that are wrong in Ireland, and secrecy is one of them. Here’s a very simple example: the 1997 Irish Freedom of Information Act preceded the British one by three years (the […]
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14 January 2011
Argentine’s Access to Information Law: A Tale of Two Chambers
By Natalia Torres Senior Researcher, Center for Studies of Freedom of Expression and Access to Information In 2003, the Argentinean House of Representative endorsed a bill on access to information law. In accordance with our bicameral system, the bill was sent to the Senate for revision. During this revision process, the Senate committees modified the […]