Latest Features
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3 December 2010
Singh Examines History, Future of Indian R2K Law
The genesis of the Indian right to know law is explored and directions for the future are elucidated in a detailed paper by Shekhar Singh, a founding member of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information. His insider view covers the birth of the movement in the 1990s and follows the course of the […]
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4 October 2010
Resistance Seen to Pending Brazilian FOI Legislation
By Greg Michener International Right-to-Know Day, September 28th 2010, was a quiet day in Brazil, as might be expected considering the generally low press coverage and public profile of the still-to-be-enacted Brazilian access to public information law. Despite being guaranteed by Articles 5 and 37 of the Brazilian constitution, access to public information is not […]
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23 April 2010
Update on China’s Open Government Information Regulations: Surprising Public Demand Yielding Some Positive Results
By Jamie P. Horsley The China Law Center, Yale Law School It has been nearly two years since China’s first access to information statute took effect on May 1, 2008. Reviews of how the national Regulations on Open Government Information (Regulations) have been working are often critical or skeptical, with titles like “China’s Transparency is […]
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19 March 2010
Notable Canadian News Stories Based on ATIA requests
By Stanley Tromp The value of a strong Access to Information Act is better demonstrated than just asserted. To counter negative claims made by bureaucrats and politicians about FOI law usage, here are summaries of Canadian news story on issues as diverse as health, safety, government financial waste, public security, and environmental risks. They all […]
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19 March 2010
Hong Kong’s Code on Access to Information Turns 15 Years Old: Can the Right to Know Thrive Without a Law?
By Chan Pui-king Since March 1995, the right to know in Hong Kong has been codified in the Code on Access to Information, an administrative measure (without the force of law) that requires all government departments to release information to the public. As the Code celebrates its 15th year in effect, Hong Kong’s experience with use […]
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19 March 2010
U.S. Open Government Policy: An Experiment in Transparency, Participation and Collaboration
By Meredith Fuchs On January 20, 2009, President Barack Obama pledged in his inaugural address, “[we will] do our business in the light of day.” The next day, President Obama began the first full day of his presidency with the issuance of two presidential memoranda and an executive order designed to start the process of […]
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13 January 2010
India’s Right to Information Act: The First Four Years
By Alasdair Roberts India’s Right to Information Act (RTIA) went into force in October 2005. It is probably the most ambitious experiment with transparency in the world. The law promises a right to government-held information to 1.2 billion citizens, most of them living in rural poverty. Its advocates say that the law could produce a […]
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7 October 2009
Saber Mas: New Report on Access to Information in Latin America
Open government advocates offer first-hand accounts of FOI promotion in Latin America Latin America’s leading open government advocates recently released a report, bringing together data from 17 countries and offering new findings on the status of freedom of information in the region. The Regional Alliance for Freedom of Expression and Information (Alianza Regional para la […]
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25 August 2009
US Torture Files and Access to Human Rights Information
By Jesse Franzblau and Emilene Martinez-Morales Washington, DC — The US government’s August 24, 2009, release of a controversial CIA 2004 Inspector General report on torture brings new attention to the issue of how information on human rights abuses is treated and should be treated under freedom of information laws. Deadlines set by a federal […]
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19 June 2009
Lessons from Media Coverage for the Right-to-Know in Latin America
By Greg Michener In the last year or so, Latin America has been abuzz with news on right-to-know campaigns. But some countries have been buzzing louder than others. Uneven media attention to transparency policy is a global phenomenon with serious implications for institutional effectiveness, especially given the significant connection between news coverage and the strength […]
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19 May 2009
Freedom of Information Legislation and the Media in Latin America
By Greg Michener 2008 was a big year for freedom of information movements in Latin America. Three countries passed access to information laws last year (Uruguay, Chile, and Guatemala), officially institutionalizing the publics right to know. Varying degrees of media attention, however, had a significant effect on the relative strength of each law. I have […]
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14 April 2009
World Bank Releases Extremely Useful Reports on Access to Information Implementation
Over the past few months, the World Bank has recently published a series of extremely useful reports by experts on access to information laws. Using comparative case studies, together these reports provide an overview of the whole life cycle of access to information (ATI) legislation, from adoption to implementation and enforcement. One report examines the role of civil society groups in the formulation and adoption of access to information laws in Bulgaria, India, Mexico, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Another examines the institutional and logistical nuts-and-bolts of implementation, using Mexico as a case study, while the third report looks at models of enforcement in several countries: South Africa, Mexico, Scotland, India, and Hungary.
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27 March 2009
Chileans Prepare for New FOI Law: An Interview with Juan Pablo Olmedo
By Peter Kornbluh Special thanks to Marianna Enamoneta, Emilene Martinez-Morales, Carly Ackerman, Joshua Frens-String and Yessica Esquivel Alonso On April 20th, Chile will become the most recent country to have a functioning Freedom of Information Act—and potentially establish a leading model for new access to information laws around the world. The new “Law of Transparency […]
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20 March 2009
Documents in Action: FOI Success Stories in Mexico
By Emilene Martinez-Morales Mexico City, Mexico – Mexico’s civil society have maximized the potential of its Federal Access to Information Law to affect policies in local communities, advocate for citizens’ rights, and expose corruption at the highest levels of state. Openness advocates have utilized two key institutional features of Mexico’s access-to-information system. The electronic system […]
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13 February 2009
Guatemala Looks to Mexican Model for Access Implementation
By Jesse Franzblau Mexico City, Mexico – On January 30, 2009, in a testament to Mexicos frontrunner role in the global transparency movement, Guatemalas Vice President Rafael Espada led an official delegation to lay the groundwork for future collaboration with officials from the Instituto Federal de Accesso a la Informacin Pblica (IFAI), the forward-thinking governmental […]
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2 February 2009
Revelations from Prime Minister Aso on Wartime POW Labor Demonstrate Need for National Archive in Japan
Controversy Highlights Issues of Historical Memory in Japan By Lawrence Repeta [Editor’s note: This article has been reprinted with permission of the author and first appeared in The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus.] Prime Minister Aso Taro’s admission that his family company employed prisoner-of-war labor during the final months of World War II may one day […]
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28 September 2008
Documenting Access to Information in Latin America: Legal Milestones and Success Stories
Silvina Acosta – Program Manager, Trust for the Americas Emilene Martínez-Morales – Transparency Programs Coordinator, National Security Archive Washington DC, – The Right to Know made headlines in Latin America during the past year. Just a few days ago the Guatemalan Congress approved an Access to Information Law. Chile’s Transparency and Access to Information Law […]
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28 September 2008
International Right to Know Day 2008: Global Phenomenon Now Includes More Than 80 Countries
Washington, D.C., September 28, 2008 – Today’s celebration of International Right-to-Know Day marks a new watershed in the global reach of freedom of information laws – now on the books in more than 80 countries – and features celebrations in countries ranging from Mexico to Moldova, according to postings today on the www.freedominfo.org virtual network […]
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30 January 2008
Foreign Ministry’s Failure to Provide Documents on 1965 Japan-Korea Normalization Pact Illegal
By Lawrence Repeta, Omiya Law School Tokyo, Japan — More than six decades after the end of World War II, responsibility for wartime suffering remains a highly sensitive political issue in Asia, nowhere more so than in the Japan-Korea relationship. When the two countries normalized relations in 1965, one treaty provision was intended to settle […]
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9 May 2007
China Adopts First Nationwide Open Government Information Regulations
By Jamie P. Horsley The Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information (OGI Regulations) published on April 24, 2007, and effective one year later on May 1, 2008, mark a turning point away from the deeply ingrained culture of government secrecy toward making Chinese government operations and information more transparent. (Note […]