Posts Tagged ‘publications’

  • 9 May 2005

    Article 19 Reports on Freedom of Information in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia

    A report from London-based NGO Article 19 on freedom of information legislation and its impact on the news media in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, finds that problems with implementation, state secrets legislation, and a Soviet-style predilection for excessive secrecy have created “the environment for arbitrary refusals, manipulation of information, and, in extreme cases, even release […]

  • 21 December 2004

    European Investment Bank Plans Disclosure Policy Review

    The European Investment Bank Dec. 14 announced plans to conduct a review of its Public Information Policy, and requested public comment on its existing policy. The consultative process will be launched in the first quarter of 2005. The EIB did not offer proposal for change, asking instead that comments focus on the EIB’s existing public […]

  • 30 June 2004

    Bibliography of MKSS Writings, Articles and Other Reports

    The following documents are available for sale in a CD with the MKSS. To obtain a copy of this CD please contact the MKSS at mkssrajasthan@yahoo.com. From Information to Accountability – Reclaiming Democracy Survival And Right to Information – Gulam Rasool third memorial lecture by Aruna Roy Information, Democracy And Ethics – Aruna Roy (12th […]

  • 7 June 2004

    NGOs Criticize EIB on Transparency, Other Grounds

    A coalition of nongovernmental organizations June 1 issued a broad critique of the European Investment Bank, including the criticism that the EIB is "the least transparent, least accountable and least democratically controlled institution in the family of agencies entrusted with implementing EU policies and among public financial institutions." The "Public Funds for Public Benefit" was […]

  • 13 April 2004

    African Development Bank Issues New Disclosure Policy

    The African Development Bank on March 30, 2004 published a new disclosure policy going further than other international financial institutions in the release of draft documents. The new policy is available here. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the draft AfDB policy announced in October was the flirtation with the release of draft Country Strategy […]

  • 8 September 2003

    The Birth of the Freedom of Information Act in Japan: Kanagawa 1982

    Lawrence Repeta of the Information Clearinghouse Japan board of directors reports on the 20-year experience with freedom of information in Kanagawa prefecture — the most influential early Japanese access law, passed in 1982, two decades before the national FOI law. Download the entire report in Adobe PDF format: The Birth of the Freedom of Information […]

  • 11 April 2003

    World Bank Plans to Expand Publicity About Competitive Bidding Opportunities

    The World Bank is moving toward a new policy that will at least double the number of contract bidding opportunities publicized internationally, according to bank officials and business sector observers. The change will substantially increase the visibility of bank-financed contracts subject to international competitive bidding, with the aim of reducing costs. If all goes well […]

  • 17 January 2003

    The Philippines: A Liberal Information Regime Even Without an Information Law

    Yvonne T. Chua has been the training director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) since 1995. As journalism trainer, she has trained scores of journalists in the Philippines and abroad, including Indonesia, Cambodia and Nepal. In 1999, she won the first prize in the Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Investigative Journalism for her […]

  • 1 January 2003

    How EIB Officials Look at Transparency: A freedominfo.org Interview

    The European Investment Bank is "not comparable" to other international financial institutions, began Henry Marty-Guaquie, Director de la Communication for the EIB, in an interview about transparency with freedominfor.org Nov. 5. By this he means that the EIB should be viewed less as a policy-setting organization than as a financial institution with special needs to […]

  • 11 October 2002

    Open Democracy Advice Centre Exposes Government for Failing to Implement 2-Year-Old Transparency Law

    At its Second Annual Open Democracy Review in Cape Town, ODAC reported that the majority of public servants have not heard of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2000, which came into operation in March of 2001. “We found that 54% of the public bodies we contacted were unaware of the Act, 16% were […]

  • 17 July 2002

    REPORT: A Landmark Law Opens Up Post-Apartheid South Africa

    By Mukelani Dimba, Training Consultant, Open Democracy Advice Centre UPDATE – Media Release, 11 OCTOBER 2002 The Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC) today released the results of a study that exposes the government for failing to implement a crucial Transparency Law passed over two years ago. A Landmark Law Opens Up Post-Apartheid South Africa Throughout […]

  • 15 July 2002

    World’s Right to Know

    By Thomas Blanton Published in Foreign Policy, July/August 2002 During the last decade, 26 countries have enacted new legislation giving their citizens access to government information. Why? Because the concept of freedom of information is evolving from a moral indictment of secrecy to a tool for market regulation, more efficient government, and economic and technological […]

  • 5 July 2002

    ANALYSIS: Japanese Government Information: New Rules for Access – the 2001 Information Disclosure Law, and a Comparison with the U.S. FOIA

    By Lawrence Repeta and David M. Schultz Click here to view the Information Disclosure Matrix: A Comparison of Information Disclosure in Japan and the United States INTRODUCTION After more than 20 years of lobbying by Japanese citizen’s groups, opposition political parties and others, Japan’s national Information Disclosure Law came into effect on April 1, 2001 […]

  • 1 July 2002

    UNDP Report: “Serious Gaps in Transparency Remain”

    The need for greater transparency by governments and multilateral institutions is a thread running through a report on democracy internationally prepared by the United Nations Development Programme. The report takes a comprehensive look at the progress toward democracy, and backsliding. It looks at connections between development and democracy, providing exhaustive documentation and broad recommendations. The […]