OGP: The Access to Information Working Group will hold a webinar (link for registration) at 10 a.m. March 30 that will include a presentation of the 2016 ATI WG work plan. There will be a “particular focus on the implementation of the peer learning networks to support identified cohort countries for assistance, engage mentors, and more concretely provide opportunities for working group experts to offer guidance/share experiences,” according to an announcement.
Presentation of the work plan and facilitation of the webinar will be provided by Laura Neuman, Director of Global Access to Information Program at the Carter Center, co-chair of the ATI WG. Andrew Tehmeh, Deputy Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Liberia and Yeama Thompson, Information Commissioner of Sierra Leone will share their successes and challenges in the development and implementation of ATI commitments. Each speaker will culminate by explaining some of their specific issues and requests for assistance. Rosemary Agnew, Information Commissioner of Scotland -and member of the group of mentors- will offer suggestions and recommendations, and we will then provide an opportunity for participants to respond to the identified priority issues.
India: The rate of rejection of RTI applications by central ministries and departments has climbed to 8.4% in 2014-15 – the highest ever since 2006-07, according to the latest annual report from the Central Information Commission, The Economic Times says. The annual data reveals that 40% of government ministries and departments have not updated their RTI manuals and made mandatory disclosures on their webpages for the last one year. The report has not yet been posted on the CIC site.
United Kingdom: The wheels seem to be in motion to name a Canadian as the next Information Commissioner. Elizabeth Denham, currently the Information and Privacy Commissioner in British Columbia, Canada, is the government’s choice to take over from current incumbent Christopher Graham this summer. See profile in The Vancouver Sun.
European Union: EU ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has asked the president of the Eurogroup for more details on his proposals to improve the transparency of its work, The Irish Times reports. Earlier this month, the 19 finance ministers in the Eurogroup agreed that meeting documents would be published “unless the institutions which drafted them object.” O’Reilly has asked for clarification on the procedures in place for handling requests for public access to those Eurogroup documents that are not published “proactively.”
Open Data: Open access to the important data produced by national statistical agencies “remains, at best, limited,” according to a posting on a World Bank blog by Shaida Badiee and Eric Swanson.
Ireland: “The exemptions specified in the Freedom of Information Act 2014 should be reviewed by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform with a view to increasing public access to advice provided by civil servants and special advisors,” according to the report of the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis, as summarized by attorneys with Mason Hayes & Curran, who also review the Irish law on the topic. (Entry added to FreedomInfo.org’s Deliberative Process Exemption Library.)
China: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told reporters that ministers “… have to open their mouths and answer the questions in a straight-forward manner.” He said the government should upload as much information as possible on the Internet to trim down space for discretionary power, according to article in The Straits Times. “Isn’t there a saying of ‘people are doing and the heaven is watching’? In this era of cloud computing, we have to achieve ‘power is being exerted and the clouds are supervising’,” he said.
Thailand/OGP: Thailand indicates its intention to join the Open Government Partnership.
Australia: “Attorney General Brandis maintains silence over the Government’s record on Freedom of Information,” according to blogger Peter Timmins.
United States: The Justice Department issues guidance and a template containing both guidelines and sample language for agency FOIA regulations, described in a blog post.
United States: Associated Press reporters Ted Bridis and Jack Gillum write, “The Obama administration set a record for the number of times its federal employees told disappointed citizens, journalists and others that despite searching they couldn’t find a single page requested under the Freedom of Information Act, according to a new Associated Press analysis of government data.” They disclosed, “In more than one in six cases, or 129,825 times, government searchers said they came up empty-handed last year. The report is discussed in the final in a series of five Sunshine Week articles by Benjamin Mullin for Poynter.
United States: Three FOI successes to celebrate writes by Jonathan Peters in The Columbia Journalism Review.
United States: The San Diego Union Tribune compile a database of public records requests across the region.
United States: The First Amendment Foundation and The Poynter Institute launch a new online “Sunshine Certificate” to help educate elected officials, attorneys, journalists and citizens on open government laws.
United States: “Could more government transparency help prevent another Flint?” writes Jessica Mendoza in The Christian Science Monitor.
United States: Aaron Mackey of the Electronic Frontier writes “Fixing FOIA: Senate-passed bill is a good start, but more is needed.”
United States: Thirteen CSOs warned President Obama that his legacy on transparency issues is in danger.
United States: Video is available of a debate on the topic is “Is American government too open?” between Bruce Cain of Stanford University and Charles Lewis of American University. Watch the debate here.
India: To mark beginning of RTI Week, J&K RTI Movement and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) held a Targeted Capacity Building Workshop for women. J&K RTI Movement statement said this was first such workshop held in view to develop awareness, knowledge and skills of women representing in the different corners of Kashmir division including Ladakh, on the main provisions of the RTI Act. Data reveals that less than one percent women make use of the RTI Act in J&K.
Records Management: “When it comes to open government, the issue of records management is not a natural headline grabber. Yet the creation and maintenance of official records – from emails and diaries to briefings and minutes of meetings – underpins key open government goals of transparency and accountability,” according to an OGP blog post by Nuala Haughey, project manager with TASC, an independent progressive think-tank whose core focus is economic equality and democratic accountability.
India: The CIC has said that the Bar Council and Bar Association fall under the RTI Act, according to a report in RTI India.
West Africa: A communiqué issued at the end of a conference organized by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in Accra calls on governments in the region to prioritize the safety of journalists and access to information. The conference brought together representatives from freedom of expression and media development organizations from 15 countries in West Africa, ECOWAS, UN agencies, diplomats and other civil society stakeholders with the aim of identifying key challenges in the areas of freedom of expression and the role of the media to promote good governance, regional integration and peace in West Africa. The relevant FOI portion says:
We urge governments of countries that are yet to adopt Right to Information (RTI) Law to prioritise processes for the passage of such laws to guarantee access to information for all citizens. We commend the West African governments that have guaranteed citizens’ access to information through the adoption of RTI Law; and urge these governments to adopt appropriate mechanisms for the effective implementation of their respective RTI laws.
Hong Kong: The government received 1,283 requests for information under the Code on Access to Information in the third quarter of 2015, a spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said. “The total number of requests received since the introduction of the Code in March 1995 and up to the end of September 2015 amounted to 48,854. Of these, 2,853 requests were subsequently withdrawn by the requestors and 2,220 requests covered cases in which the bureaux/departments concerned did not hold the requested information. As at September 30, 2015, 193 requests were still being processed by bureaux/departments. Among the 43,588 requests which covered information held by bureaux/departments and which the bureaux/departments had responded to, 42,582 requests (97.7 per cent) were met, either in full (41,657 requests) or in part (925 requests), and 1,006 requests (2.3 per cent) were refused.”
Transparency Research: “Multi-stakeholder partnerships for implementing the 2030 Agenda: Improving accountability and transparency,” an Analytical Paper for the 2016 ECOSOC Partnership Forum by Marianne Beisheim and Nils Simon of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, addresses the need for transparency by multi-stakeholder partnerships.
Open Data: “Data are neither good nor bad for democracy. It all depends on how people use them,” concludes a special report in The Economist.
FOI Advocacy: “Right to Information: A Guide for Advocates,” in a report prepared in 2014 by Gehan Gunatilleke with the support of UNESCO to assist RTI campaigners.
Filed under: What's New