Posts Tagged ‘case study’
-
1 October 2012
Federal Government Ranks Badly in Canadian Audit
The Canadian national government is “stuck in a rut of delays” when it comes to responding to freedom of information requests, according to the author of the annual audit by Newspapers Canada, issued Sept. 24 at the Sunshine Summit in Calgary. “Municipalities continue to perform fastest in the audit, easily outpacing the senior levels of […]
-
1 October 2012
Bloomberg Tests Finds U.S. Agencies Unresponsive
Only eight of 57 agencies in the United States responded within the 20-day disclosure window to requests for information filed by Bloomberg News to test the freedom of information system. The requests filed in June were for information about official travel by their top official. About half of the 57 agencies eventually disclosed information by […]
-
30 August 2012
Macedonian Review Reveals Progress, Remaining Issues
Government agencies are improving in their responsiveness to information requests, according to a new study by the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association (MYLA), but “some difficulties and problems were noted.” “More than two thirds of the information holders responded within the legal limit of 30 days and delivered the requested information,” according to the association’s announcement. […]
-
29 August 2012
Report Excoriates Zimbabwe Access Environment
Access to information in Zimbabwe is “sternly restricted” according to a new and comprehensive report that sees some hope in the ongoing development of a new Constitution, but otherwise paints a bleak picture. “The culture of secrecy prevalent in most government departments suggest that access to information is not seen as a right but a […]
-
10 August 2012
Report Details Access Scene in Four Middle East Nations
A new report provides extensive detail on the access to information situation in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, concluding that in all four “a culture of secrecy prevails over that of openness,” and advocating incremental reforms. The report, “Access to Information in the Middle East and North African Region: An overview of recent development in […]
-
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 […]
-
6 July 2012
Pakistani Agencies Fail When Tested, CPDI Study Finds
Only two out of 54 Pakistani federal and provincial departments initially provided information information requested by the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) in a recent study. Twenty-five departments responded positively but after the applicant got help from the federal or provincial ombudsman. CPDI concluded that the federal and provincial governments should repeal the […]
-
13 April 2012
FOI NOTES: MENA, Canada, Open Data, US, UK
MENA: A new newsletter has been started to follow access to information developments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Said Almadhoun, now a human rights officer at the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and an adjunct professor of law at the University of Palestine, writes about “the […]
-
12 March 2012
Reports Critically Assess RTI Performance in Indonesia
Two years after implementation of the Indonesian right to information law, several new reports look closely at how exemptions in the law are being handled and how three agencies are implementing the law. Government officials are still taking the same approach to disclosure as they did before the law, according to one report (English) (Indonesian), […]
-
3 February 2012
FOI Training for Government Officials: Main Trends
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 in Spanish. CELE has just released a brief note on access to information training for government officials. The note, elaborated by Natalia Torres and Luis Esquivel, describes different approaches […]
-
3 February 2012
Acceso a la información: principales tendencias en la capacitación de funcionarios
Por Natalia Torres Investigadora Principal del CELE El CELE acaba de publicar una breve documento sobre capacitación de funcionarios en acceso a la información pública. El documento, elaborado por Natalia Torres y Luis Esquivel, describe las diferentes estrategias utilizadas por los gobiernos para asegurar que sus funcionarios se encuentren preparados para la implementación de las […]
-
17 November 2011
Half of FOI Laws Not Working, AP Concludes
“More than half the countries with right-to-know laws do not follow them,” the Associated Press concluded after conducting an international test of access laws. AP reporters submitted questions in January “about terrorism arrests and convictions, vetted by experts, to the European Union and the 105 countries with right-to-know laws or constitutional provisions.” The results are […]
-
14 October 2011
Chinese Agencies Rank Poorly in Annual Transparency Study
Thirty-five out of China’s 43 federal departments get failing grades on transparency, according to the 2010 China Administrative Transparency Report by the OGI Watch Alliance Project. “The institution that did the worst was the Ministry of Supervision, the very ministry responsible for making sure officials release information in accordance with the law,” according to an […]
-
4 October 2011
Few Requests for Information Answered, Global Study Says
Only one out of four requests for budget information made in 80 countries were fully answered, according to a study released Oct. 4. The monitoring effort was done by the Ask Your Government! 6 Question Campaign. 480 requests for budget information were submitted in 80 countries by a global network of civil society organizations. “No […]
-
27 September 2011
Provincial Variation Apparent in Canadian FOIA Audit
Response time to freedom of information varies among the Canadian provinces, according to the latest version of The National Freedom of Information Audit, sponsored by Newspapers Canada. Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Yukon were the fastest responders, while British Columbia was the slowest, according to the report, which includes A-F grades along with “bricks” […]
-
25 August 2011
FOI Notes: Africa, UNESCO, United States, United Kingdom
West Africa: The Africa Freedom of Information Centre has issued a study on access to information in Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria. Follow this link, and got to bottom of listings. UNESCO: The online report on the 2010 UNESCO World Press Freedom Day meeting, on the theme of: “Freedom of Information: The Right to Know” is available. […]
-
24 June 2011
Report Analyzes Access in 7 Latin American Countries
An extensive new report examines access to information policies and practices in seven Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. The report is titled “?Venciendo la Cultura del Secreto. Obstáculos a la implementación de políticas y normas de acceso a la información en la región?” (“Overcoming the culture of secrecy. Obstacles […]
-
24 June 2011
Detailed Reports Finds Weakneses in AfDB Policy
Obtaining information from the African Development Bank can be frustrating, according to researchers who visited the Bank’s website and went to Bank local offices. Their experiences informed a detailed study, the results of which have just been released. It was conducted for the Global Transparency Initiative by Idasa, an Africa democracy institute based in South Africa. […]
-
27 May 2011
Regional Russian Websites Found Lacking in IIFD Report
The Institute for Information Freedom Development has issued a report on the official websites of 83 executive government bodies of the Russian Federation. The monitoring results showed that Russian regional governments provided only 38% of the information on their activities that must be published according to the Russian FOI law, according to IIFD. “Therefore, the […]
-
8 April 2011
Environmentalists Begin Effort to Seek Information in Africa
A U.S. environmental group and partners in Africa have begun an effort to request environmental-related information from the governments of Ghana, Uganda and South Africa, and hope to find new strategies to promote freedom of information reform. The project was announced by the World Resources Institute in Washington, the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) in […]