Posts Tagged ‘implementation’
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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 […]
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27 August 2012
US Issues Memo on Government Records
The Obama administration Aug. 24 issued a memorandum on managing government records, with President Obama stating “…proper records management is the backbone of open Government.” Among other things, the memorandum will require all agencies to identify a senior official responsible for records, provide plans for improving or maintaining its records management program, especially electronic records; […]
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23 August 2012
Information Law Arrives in Malta, But Reform Needed
By Kevin Aquilina Aquilina is the Dean of the Faculty of Laws at the University of Malta. This article was first published Aug. 22 in the Times of Malta. By means of Legal Notice 156 of 2012 published in The Malta Government Gazette of May 18, 2012, the remaining provisions of the Freedom of Information […]
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23 August 2012
RTI Centre Established To Help Nepal Requesters
An RTI Centre has been created in Nepal. The new facility is located at the office of the National Information Commission, is managed by the Citizens’ Campaign for Right to Information in collaboration with the Commission, and supported with funds from the United Kingdom development agency, according to news reports including one in The Kathmandu Post. […]
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23 August 2012
Uganda Issues Manual on Access to Information Law
Uganda’s Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has published a Manual of Functions and Index of Records for 2012/2013. “The Manual contains very useful information on information available and how it can be accessed,” according to Gilbert Sendugwa, the Coordinator/Head of Secretariat of the Africa Freedom of Information Centre. Publication of a manual was […]
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22 August 2012
Liberian FOI Law Needs Support System
By JM Cassell JM Cassell is a former features editor of the New Liberian newspaper. He is currently the President of Quality Resource Solutions, LLC, a Walnut Creek, California based pharmaceutical quality assurance recruiting firm. He can be reached at monjue@gmail.com The Liberian government took an aggressively bold and somewhat courageous step recently by being the first West African […]
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13 August 2012
Word Limit Imposed on Indian RTI Requesters
The Indian government has placed a limit of 500 words on the length of applications under the Right to Information Act and has established a new form for making appeals to the Central Information Commission. The new rule, issued July 31 by the Department of Personnel and Training, also requires that appellants or their representative […]
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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 […]
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10 August 2012
Chile Decrees Confidentiality Despite Court Ruling
By Dolores Lavalle 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 Chilean Government published Decree No.155 on July 26 ordering the confidentiality of the legal services hired by the National Directorate of International Limits and Boundaries. The Directorate is a division of […]
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3 August 2012
Indian State Exempts Anti-Corruption Agency From RTIA
The government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Cabinet voted on July 31 to exclude the anticorruption agency Lokayukta from the scope of the Right to Information Act, according to Indian activists and media reports. “This is one of the many attacks being launched against the transparency regime by the very system which the […]
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3 August 2012
UK Denies Release of Cabinet Minutes on Iraq War
The British government has again refused to release the minutes of Cabinet meetings from 2003 at which the invasion of Iraq was discussed. The decision announced July 31 rejects an order by Information Commissioner Christopher Graham to release the minutes. Attorney General Dominic Grieve said he issued a certificate under the Freedom of Information Act […]
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30 July 2012
China Continues Disclosures on Government Spending
In a new round of disclosures, the Chinese central government July 18 revealed spending on receptions, vehicles and overseas trips by officials, and China’s Cabinet has issued regulations to mandate such disclosures by state and local governments. The latest disclosures were the second time that 98 central government departments and public institutions have publicized spending […]
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30 July 2012
US FOIA Ombudsman Seeks Plain Writing in Responses
The FOIA Ombudsman in the United States is seeking to make official FOI letters more readable. The Office of Government Information Services in a recent blog post asked government agencies to submit their template letters and offering to help. A recent Ombudsman’s blog post noted a law that went into effect in late 2011 mandating […]
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27 July 2012
Access to Information in Colombia: 124 Years Later
By Natalia Torres Torres is Senior Researcher at the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information (CELE) in Argentina, and regular FreedomInfo.org contributor. See this article Spanish. If one were to set out to make a genealogy of the right to know movement in Latin America, the story begins with Policy […]
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27 July 2012
Acceso a la información en Colombia: 124 años después
Por Natalia Torres Investigadora Principal del CELE Si uno quisiera realizar una genealogía del derecho a saber en América Latina la historia comenzaría con el Código de Organización Política y Municipal que Colombia adoptó en 1888. El código permitía que los ciudadanos solicitaran documentos públicos a organismos gubernamentales salvo que alguna ley dispusiera lo contrario. Ciento […]
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26 July 2012
Brazil’s Access Law Active, But Problems Still Remain
By Isabela Fraga Fraga’s article appeared on the Knight Center Journalism in the Americas blog July 23 and is reprinted with permission. It is available in Spanish and Portuguese on the blog. Since the Brazilian Law of Information Access went into effect on May 16, the Brazilian federal government has received 17,516 requests to access […]
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6 July 2012
Roy Positive on Indian RTI Law, But Sees Challenges
The Indian Right to Information Act “is a galvanizing force that has acquired a momentum that none of us saw coming, and which is going to be impossible to stop,” according to Aruna Roy, an instrumental force behind the law’s passage, who also outlined problems facing the law in a newspaper interview. “What we are […]
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6 July 2012
Nigerian Court Orders Disclosure by Assembly
Amid a swirling controversy over President Goodluck Jonathan’s adamant “don’t give a damn” refusal to disclose his assets, a Nigerian judge has ordered the National Assembly to disclose information on salaries, emoluments, and allowances received by its members between 2007 and 2011. The president’s statement has arroused heated debate and even involved the U.S. embassy. […]
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2 July 2012
Retiring Indian Commissioner Ghandi Says RTI Threatened
Shailesh Ghandhi, who will retire June 6 as an Indian Information Commissioner, is warning of threats facing the right to information law. In an interview with CNN IBN, Gandhi said, “I believe that so far the RTI Act has achieved far more than expected but there are serious threats most of us are not conscious […]
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29 June 2012
10,400 Requests in First Month of Brazilian Law
Brazil’s Federal Comptroller General has reported that citizens had filed approximately 10,400 requests in the first month in which the new access law has been effective, according to O Fórum de Direito de Acesso a Informações Públicas. Nearly 70 percent of these (7,400) had already been answered, or around 7,400 requests, according to the government date […]