Citizens Risk Lives Seeking Information in India

Since 2005, India's Right to Information (RTI) Act gives citizens the power to ask for information from any level of government. But freedom of information activists have been threatened, beaten, bullied, and even killed in the pursuit of information. Nonetheless, advocates say RTI provides a starting point to ending corruption in India.

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Ugandan Ruling Shows Difficulty in Establishing Freedom of Information in Sub-Saharan Africa

A Ugandan judge has ruled that reporters from Uganda's leading independent newspaper had not proved there was public benefit of disclosing certified copies of oil exploitation agreements. The journalists, along with the Open Society Institute's East Africa Initiative and Human Rights Network Uganda say they are considering an appeal of the ruling.

The journalists had argued the information was of interest to Ugandans seeking to hold the government and its partners accountable for multinational oil deals.

The ruling comes ahead of the African Regional Conference on the Right of Access to Information, an event featuring media leaders, press freedom advocates, officials, and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

For more information, click here.

Conference participants develop plan of action for open governments

The Carter Center in conjunction with other organizations held a conference in Peru where more than 115 representatives from 18 countries discussed obstacles and potential solutions to the right of access to public information in the Americas. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter spoke on the final conference day and reminded participants that "access to information can change the landscape of society."

Participants in a conference on the right of access to information released today their findings and plan of action to advance the right in the Americas.

The Americas Regional Plan of Action provides a blueprint for the regional and international community, states, and non-state actors to establish, develop, and nurture the right of access to information in the Americas and calls on them to commit to the plan in furtherance of our common objective. The regional document serves as an annex to last year's global Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action.

The conference was held April 28-30, 2009, in Lima, Peru, and was organized by The Carter Center in collaboration with the Organization of American States, the Andean Jurists Commission, and the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. More than 115 representatives from government, civil society, media, private sector, regional intergovernmental organizations, international and regional financial institutions, and donors from 18 countries in the region came together to consider the main obstacles and potential solutions to advance the right of access to information in the Americas.

More here.

To read the full Americas Regional Findings and Plan of Action and the Atlanta Declaration for the Advancement of the Right of Access to Information, please go here.

Countries choose security over openness

At an international transparency conference in Peru, participants admitted that right-to-information laws are often placed on the back burner in the midst of security and financial concerns, Cay Compass News reported. Also discussed was whether transparency should be a luxury item considering its cost. The United States reportedly spends $353 million a year filling requests, most of the cost being from requests to security agencies.

Legislation like Cayman’s Freedom of Information Law is sometimes being placed on the back–burner by wealthy democracies concerned about security and financial stability.

That was one of the major concerns raised during an international right to information conference hosted by the Carter Center this week in Lima, Peru.

“It’s quite clear that when under pressure, whether it be to deliver public services or under threat of terrorism…or when faced by a banking crisis…the holders of information tend to contract their enthusiasm for both the spirit and the letter of the law when it comes to transparency,” said Richard Calland of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa.

More here.

International FOI round-up

Peru: The National Security Archives released 21 declassified U.S. records to a tribunal in Peru, which recently found the country's former president, Alberto Fujimori, guilty of human rights atrocities. Six of those key records are posted online.

More here.

Brazil: Top-level Lula government officials are finally showing support for a right-to-information law, which was called for in the country's 1988 Constitution. It is expected that the proposed bill will be introduced in Congress by the end of April. Journalists have criticized a draft of the bill for not establishing an independent agency to implement the law.

More here.

Chile: Chile will join the increasing number of Latin American countries with FOI laws on April 20. The law, signed in August, will establish a "four-member watchdog council that will oversee implementation of the law, and rule on appeals," according to freedominfo.org.

More here.

Egypt: Representatives from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Palestine, Mauritania and Yemen attended a January conference that led to the creation of the Cairo Declaration, which "embodies a fundamental consensus on the state of access to information in Arab countries and also makes recommendations on how Arab countries can adopt and pass FOI legislation while encouraging public participation," according to freedominfo.org.

More here.

World Bank: The World Bank has scheduled its first nine of 30 consultation sessions to discuss its proposed new disclosure policy.

More here.

Here is a Treat: BBC Series on FOI

Give a listen...this is really interesting stuff. Plus, how often do we have documentary treatment of our beloved subject?

The links to the shows are here.

Chile Passes FOI Law!

Congrats, Chile!

State agencies will be obligated to provide information requested by citizens in a time frame of 20 days and a Council for transparency will be created to monitor the law. Pro Acceso Foundation had a leading role in the process of passing the law through Congress.

The Law on Transparency of Public Functions and Access to Public Information of State Agencies, was passed today, August 11, 2008, in a ceremony presided by the Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet.

This new law will permit to significantly reduce the “areas of reserve”, present until now in the management of the public administration. In fact, the law requires that all state agencies provide information to any citizen who wishes to request information within a time frame of 20 days, finally putting into practice the principles established in the political constitution that “the acts and resolutions of state organs, we well as the reasons and procedures they use, are public”.

Additionally, all state agencies are obligated to provide, through their website, up-to-date information regarding their structure, personnel, salaries, contracts signed with other institutions, transfer of funds, and the results of any internal audit conducted.

One of the central features of the law is the creation of a Council for Transparency (Consejo para la Transparencia). This institution will have the mission of monitoring the execution of the law recently passed, and defend the right of access to public information. Additionally, citizens who do not receive the information they requested will be able to go to this Council, who will then determine whether the information requested is public or not.

The Council for Transparency will have four members, who will be proposed by the President of the Republic and then ratified by the Senate. The Council must be established 60 days after the passing of the law.

One of the events that triggered the discussion on the need to have a law that guarantees access to public information was the verdict of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2006 in the case Claude Reyes v. Chile, that condemned the State of Chile for denying access to information in the hands of the Foreign Investments Committee about the environmental firm Trillium. The presentation of this case in court was carried out by Pro Acceso Foundations, as part of its program on international litigation.

Pro Acceso actively participated in the discussions held by members of the parliament and other organizations linked to the theme, in the process of passing the new law in Congress. On many occasions, representatives of Pro Acceso, assisted the Parliament to discuss international norms on access to information and made multiple proposals which were incorporated by those responsible for the project.

Pro Acceso’s participation was also manifested today, through the participation of its representatives in the Ceremony presided by President Bachelet in the “Palacio la Moneda”.

More info here (in Spanish).

UK FOI: Journalists Make 11% of Requests

Freedom of Information requests were condemned last year as being abused by "lazy journalists", but the media was responsible for only 11% of them.

The details are contained in the Northern Ireland government's annual report on Freedom of Information.

It said the 11 NI government departments received a total of 3,164 such requests during 2007.

Of these 62% were from members of the public, 13% from businesses and 11% from the media.

Solicitors, public representatives and researchers account for the remaining 14%.

More here.

Carter Center Unveils Declaration

This just in from the Carter Center's initiative on access to information...

In July, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter forwarded the Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action for the Advancement of the Right to Information to all heads of state and leaders of the major international organizations and financial institutions. President Carter urged these leaders to ensure the right of access to information and its implementation and enforcement. The Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action (please see attached) was the product of the Carter Center’s International Conference on the Right to Public Information, held February 27-29, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia. The more than 125 participants, representing governments, civil society, international organizations and financial institutions, private sector, donors and scholars, from 40 countries who met to discuss the successes and future challenges to the establishment of a right of access to information.

The Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action, serving as a framework for advancing this human right, finds that access to information is fundamental to dignity, equity and peace with justice, and that a lack of access to information disproportionately affects the poor, women and other vulnerable and marginalized societies. The Declaration calls on all states and intergovernmental organizations to enact legislation and instruments for the exercise, full implementation and effective enforcement of this right. It further encourages all stakeholders to take concrete steps to establish, develop, protect and promote the right of access to information. The Declaration is available in Spanish, French, Chinese, and Bulgarian (Portugese coming soon).

More here.

Nigerian FOI Bill: Introduced in 1999...and still waiting

On the 14 July, This Day announced the freedom of information bill brought before the Nigerian National Assembly in 1999 has now become the oldest unpassed legislation still pending before that body.

The articles says the bill has been subject to “unprecedented debate, wrangling and bickering between the nation’s law makers and various stakeholders.”

This situation is certainly troubling, with an article featuring in the Nigerian newspaper Punch titled ’Pass the FOI Bill now or history will mock you’. It quotes the National Chairman of the Peoples Salvation Party, Dr. Junaid Mohammad, as saying:

There cannot be democracy without the rule of law. The essence of the rule of law is to hold power and those who wield power are accountable to the people. This necessitates transparency and full protection of the media, otherwise the very essence of democracy is in peril…

The Freedom of Information Bill will be passed into law by the present National Assembly or another one will do that and put the incumbent legislators to shame…

Lawmakers have, to date, been reluctant to pass the bill because of a fear that it will give too much power to the media, which the BBC describes as one of the most vibrant in Africa.

Ah, The Irony...

The BBC today successfully fended off a Court of Appeal bid to force it to make public the Balen report, an internal review of its reporting in the Middle East.

Commercial solicitor Steven Sugar, of Putney, London, has waged a two-year battle arguing that the report should be available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act.

He claimed it should be published in the light of allegations that the BBC has shown bias against Israel. His claim was backed by the Information Tribunal, but the High Court allowed an appeal by the BBC and ruled that the case fell outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act.

My favorite line:

The BBC maintains that it is vital for independent journalism that internal staff debates on news coverage should not be open to public scrutiny.

FOI Down Under: Fewer requests, but more access

From The Australian:

In Australia, FOI requests have hit their lowest level in five years.

But more FOI applications are being approved, the latest figures show.

The annual report on freedom of information laws, released today by former Howard government attorney-general Philip Ruddock, details how well the crucial laws are achieving their aim of ensuring transparency in government.

It also shows bureaucrats are still refusing to release a great deal of information held by federal departments.

One in five requests for information during 2006-07 was knocked back at least in part, although 80 per cent of applications were granted for full release - a two per cent increase on 2005-06.

Centrelink and the departments of Immigration and Veterans' Affairs were the main recipients of FOI requests during 2006-07, mostly from people seeking details on their own cases.

A total of 38,787 FOI requests were received by all federal departments and agencies - down from 41,430 on the previous year and the lowest number since 2001-02.

Of the 34,158 rulings made during the year, 1,499 were refused outright, 5,128 were “partially granted” - and thus partially refused - and 27,531 were granted in full.

Documents granted for partial release frequently contain large sections of blacked-out material that prevent the applicant from knowing the full story.

But the number of FOI applications refused outright fell from six per cent in 2005-06 to 4.4 per cent in the last financial year.

Take FOI for Granted?

Not after you read this heroic tale:

THE men who attacked Ivan Y. Pavlov waited beside his car outside his home.

They knocked him over from behind, stomped him and kicked him in the head. None of them spoke. They stole nothing. As Mr. Pavlov lay curled defensively on the street, they trotted away. Then they tried to run him over with their car.

Mr. Pavlov rolled clear, he said. The car sped off. “It was my good luck that there were four of them,” he said recently, recalling the attack in 2006 with a mix of drollness and lawyerly precision. “They were pushing each other out of the way to kick me and got in each other’s way.”

Mr. Pavlov was hospitalized for a week. The police later told him the attack appeared to be related to his work — a mission to pry open stores of government information that he says are essential to Russian public life and that by law should be in the public domain, but are kept from view by corruption and apathy.

The battle for personal and political freedom in Russia is often framed as a contest between the Kremlin and its critics over the rights of assembly, speech and suffrage, and for an independent judiciary, legislature and media.

Mr. Pavlov leads a quieter but still dangerous campaign: legal battles for what he calls, simply, “the right to know.”

As the director of the Institute for Information Freedom Development, a private organization he founded in 2004, he strives to teach government agencies that stores of information in their possession — manufacturing and sanitary standards, court records, licenses, fire codes, public tenders, administrative decrees, agency phone directories, registries of public and private organizations — should be made available for all to view.

HIS work is necessary, he and his supporters say, because much of the basic information of governance in Russia has never been made public, even after the Constitution codified the public’s right to nonsecret information in 1993.

My favorite quote:

“Nobody defended the basic right — the right to know, to have access to information,” he said. “People cannot have their freedom, and realize all their other rights, without this right.”

More here.