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The FOI Advocate is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The blog relies on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

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.

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