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MAY 2006 Info Commissioners Meet in Manchester 4th International Conference Separates Officials,
NGOs
By
Emilene Martinez-Morales for freedominfo.org Transparency Programs Coordinator, Mexico Project, National
Security Archive, George Washington University
Delegates
from more than 40 countries participated this month in the
4th International Conference of Information Commissioners
(ICIC), which took place in Manchester, United Kingdom,
on May 22nd and May 23rd, hosted by the U.K. Information
Commissioner, Richard Thomas.
The
conference followed a different format than its predecessor,
held in Cancun, Mexico last year, where members of the international
freedom of information community both within and outside
of government were invited to participate in all sessions
of the event. In Manchester, members of civil society were
invited to attend only the second and last day of the conference.
The
first day of the event was attended only by information
commissioners or their nearest equivalent and was closed
to members of civil society. Government delegates participated
in workshops and attended sessions related to their work
as FOI commissioners in their respective countries. Among
the speakers were Natasa Pirc Musar, information commissioner
from Slovenia, and Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the U.K. Lord
Chancellor, who delivered the keynote address.
The
second day was open for members of the international FOI
community to attend and to participate as speakers. Richard
Thomas welcomed the participants and discussed the first
year of FOIA in the U.K., where 36,100 requests were made
to the central government, with members of the public being
the largest category of submittals. Requests ranged from
information related to restaurant inspections to expenses
of parliamentary members.
The
European Ombudsman, Nikiforus Diamandourous, presented a
European perspective on FOIA focusing on the specifics of
the European Union's Regulation 1049/2001, which regulates
access to documents from the European Parliament, Council
and Commission.
From
civil society, Helen Darbishire, founder and executive director
of Access Info Europe offered a global overview of FOI,
focusing on the main challenges faced by advocates. She
highlighted the need for securing FOI as a fundamental human
right and praised the role of information commissions worldwide
as an effective oversight mechanism guaranteeing the right
to know.
Other
speakers included U.K. Air Vice Marshal Andrew Vallance
(who described the British system of media-government consultation
through the "Defense Advisory Notice System" to
prevent inadvertent damage to national security from media
coverage), Daniel J. Metcalfe from the United States Department
of Justice, Peter Hustnix, the European Data Protection
Ombudsman, and Tony Bunyan, the editor of Statewatch.
Following
the ICIC meeting on May 24th, the Open Society Justice Initiative
in cooperation with Access Info Europe and the FOI Advocates
Network convened a civil society meeting to review and discuss
the issues presented at the commissioners' meeting. Members
of more than two dozen civil society organizations from
Europe, Asia and Latin America participated in this session.
Following this meeting the group drafted the Manchester
Declaration on Access to Information, to follow up the
similar declaration issued by civil society groups after
the Cancun ICIC in 2005.
The
date and location of the next ICIC meeting has not yet been
established. The office of the Ombudsman in New Zealand
is evaluating the possibility of holding the next meeting
in Wellington in late October or early November 2007.
From
civil society, Helen Darbishire, founder and executive director
of Access Info Europe offered a global overview of FOI,
focusing on the main challenges faced by advocates. She
highlighted the need for securing FOI as a fundamental human
right and praised the role of information commissions worldwide
as an effective oversight mechanism guaranteeing the right
to know.
