What’s New
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11 March 2015
Canadian Ruling Says Courts Can Review Long Extensions
The Federal Court of Appeal in Canada on March 3 issued a decision confirming that courts can review the reasonableness of time delays in agency responses to freedom of information requests. A lower court had dismissed an application for judicial review filed the information commissioner, with the requester’s consent, under section 42 of the Access […]
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10 March 2015
Chinese Court Describes Judicial Transparency Efforts
China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) published a white paper March 10 lauding improvements on judicial transparency, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua. “This is the first time the top court has reviewed the measures and effects of judicial reform on boosting transparency in the form of a white paper,” said SPC spokesman Sun Jungong […]
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6 March 2015
DFID Says Transparency, ATI Medium Corruption Solutions
A 110-page British government report evaluating the causes of corruption, and possible solutions, rates access to information as having “medium” value in fighting corruption, linked to one of two “large” impact factors — social accountability mechanisms. The summary section states: “Transparency and ATI emerge as important for the exercise of other rights, improving service delivery […]
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5 March 2015
The Hillary Emails; and a Suggested Fix
By Lauren Harper and Nate Jones The National Security Archive and other groups recently proposed an amendment to the House FOIA Reform bill that would allow all FOIA processors access to all electronic records systems for the processing of FOIA requests. This fix would have gone a long way in allowing State Department FOIA processors and […]
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5 March 2015
Only Quarter of Indian Bodies Making Mandatory Disclosures
Only about one quarter of Indian public authorities are posting online information required to be made public under the Right to Information Act, according to the Central Information Commission annual report (text not yet posted on CIC website). Of the 2,276 public authorities, 667 are complying with the mandatory suo-motu (Latin for “on its own […]
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5 March 2015
Budget Approved for FOI Legislation for Philippines
The Philippines House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations on March 4 approved the budgetary provisions of the Freedom of Information bill, according to articles in the Philippines Star, the Manila Standard and GMA. The FOI bill now goes back to the House Committee on Public Information panel, which passed the bill in November, before being […]
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5 March 2015
FOI Notes: South Africa, OGP, Open Data, Much More
South Africa: See the report on the R2K 2015 National Summits online here. OGP: The Open Government Partnership issues its annual report. United States: See a comprehensive list of the events for the upcoming Sunshine Week. Debating Transparency: “Disclosure Can Produce Meaningful Change,” writes Chris Gates, the president of Sunlight Foundation is a US nonpartisan […]
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5 March 2015
Sri Lanka’s RTI Bill – Misconceptions and Recommendations
By Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena and Venkatesh Nayak This article appeared Feb. 28 in The Sri Lanka Guardian. Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena is a Colombo based civil liberties advocate, the editorial (legal) consultant/columnist for the Sunday Times and a legal consultant for the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICwS) Sri Lanka media law initiative based at the University of London, […]
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5 March 2015
The Perils and Paradoxes of FOI in Canada
By Ken Rubin The author is an Ottawa-based investigative researcher and citizens’ advocate. This article first appeared in J-Source, March 3. This article is a condensed and edited version of “Tales from the front line: Canada’s FOI Warrior”, Rubin’s chapter in FOI 10 Years On: Freedom Fighting or Lazy Journalism?, just published by Abramis in […]
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5 March 2015
The Power of a Question in El Salvador
By Max Heywood This article first appeared March 2 on the Transparency International blog. Heywood is Programme Coordinator in the Americas Department of Transparency International. Read this in Spanish here. Transparency laws mean nothing if they are not applied, and it sometimes takes brave citizens and active civil society organisations to make sure that they are. […]
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26 February 2015
Backlash Develops Over Release of Body Cam Footage
By Toby McIntosh and Lauren Harper Bills to restrict or prevent the public disclosure of videos taken by police officers wearing cameras are sparking debate in state legislatures around the United States. Anti-disclosure bills have been offered in half a dozen states, usually by legislators with law enforcement backgrounds. “Video recordings should not be subject […]
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26 February 2015
Cambodia Needs to Prioritise Access to Information Law
By Chak Sopheap The author is the executive director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. This article first appeared Feb. 18 in the Phnom Penh Post Over the past few weeks, the government has repeatedly asserted its intention to introduce a state secrets law in Cambodia. In a country that has not yet adopted […]
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26 February 2015
Mexico’s Transparency Bill: Is There Too Much at Stake?
By Joel Salas Suárez The author is a commissioner of the autonomous Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI) in Mexico. This article first appeared in the blog of the Open Government Partnership. (Spanish version) Mexico´s upper chamber is currently discussing the Transparency and Access to Information bill, following a Constitutional amendment […]
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26 February 2015
Jamaican Activist Urges Donor Push on Transparency
Foreign aid should be more directly tied to governments’ efforts to improve their transparency and donors should place more emphasis on greater grassroots involvement, according to Aylair Livingstone, a Jamaican transparency activist who presented an overview of access in the Caribbean at a World Bank webinar. Livingston summarized the freedom of information situation in the […]
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26 February 2015
FOI Notes: Country Reports, Open Data, US States, More
Canada: “Alberta Premier Jim Prentice has personally ordered that documents from all general freedom of information requests be publicly posted, despite serious concerns from the civil servants responsible for implementing the new policy, CBC News has learned.” according to a CBC report that highlights negative reactions to the move. Oregon: Incoming governor Kate Brown announces […]
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21 February 2015
OGP CSO Leaders Criticize Mexico Over FOI Legislation
In a highly unusual move, the civil society co-chairs on the Open Government Partnership Steering Committee have criticized the Mexican government, the overall OGP lead chairman, for proposing to undercut the Mexican freedom of information law. The Feb. 21 statement came after Mexican civil society groups blasted the Mexican government, but was a rare public […]
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19 February 2015
FOI Notes: Research, Country News, Tips, More
FOI Research: Gregory Michener has an article in Governance titled “How Cabinet Size and Legislative Control Shape the Strength of Transparency Laws.” Also see shorter version in Democratic Audit UK. Summary: When are governments likely to adopt strong transparency laws? Greg Michener says that too much of the existing research has tried to answer that […]
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19 February 2015
Mexico: OGP Leader Faking Transparency
By Ana Cristina Ruelas The author is the Right to Information Program Officer at ARTICLE 19, México and Central America Mexico became the lead chairman of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) on 2014, although we are far from openness. The government’s rhetoric is all about transparency and co-creation but in their offices they are pushing us […]
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18 February 2015
South Africa: Not So Transparent After All
By Candice Bailey The author is a journalist with Corruption Watch. This article first appeared Feb. 16 in The Star. Reprinted with permission. Johannesburg – When the Gauteng High Court granted civil society campaigners Right2Know access to a list of the country’s national key points, the award was lauded as a victory in the battle for […]
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17 February 2015
Pakistan Committee Unhappy With Progress on RTI Bill
A Pakistan Senate Committee Feb. 16 has expressed its displeasure with the lack of progress on Right to Information bill. “Delay in presenting such an important bill before the Cabinet for approval, is a grave constitutional violation which proves that it is not on priority list of the government despite the fact that the bill […]