News
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11 May 2012
EU Ministers Threaten Access to Information
By Helen Darbishire Darbishire is Executive Director of Access Info Europe. The threat that the right of access to information from European Union bodies will be reduced moved a step closer to reality May 10 when the 27 Member States approved a document from the Danish EU Presidency which would add broad exceptions to the […]
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11 May 2012
Tunisia Publishes Road Map To Implement FOI Directive
Tunisia’s Office of the Prime Ministry has published an implementation guide for Decree Law 41 – a directive passed last May on access to governmental documents, according to media reports (Tunisia Live). FreedomInfo.org has confirmed the development, but contacts did not have a copy. Pro-transparency activists have been calling for a law, arguing that the […]
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11 May 2012
Ghana Coalition Protests Low Priority Given FOI Legislation
The Coalition on Right to Information in Ghana May 11 issued a statement “to express its disappointment” that the majority leader of Parliament, Cletus Avoka, said May 7 that “the Right to Information Bill is not a priority for Parliament.” “This is particularly worrying when democracy depends on open, accountable government and the opportunity for […]
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11 May 2012
UK Protection of Freedoms Act Makes Changes in FOI
By Paul Gibbons This article first appeared in FOIManUK on May 10, Gibbon’s blog, and is reprinted with permission. The Protection of Freedoms Act came into force on 1 May 2012. Amongst its many implications are those for the Freedom of Information Act (though we still await a commencement order in respect of these provisions, […]
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10 May 2012
Retired Officials Dominate Indian State Commissions
Most Indian state information commissioners are retired civil servants and many posts are vacant, according to fact-filled critical report by the Access to Information Programme of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, based in New Delhi. Also, less than half of the commissions have put some or all of their decisions online and their websites are […]
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10 May 2012
Liberia Announces Intention to Appoint FOI Commissioner
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced in a May 3 statement that she will “very soon” appoint the country’s first information commissioner. The position was created by the FOI passed in October of 2010, but has not been filled. The announcement was praised by Peter Quagua, president of the Press Union of Liberia, in a […]
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10 May 2012
FOI Notes: Commentary, Reports, Book, Handbook
FOI/Private Sector: Applying FOI to the private sector, a proposal by British author George Monbiot in The Guardian. Open Data: A call for session and talk proposals for the International Open Government Data Conference 2012 to be held on July 10-12th in Washington D.C., co-hosted by the World Bank and the US Government’s Data.gov team. […]
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9 May 2012
Malta to Institute FOA Law in September, Minister Says
Malta’s freedom of information law will come into full force Sept. 1, the government has announced. The law was enacted more than three years ago, but the ability to make requests has been stymied. Justice Minister Chris Said on May 8 indicated that 400 FOI officers have been undergoing training since February 2010. The news […]
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7 May 2012
Cambodians Want Right to Information Study Says
More than 80 percent of Cambodians want the right to access government information and believe that government, including elected bodies, should publish national budget and spending information, according to a new survey by the Cambodian Center for Independent Media. Cambodia does not have a FOI law. The research was commissioned by the Cambodia Centre for […]
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4 May 2012
Yemeni Parliament Passes Right to Information Law
Yemen’s parliament April 24 approved a right to information bill. The legislation was first presented in 2008 by MP Ali Hussein Ashaal, of the Islah party, according to a Yemen Times article. “This was followed by another draft presented by the Ministry of Information, and since deliberations on both drafts have been proceeding off and […]
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4 May 2012
Angry Parliamentarian Vows to Block Sierra Leone FOI Bill
Only days after a top Sierra Leone government official said the freedom of information bill would pass during the week of May 7, a key legislator, angered by journalists, said it won’t. The strong statement by Majority Leader of Parliament, S.B.B. Dumbuya was dramatic, according to a report in Ariogbo by Femi Coker, who described […]
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4 May 2012
Trip to London Next Step for Ghana FOI Bill?
The perplexing pace of inaction on freedom of information legislation in Ghana is continuing. Positive signs include a top government official pledging action and reports from activists who say members of Parliament told them the bill will come up this month. On the other hand, Parliament has yet to produce a promised report on regional […]
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4 May 2012
U.S. Boosts FOI as Criteria for Receiving Foreign Aid
The United States has revised an indicator used to decide which countries qualify for foreign aid, somewhat elevating the importance of freedom of information and unfettered internet access. The changes were made last year by the Millenium Challenge Corporation, which uses a multi-faceted scorecard system to determine which under-developed countries qualify for development assistance. Not […]
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4 May 2012
Access to Information Clause In Draft Zambian Constitution
The first draft Constitution for Zambia was released April 30 and includes a provision on access to information. The 253-page document was hailed by media groups as progressive for its clauses on media freedom. Separately, a task force is preparing a freedom of information law. The access to information provision states: 37. (1) A citizen […]
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4 May 2012
Problems Found in Handling of RTI Requests in Indonesia
A requesting exercise in Indonesia had only a 46 percent success rate, and generated some recommendations for administrators of the right to information law to address “significant problems.” The project was conducted by the Alliance of Independent Journalists and the Centre for Law and Democracy, who also conducted a workshop evaluating the experience. CLD and AJI held […]
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3 May 2012
Sierra Leone Parliament to Consider FOI Next Week
The Sierra Leone Parliament will consider long-delayed freedom of information legislation during the week of May 7, a top government official has said. The statement of the Minister of Information and Communication, Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, was reported in The Patriotic Vanguard by Ishmael Koroma. [Ed. note: FreedomInfo.org learned later that the article was essentially a press […]
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3 May 2012
R2K Campaign Objects to Shortened Schedule
The South African Right2Know coalition May 3 objected to plans by a parliamentary committee to consider the controversial Protection of State Information Bill in two sessions rather than the planned seven. Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer, who has opposed the bill before, recently argued that it sh0ud be “rejected in its entirety” in an article, “South […]
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30 April 2012
OGP Still Developing Rules on Member Noncompliance
The Open Government Partnership Steering Committee on April 16 engaged in a discussion, still partially unresolved, of how to handle members who fail to live up to their commitments, according to minutes released April 30. The committee – made up of 18 members, half from governments and half from civil society – sets policy for […]
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30 April 2012
New Details Emerge on OGP Review Mechanism
The next major stage in the history of the Open Government Partnership will occur as the 55 members review their implementation of their national action plans, and have their compliance reviewed by experts. This Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) process was outlined a year ago, and made more formally in the just-issued Articles of Governance, but […]
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30 April 2012
Requests in Germany Doubled in 2011, Report Says
The German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Peter Schaar, April 24 issued an annual report showing that requests are rising. The third annual report on freedom of information for 2010 and 2011, indicates that in 2011, 3,280 applications were made, an increase of 110 percent compared with the 1,557 requests recorded […]