Dear FOI advocates, Just sharing information about the next meeting of the Government Focal points for the Principle 10 LAC Declaration ( access to information, public participation and access to Justice). The meeting will take place from April 16-17th in Mexico. The Meeting will review a draft plan of action to ensure implementation of the Declaration. The Draft Action Plan is available online for review. http://www.eclac.cl/cgi-bin/getprod.asp?xml=/rio20/noticias/paginas/8/48588/P48588.xml&xsl=/rio20/tpl-i/p18f-st.xsl&base=/rio20/tpl-i/top-bottom.xsl Carole Mrs. Carole Excell Senior Associate The Access Initiative World Resources Institute Tel: 202-729-7901 Fax: +1-202-729-7759 cexc...@wri.org www.accessinitiative.org<http://www.accessinitiative.org/> www.wri.org<http://www.wri.org/> https://twitter.com/#!/TAIGlobal TAI Global on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Access-Initiative/189382521102162>
[Description: Description: cid:image002.jpg@01CC94C9.2B1A1A10]<http://www.wri.org/> From: foianet-boun...@lists.foiadvocates.info [mailto:foianet-boun...@lists.foiadvocates.info] On Behalf Of Mukelani Dimba Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2013 10:09 AM To: Toby Mendel; walter.keim Gmail Cc: Mukelani Dimba; 'Foianet' Subject: Re: [foianet] Does anyone have positive experiences with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)? Dear Walter, (the South African experience): The issue of South Africa's controversial Protection of State Information Bill (POSIB) made its way up to the UN's Human Rights Council through the second round of South Africa's UPR exercise. This was largely because of reports of both the OHCHR's working group on South Africa and those from civil society groups that had raised the matter in our submissions. In addition to this, ten members of the General Assembly also asked specific questions of the South African government on measures they intend taking in ensuring that POSIB complies with international law (the countries were, Norway, Canada, Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, Portugal, Sweden, USA, Germany and Austria). To some extent this helped sustain our advocacy efforts against the Bill, a momentum based on both domestic mobilisation and supported by international pressure. Unfortunately the response of the South African government can be described as somewhat intransigent, dismissing concerns on the negative impact of POSIB on FOI and freedom of expression - as expressed both domestically and internationally - as "pre-emptive...estimated guesses". So while we can't say that the UPR created a sea change in terms of the prevailing views on limitation of FOI within the government, I think the international gaze helped us move parliament in inch or two forward towards curbing some of the excesses in the manner in which the government was intending to carve out the contours of the right to information and its limitations, particularly on the basis of national security concerns. The fight is still far from over though. Regards, Mukelani Open Democracy Advice Centre South Africa From: Toby Mendel <t...@law-democracy.org<mailto:t...@law-democracy.org>> Date: Tuesday 02 April 2013 1:11 PM To: "walter.keim Gmail" <walter.k...@gmail.com<mailto:walter.k...@gmail.com>> Cc: 'Foianet' <foianet@foiadvocates.info<mailto:foianet@foiadvocates.info>> Subject: Re: [foianet] Does anyone have positive experiences with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)? Hi Walter, I think this page is where you can find the UN compilation of NGO submissions (as well as of UN bodies and the Canadian Government): http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/CASession16.aspx. CLD was part of JS4 (see http://www.law-democracy.org/live/canada-un-universal-periodic-review-submission/). But this document is simply a summary by the UN of the civil society submissions made on Canada, and not something the UN has endorsed in any way. The process is still evolving, so we will have to see what they come up with in terms of recommendations. Toby ___________________________________ Toby Mendel Executive Director Centre for Law and Democracy t...@law-democracy.org<mailto:t...@law-democracy.org> Tel: +1 902 431-3688 Fax: +1 902 431-3689 www.law-democracy.org<http://www.law-democracy.org> On 2 Apr 2013, at 06:45, walter.keim Gmail wrote: Dear all, national authorities<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/foi-de.htm>, EU<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/foi-eu.htm>, CoE<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/foi-coe.htm>, CCPR<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/foi-ccpr-de.htm> and OSCE<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/foi-osce.htm> did not support access to information in Germany. The UN "Summary of stakeholders' information" of Canada report A/HRC/WG.6/16/CAN/3<http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRCAStakeholdersInfoS16.aspx> mentions access to information: "54.Joint submission 4 (JS4) referred to shortcomings in Canada's law and policy regarding freedom of expression. JS4 recommended Canada (...) repeal Sections 299-304 of the Criminal Code, which criminalize defamation, bring the Access to Information Act in line with international standards; and recognize a freestanding constitutional right to information." Does anyone else have positive experiences with UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR)? Thank you in advance for your answer. Regards -- Walter Keim Netizen: http://walter.keim.googlepages.com<http://walter.keim.googlepages.com/> UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR): http://home.broadpark.no/~wkeim/files/foi-upr-de.htm Will CoE Support the Human Right of Access to Information in Germany? http://t.co/AavLgnOnz2 Is it possible to enforce access to information in Bavaria? http://home.broadpark.no/~wkeim/files/enforce_access_to_information.html Den 04/11/2012 14:51, skrev walter.keim Gmail: Dear all, two of the achievments of the Freedom of Information Advocates Network (FOIAnet) in the last 10 years are: 1) International Recognition as a Human Right · RTI is now firmly recognised as an internationally guaranteed human right, with decisions at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights, and global recognition by the UN Human Rights Committee 2) Rapid Increase in National Legal Recognition · The number of national RTI laws has more than doubled since 2002, from 42 to 93 countries, comprising over three-quarters of the world's population, with a concomitant growth in constitutional recognition for RTI However Germany does not follow this trend: 1. 84 states with approx. 5.5 billion<http://www.freedominfo.org/2011/10/foi-laws-counts-vary-slightly-depending-on-definitions/> inhabitants i. e. 78% of the world population give better access to information then the federal Freedom of Information Law in Germany (http://rti-rating.org/results.html). 2. More then 115 states (http://right2info.org/laws) with more then 5.9 billion inhabitants<x-msg://2232/foi-list.htm> i. e. 84 % of the worlds population adopted FOI laws or provisions in constitutions. 5 German states with half of the population lack FOI laws. 3. The UN Convention against Corruption is ratified by 159 states with more then 6,5 billion inhabitants, but not by Germany For 10 years I tried to make parliaments<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/petitions.htm>, politicians<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/120215questions.html>, the press<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/120727pr.html>, NGOs<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/foi-ngo.htm> and courts<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/enforce_access_to_information.html> aware of the human right of access to information. However only the Pirate Party<http://t.co/vxdoGCuf> took note of this. Both GRECO<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/1208greco-en.htm> (States against Corroption) and HRC<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/if-dimr-pbt-en.htm> (Human Rights Committee) did not promote the human right of access to information. Is it time to demand that these experts do the jobb they are paid for? Regards -- Walter Keim Netizen: http://walter.keim.googlepages.com<http://walter.keim.googlepages.com/> UN-Menschenrechtsausschuss: Deutsche Informationsfreiheits- gesetze in der Kritik: http://t.co/vxdoGCuf Is it possible to enforce access to information in Bavaria? http://home.broadpark.no/~wkeim/files/enforce_access_to_information.html<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/enforce_access_to_information.html> Emne: Who will support Germany? Dato: Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:51:32 +0100 Fra: Walter Keim <walter.k...@gmail.com><mailto:walter.k...@gmail.com> Til: 'Foianet' <foianet@foiadvocates.info><mailto:foianet@foiadvocates.info> Germany has to improve the federal FOI law, adopt FOI laws in 5 local states (Bundesländer), ratify COE and UN conventions against corruption and improve transparency of funding of political parties to catch up with Europe, America, OSCE, OECD and BRIC states (see weakness no. 2, 3, 4, 8, 34, 35 and 52 of National Integrity Report Transparency Germany). Who will support Germany?: http://home.broadpark.no/~wkeim/foi-ngo.htm<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/foi-ngo.htm> -- Walter Keim Netizen: http://sites.google.com/site/walterkeim/ Who will support transparency in Germany: http://home.broadpark.no/~wkeim/foi-ngo.htm<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/foi-ngo.htm> http://home.broadpark.no/~wkeim/files/if-dimr-pbt-en.htm<http://home.broadpark.no/%7Ewkeim/files/if-dimr-pbt-en.htm>
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