Dear Sandy and all,
Excellent news, congratulations! We will also spread the news in Bulgaria in an article being prepared for the next AIP newsletter this month. We do started translation of the Global principles in Bulgarian as well. Best wishes, Sasho Alexander Kashumov, attorney-at-law Head of Legal Team Access to Information Programme 76 Vassil Levski Blvd. Apt.3 1142 Sofia, Bulgaria + 3592 9885062; 9867709 E-mail: kashu...@aip-bg.org From: foianet-boun...@lists.foiadvocates.info [mailto:foianet-boun...@lists.foiadvocates.info] On Behalf Of Sandra Coliver Sent: Monday, June 24, 2013 7:50 PM To: 'FOI Advocates' Subject: [foianet] Committee of Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe unanimously endorses the Tshwane Principles - congrats to all! Dear Colleagues: We are thrilled to report that today the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution (link below) that invites the Committee of Ministers to: 1. examine ways and means to promote the entry into force and speedy implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents (CETS No. 205) ; 2. review the Council of Europes own policies regarding access to information and classification and declassification of documents in light of the Assemblys resolution ; and 3. encourage member states of the Council of Europe to take into account the Global Principles on National Security and the Right to Information, in particular, concerning the points highlighted in this resolution, in modernising their legislation and practice. Heres the Council of Europes press release, just posted: http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/NewsManager/EMB_NewsManagerView.asp?ID=8867 <http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/NewsManager/EMB_NewsManagerView.asp?ID=8867&L=2 > &L=2 It contains a link to the report as adopted (provisional version): http://www.assembly.coe.int/Communication/pressajdoc25_2013.pdf Short interview (in Spanish) by the rapporteur, Spanish MP Mr Diaz Tejera: http://coenews.coe.int/vod/20130624_mb01_w.wmv The Legal Affairs Committee and Sen. Diaz Tejera, the resolutions author, are to be commended for taking this bold and timely step to set forth clear guidelines to help states ensure, in their laws and practices, an appropriate balance between the public interests in national security and the right to information. Congrats to all who participated in drafting the Principles! This is quite a step and we hope that many of you will be able to use this endorsement to move forward attention to the Princs. One of the highlights of the resolution is para 8.7, based on Tshwane Principles 40, 43 and 46, which asserts that A person, who discloses wrongdoings in the public interest (whistle-blower) should be protected from any type of retaliation, provided he or she acted in good faith and followed applicable procedures. Para. 8.5 of the resolution, reflecting Tshwane Principles 3 and 10, states that Access to information should be granted where public interest in the information in question outweighs the authorities interest in keeping it secret, including when such information would make an important contribution to an on-going public debate. Sen. Díaz Tejera, commenting on the Wikileaks revelations, said: One lesson learnt from this massive leak is in fact that the publication even of relatively sensitive information is nowhere near as damaging as had previously been assumed. I therefore consider the extreme severity with which the US authorities are treating Mr Manning, the young soldier who seems to be the source of these leaks, as most inappropriate. The resolution will be considered by the full PACE at its plenary meeting beginning 30 September. The PACE is comprised of 636 members of the parliaments of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe, with the largest countries France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the UK each having 18 members and 18 alternates, and the smallest countries having at least two members and two alternatives each. A summary of the Tshwane Principles, with a link to the full Principles, is posted here: http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/fact-sheets/tshwane-principles-nationa l-security-and-right-information-overview-15-points. A blog about the relevance of the Principles to whistleblowers and, in particular, to Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning, may be found here: http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/national-security-whistleblower s-us-response-manning-and-snowden-examined.
