[huridocs-tech] UNESCO publishes study on freedom of information laws

23-01-2004 (UNESCO)

UNESCO has published a study of freedom of information laws that examines
best practices in 10 countries. Written by ARTICLE 19 Law Programme
Director Toby Mendel, "Freedom on Information: A Comparative Legal Survey"
analyses laws in Bulgaria, India, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa,
Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The study that is available at http://www.article19.org/docimages/1707.pdf
examinex international standards and trends, and outlines nine principles
governing effective freedom-of-information laws. The survey also looks at
the public disclosure policies of two international institutions - the
United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank.

The right to freedom of information, commonly understood as the right to
access information held by public bodies, is now widely recognised as a
fundamental human right. There is a massive global trend towards legal
recognition of this right as countries around the world that aspire to
democracy either have adopted, or are in the process of reparing, freedom
of information laws. This represents an enormous change from even ten
years ago, when less than one-half of the freedom of information laws now
in place had been adopted.




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