Europe, Headlines, Human Rights, Press Freedom

RIGHTS: Proposals on Right to Information Kept Hidden

Sanjay Suri

LONDON, Nov 25 2008 (IPS) - New concerns have arisen over the weakness of model legislation being drafted by the Council of Europe on the right of access to information.

The process of drafting the legislation is itself shrouded in secrecy, according to Article 19, a London-based human rights organisation that focuses on the defence and promotion of freedom of expression and freedom of information worldwide.

“About 70 governments have adopted right to information laws for their domestic jurisdictions,” Sejal Parmar, senior legal officer at Article 19 told IPS. “However, this would be the first regional human rights instrument on the right to information, which is why it’s particularly important that it sets a high standard, or certainly a standard which meets some of the criteria of the more modern freedom of information legislation.”

The model legislation is being drafted by the Council of Europe, an independent grouping of 47 countries across the European continent. The Council of Europe, founded in 1949, seeks to develop common principles across Europe based on the European Convention on Human Rights and other reference texts on the protection of individuals.

Draft legislation prepared by the Council of Europe on the right to information would be opened to member states for signature. Given sufficient support, it would then apply to those states that ratify it. The text of the legislation would mark an important benchmark for national laws on the right to information.

A committee of ministers at the Council is due to vote on adoption of the convention Nov. 27. The committee is chaired by Sweden’s foreign minister Carl Bildt. Sweden was the first nation to grant citizens the right to information, back in 1776. But there is concern that current Swedish legislation does not match the best there is.

“Older legislation in countries such as Sweden does not come to the same standard as some of the newer legislation which has been adopted by some of the Eastern European countries,” says Parmar.

Article 19 has raised concerns on several counts. “There is a lack of a general statement on the right to information which establishes that all official documents are in principle public, and can be withheld only subject to protection of other rights and legitimate interests,” Parmar said. “There is also the absence of mandatory time limits for answering requests. We argue these should be there.”

The right to information, she said, “should be applicable to public authorities or bodies which exercise a public function, the draft legislation at the moment does not do this. It should be applicable to private bodies that perform public functions, or operate with public funds for that matter. Requesters should have the right to appeal to a review body that has the power to order disclosure.”

Differences have arisen between several Council of Europe institutions over the present draft, which many see as weak. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which is composed of delegations from the national parliaments of the 47 countries, criticised several aspects of the draft last month.

Several human rights organisations working on government transparency have filed a request with the Council of Europe for information about the draft, the Convention on Access to Official Documents as it is called.

“It’s more than a little ironic that the world’s first international treaty on access to information is being decided upon behind closed doors,” Helen Darbishire, executive director of the group Access Info Europe said in a statement.

“The public has the right to know what is being discussed, and what positions our governments are taking on the treaty,” said Darbishire, whose organisation, along with the Open Society Justice Initiative and Article 19, is leading civil society efforts to promote a stronger treaty.

The Council of Europe considered Nov. 12 whether or not to act on the Parliamentary Assembly’s opinion, but the public was not notified of its position.

Concerns have risen about the position Sweden might take. “Sweden’s reputation as an advocate of transparency will be substantially tarnished if Minister Bildt allows the treaty to be adopted in its current form without adequate attention to the concerns raised by civil society, information commissioners, and governments,” said Sandra Coliver of the Open Society Justice Initiative.

Drafting the convention has been delegated to a group of government appointees dominated by countries from north-west Europe, many of whose access to documents laws date back to rules on administrative procedures adopted in the 1970s and early 1980s, Article 19 says in a statement.

“A major reason given by those involved in the drafting process for not wanting to consider revisions to the current treaty text is that the process has already taken 10 years,” it says. “This is not strictly the case. Talk about drafting a Convention only started in 2002 upon the Council of Europe’s adoption of a Recommendation on Access to Official Documents. Actual drafting began only in January 2006, and the main text of the Convention was completed by July 2007.”

Three human rights organisations working on access to information – Access Info, Article 19 and the Justice Initiative – were invited to participate in the drafting sessions.

A spokesperson at Article 19 declined to comment on the draft legislation, or to the concerns raised.