Centre for Law and Democracy

20 May 2025.

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) today released its analysis of proposed amendments to Puerto Rico’s Access to Information Act, in the form of Senate Bill 63. Rather than improving the legal environment for access to information in Puerto Rico, the amendments would reduce the score of Puerto Rico from 73 to 69 points out of a possible total of 150 on CLD’s respected RTI Rating, dropping it from the equivalent of 94^th to 106^th position globally out of the 140 countries with right to information laws.

“Puerto Rico already has a very weak legal framework for guaranteeing the right to access information held by government, despite having a constitutional guarantee for this,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “Instead of weakening it further, the government should undertake a comprehensive review with the aim of significantly improving the legislation.”

The proposed changes which result in points losses on the RTI Rating all relate to requesting procedures, and are specifically the following issues:

• • Additional, unnecessary information required when making a request.
  • Additional barriers to lodging a request in the form of being required to lodge it with the head of the public authority while also needing to copy the information officer.
  • The removal of any requirement to provide access to information in the format preferred by the requester.
  • Changes to the regime for extending the time limit to respond to requests which would allow for up to 20 additional days, without any conditions (in addition to extending the original time limit from 10 to 20 days).

Other unfortunate changes include extending secrecy to cover any information which has been classified and the removal of a requirement for information officers to remove personal information when reporting on requests.

CLD’s analysis is available here and the Bill is available in Spanish here and in an informal English translation here. The bolded text represents proposed removals and the text in italics proposed additions.

For further information, please contact:

Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
X: @law_democracy

5 May 2025.

The Maldives’ Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Transparency Maldives (TM) recently published their Comprehensive Assessment on the Implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act in the Maldives. This assessment was conducted in collaboration with the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) using its comprehensive methodology for assessing RTI implementation. The methodology evaluates the quality of RTI implementation in four key areas: central measures (which, in the case of the Maldives, focuses on the Information Commissioner’s performance), institutional measures at public authorities, proactive disclosure practices and reactive disclosure or responding to requests for information. 

Data for the assessment was collected from a sample of 30 public authorities drawn from across different sectors including ministries and departments, independent institutions, courts, local councils and State-owned enterprises.  

The Maldives received an overall yellow score (0.56 out of 1.00) which signifies that while there were some positive results, there is still a lot of room for improvement across the board. 

Key Findings: 

• • Timeliness of Information Requests: Only 38% of requests were responded to in full within the period prescribed in the law. While public authorities acknowledged and responded to requests within the stipulated time, the actual information requested was often not provided. Only 45% of requests resulted in the provision of all of the information requested, while some information often arrived late. 

• • Lack of RTI Implementation Plans: None of the public authorities assessed had adopted RTI implementation plans. This absence leads to significant delays and instances of requests getting lost altogether. Public authorities are urged to develop detailed implementation plans to streamline the processing of requests. 

• • Need for Enhanced Online Infrastructure: Proactive disclosure remains the weakest aspect of RTI implementation. One challenge is the lack of websites which meet disclosure standards. Efforts should be made to develop and maintain websites for local councils and smaller public authorities, while also ensuring that information is accessible in other ways if websites are not feasible. 
  • Challenges Faced by RTI Practitioners: Although information officers denied being under pressure to keep information secret RTI practitioners and journalists reported delays and withholding of information, indicating possible fear of reprisal or institutional reluctance. Journalists feel targeted, with authorities often extending deadlines without justification. 

Key Recommendations: 

The Maldives’ Information Commissioner’s Office and Transparency Maldives make the following key recommendations to promote effective RTI implementation:

• • Institutional Capacity Building: The development of online infrastructure for public authorities to support proactive disclosures should be prioritised, including the allocation of necessary funding and technical support for website maintenance. 

• • Alternative Information Disclosure Methods: Alternative means for disclosing information should be used by institutions which lack the ability to disclose online. 
  • Staff Capacity Building: The skills of relevant staff, especially information officers, should be enhanced so as to increase accountability, while institutional RTI implementation plans should be developed with a view to streamlining and improving information provision. 

It is essential that a concerted effort be made by public authorities, oversight bodies and civil society so as to ensure that the right to information is not only protected by law but realised in practice.

The full report can be found here. A summary of the results of this and previous evaluations can be found on this page, to which assessments of other countries will be added as they are completed.

For further information, please contact:

Raphael Vagliano
Legal Officer
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: raphael@law-democracy.org
+1 514 506-0948
www.law-democracy.org
Twitter: @law_democracy

28 April 2025.

You are invited to a webinar hosted by the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) on international freedom of expression standards on the right to information, and on restrictions on this right and freedom of expression on national security grounds. The webinar will feature a presentation from CLD introducing international standards on the right to information and a second presentation split into two parts, the first on national security restrictions on the right to information and the second on national security and freedom of expression.

The webinar is open to everyone but is directed at lawyers who work at the national level and wish to enhance their understanding of international law standards in these areas, including with a view to bringing national rules more fully into line with international human rights.  The webinar is designed to be interactive in nature, allowing for participants to make observations, share their experiences and ask questions.

The webinar will be held on 13 May 2025 at 9:00 Eastern Time/15:00 Central European Time and will last for 1 1/2 hours. A draft agenda for the webinar is available here.

This webinar is being held as part of CLD’s Supporting the Establishment of Networks of Media Lawyers Globally project, funded by the Global Media Defence Fund managed by UNESCO. The project seeks to encourage the creation of and support national-level networks of legal professionals working to advance media freedom and freedom of expression. For more information on this project, please see https://www.law-democracy.org/projects/media-lawyers-networks.

You can register for this webinar at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/or95umGbR1GNHa2ZGHUfiQ

For further information, please contact:

Raphael Vagliano
Legal Officer
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: raphael@law-democracy.org
+1 514 506-0948
www.law-democracy.org

Twitter: @law_democracy

15 April 2025.

Last year, the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) analysed media policies issued by two provisional governments with control over territory in Myanmar, namely the Media Code of Conduct of the Interim Executive Council of Karenni State (Karenni IEC) and Chapter 12 of the Policy and Regulations for Conducting Tasks Relating to Information of the Karen National Union (KNU). The key issues raised in the CLD analysis were requirements for media and journalists to be authorised (licensed) to report from Karenni- or KNU-controlled territory and excessive content restrictions.

“We are very sensitive to the fact that these two provisional governments are engaged in active conflict with the military regime running Myanmar, and so our analysis drew on established practices by democratic military forces, including the rules which are being applied by Ukraine in that conflict,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “Despite that challenging context, our assessment is that both media policies go beyond what is necessary to enable military actors to pursue their legitimate aims.”

Some of CLD’s concerns with the two media policies include the following:

• • Any system of authorisation should be limited to accreditation to access operationally sensitive areas which are off limits to the general public, and should be run in a fair and transparent manner, ideally by an independent body.
  • Most of the content restrictions in the two policies should be removed and, instead, media professionalism should be overseen by the self-regulatory Independent Press Council of Myanmar (IPCM).
  • Journalists should not be required to wear uniforms or identifying clothing, especially where this may place them at risk.
  • The policies should set out clear and appropriate (proportionate) sanctions for breach of their rules.

The CLD analysis is available here and the two media policies are available here and here.

For further information, please contact:

Raphael Vagliano
Legal Officer
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: raphael@law-democracy.org
+1 514 506-0948
www.law-democracy.org
X: @law_democracy

21 February 2025.

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) today released its analysis of the impact on access to information of the omnibus Bill No. 1, An Act Respecting Government Organization and Administration, tabled in parliament earlier this week by the Government of Nova Scotia, Canada. The analysis shows that despite claims by the government that the amendments “address long-standing inefficiencies” in the local access to information legislation, in fact they mostly give the government greater control over requests for information and the release of key reports by the Auditor General.

“It is extremely disappointing that a government which originally came into office promising positive reforms to the local access law is in fact seeking to obstruct access,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “The Progressive Conservatives won a super-majority in the November 2024 elections and, in such circumstances, it is incumbent upon them to show the greatest respect for democratic checks and balances, including access to information and the office of the Auditor General, instead of trying to hobble them.”

CLD has serious concerns with most of the proposed amendments as they impact access to information, of which the most important are:

• • • Unnecessarily requiring more specific details about the information being sought in a request for information, which could be abused by officials.

• • • Granting public bodies broad, discretionary powers to “disregard” requests for information, and not limiting this to “vexatious” requests or requiring the prior approval of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, as better practice jurisdictions do.

• • • Giving the Attorney General, who is also the Minister of Justice, conclusive power to declare certain information as being subject to solicitor-client privilege.

• • • Giving ministers the power to block the public release of reports by the Auditor General on the vague grounds that this is “in the public interest”.

The analysis is available here and the Bill is available here.

For further information, please contact:

Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
X: @law_democracy

13 February 2025.

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) today released its analysis of Nepal’s Social Media Act (Bill) 2081, which was tabled in parliament in late January 2025. The Bill has multiple problems when assessed against international standards on freedom of expression, including that the extensive regulatory powers in the Bill are all exercised by government actors, that platforms, defined very broadly, are required to obtain a government licence, that it imposes numerous expansive and illegitimate content restrictions on both users and platforms, and that it utterly fails to put in place any systematic approach to addressing the harms caused by online content.

“We understand that this Bill is somehow an attempt to implement the UNESCO Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “If so, it certainly fails in every way to achieve that aim, suggesting the need for more support for and advocacy towards the government.”

CLD’s main recommendation is that the whole approach taken in the Bill should be reconsidered in favour of one which, instead of focusing almost exclusively on individual pieces of content, addresses the systematic impact of the operations of platforms. The analysis also puts forward numerous more specific recommendations, including the following:

• • The definition of “social media platform” should be much narrower in scope as, presently, it would include any website on which user comments were enabled.
  • No government-controlled actor should be able to exercise regulatory powers under this law; instead, an independent administrative body should be created for this purpose.
  • The whole approach of licensing platforms should be dropped; this is simply not needed to impose regulatory requirements on them.
  • If restrictions on individual pieces of content are retained at all, they should be very substantially reworked so as to bring them into line with international standards.
  • The many excessive sanctions should be revised and replaced with a regime which allows for proportionate sanctions to be imposed.

The analysis is available here and the Bill is available here.

For further information, please contact:

Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
X: @law_democracy

29 January 2025.

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), in collaboration with the Maldives Journalists Association (MJA), recently launched the report Maldives: Overview of the Environment for Media, providing a broad look at the situation facing the media and journalists in the Maldives. The report is an updated version of a 2021 report by the same name prepared by CLD in collaboration with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and MJA.

“The environment for freedom of expression and media freedom in the Maldives varies considerably based on the political environment,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “We call on the current government to preserve the positive elements of the legal framework while also introducing the needed improvements, as outlined in the report, to bring laws and practices into line with international standards.”

The report starts by providing an overview of international standards on freedom of expression, followed by an analysis of Maldivian constitutional guarantees. Subsequent sections of the report focus on regulation of the media, content restrictions and transparency, each broken down into sub-sections. The report concludes with a detailed “Blueprint for Change: Promoting Freedom of Expression”, which puts forward numerous recommendations, including the following:

• • Putting in place effective measures to end attacks on journalists for exercising their freedom of expression and to bring perpetrators to justice.
  • Repealing the Newspapers and Magazines Act, 1978.
  • Undertaking a comprehensive review of restrictions on content to bring them into line with international standards.
  • Amending the Communications Authority of Maldives Act and Broadcasting Act to ensure the independence of their respective regulators, namely the Communications Authority of Maldives and the Maldives Broadcasting
  • Bringing the Right to Information Act more fully into line with international standards, including by removing overbroad exceptions and empowering the Information Commissioner to enforce his or her decisions through a non-criminal judicial procedure.

The report is available here.

For further information, please contact:

Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
X: @law_democracy

20 January 2025.

Today, the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), in collaboration with the International Federation of Journalists, is launching the report Malaysia: Media Law Reform Blueprint. The report provides a broad look at the way regulation of the media works in Malaysia, assessing both historic legislation and the many new laws which been introduced recently. These do not deliver on the impressive promises Pakatan Harapan, the largest party in the Unity Government, made in the leadup to the 2022 elections, with some of the most problematical rules, including section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, actually having been made worse and some commitments, for example to repeal the Sedition Act 1948, having been resiled from.

“I think it is fair to say that most human rights observers were hoping for far more from this government,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “At the same time, there have been some positive developments, such as an encouraging draft Media Council Bill, although even there we have a number of recommendations which we hope the government will take into account.”

The report provides a detailed overview of key freedom of expression standards, including on regulation of the media and digital communications, the right to information, and restrictions on freedom of expression. It then assesses the Malaysian legal framework against those standards, looking at issues like the independence of regulatory bodies, efforts to promote diversity in the media, the regulation of the print and broadcast media and digital communications, and secrecy provisions, as well a number of the key content restrictions found in different laws.

The report makes numerous recommendations for reform, of which some of the key ones are:

• • Repeal entirely the Sedition Act 1948, the Official Secrets Act 1972 and the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
  • Move forward promptly to adopt a strong right to information law.
  • Reflect, in the legal environment for the media and digital communications, the ideas that bodies which regulate the media and digital communications should be independent of government and that a key aim of regulation should be to promote media diversity.
  • Introduce improvements to the Media Council Bill before adopting it.
  • Undertake a comprehensive review of the many restrictions on content in different laws with a view to amending them to bring them into line with international standards.

The report is available here.

For further information, please contact:

Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
X: @law_democracy

16 January 2025.

You are invited to a webinar hosted by the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) on international freedom of expression standards on hate speech. The webinar will feature presentations from CLD in three different areas:

• International standards for legal prohibitions of hate speech.
• Standards for professional media regulation of discriminatory speech.
• Emerging standards on addressing discriminatory speech online (from a senior consultant to UNESCO on digital policy).

The webinar is directed at lawyers who work at the national level and wish to enhance their understanding of international law standards in these areas, including with a view to bringing national rules more fully into line with international human rights.

The webinar will be held 28 January 2025 and run from 8:30 to 10:00 Eastern Time/14:30 to 16:00 Central European Time. A draft agenda for the webinar is available here.

This webinar is being held as part of CLD’s Supporting the Establishment of Networks of Media Lawyers Globally project, funded by the Global Media Defence Fund managed by UNESCO. The project seeks to encourage the creation of and support national-level networks of legal professionals working to advance media freedom and freedom of expression. For more information on this project, please see https://www.law-democracy.org/projects/media-lawyers-networks.

You can register for this webinar at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/qbpTNo2xRGWaQcxiFfnBvQ

For further information, please contact:

Raphael Vagliano
Legal Officer
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: raphael@law-democracy.org
+1 514 506-0948
www.law-democracy.org
Twitter: @law_democracy

14 January 2025.

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), an international human rights organisation based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will host up to four interns for the summer of 2025. The position will involve a range of substantive legal work in areas such as freedom of expression, media law, digital rights and access to information.

CLD provides expert legal services on foundational rights for democracy for the support and promotion of these rights around the world. Select recent projects include:

• • Providing training and support to journalists, parliamentarians, lawyers, judges and activists in different countries on media law and human rights issues.
  • Providing expert input into legal reform processes in different countries.
  • Supporting strategic litigation on the human rights issues we focus on.
  • Supporting the development of networks of media lawyers in several countries globally.
  • Maintaining a global ranking of right to information laws (RTI-Rating.org) and a methodology for assessing the quality of implementation of right to information laws.
  • Campaigning against global threats to digital rights, such as mass surveillance, Internet shutdowns and efforts to undermine encryption and digital security.

We ask interns to commit to at least three months of full-time work during the months of May to August. We normally ask interns to be based in our office in Halifax, since we believe being with us in-person provides a richer all-round experience for interns. However, applications for remote internships will also be considered on a case-by-case basis. These positions are unpaid and we encourage prospective interns to seek funding from their law schools or other sources.

CLD is known for providing its interns with a rich and varied substantive legal experience. As such, interns will have the opportunity to be directly involved in advancing the cause of human rights, normally in a range of countries, over the summer. For more information on CLD’s work, visit our website at www.law-democracy.org.

Those interested in applying should send a copy of their CV, cover letter and unofficial law school transcripts to raphael@law-democracy.org by 4 February 2025. Final candidates may be asked to provide a writing sample.

Successful candidates will have a strong academic record, excellent research skills, the ability to multi-task, and a demonstrated commitment to international law and human rights. Proficiency in additional languages and international experience are assets. Applicants should be current law students or recent graduates; on an exceptional basis we will consider candidates without a law background.

17 December 2024.

Today, the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), in collaboration with a number of other civil society organisations which make up the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 Data Initiative, is launching a report on the role of SDG 16 in reducing poverty, SDG 16 Data Initiative 2024 Report: SDG 16 as a Key Vector for Eliminating Poverty. Addressing the scourge of poverty is a central premise of the SDGs, as reflected in the aim of SDG 1, which seeks to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere”, and the core mantra of the SDGs, namely to “leave no one behind. The report demonstrates the causal link between progress on a number of SDG 16 targets and poverty reduction.

“The transformative power of good governance, the core focus of SDG 16, in terms of driving development and also specifically reducing poverty, has long been recognised,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “This report provides concrete evidence of that power in relation to many of the SDG 16 targets, including access to information, which CLD’s chapter focuses on.”

The report contains five chapters looking at different SDG 16 targets, including Chapter 5: States Cannot Address Poverty in Secret, authored by Toby Mendel. The first part of Chapter 5 looks at the weak progress made so far in terms of SDG Indicator 16.10.2, which measures the adoption and implementation of right to information (RTI) laws, concluding that far more needs to be done both to reduce the number of 56 UN Member States which have still not adopted RTI laws and to improve the quality of those laws which have been adopted.

The second part of the chapter highlights the strong causal relationship between increasing transparency and improving poverty alleviation outcomes. This includes bolstering government accountability, including to expose ineffective development efforts, enhancing public participation in development efforts, including so as to ensure that they are properly tethered to the needs of the poor, and strengthening efforts to combat corruption, which has been shown to have a disproportionate impact on the poor.

The Report is available here.

For further information, please contact:

Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
X: @law_democracy

29 November 2024.

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) has made a submission to a public consultation by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on their Draft Recommendation of the Council on Information Integrity (draft Recommendation). CLD’s Note provides analysis of and recommendations on key parts of the draft Recommendation, with a view to align the document better with international standards, with a particular focus on freedom of expression and the right to information.

“The draft Recommendation represents an important early official attempt to elaborate standards regarding information integrity and, as such, we very much welcome it,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “But our view is that it is too focused on misinformation and disinformation to the detriment of other threats to information integrity and we hope that revisions will be made to expand it.”

Some of CLD’s key recommendations are that the draft Recommendation should:

• • Include clarifying language to the recommendation targeting foreign influence operations to ensure that it is not weaponised against international civil society organisations or local civil society groups which receive foreign grants.
  • Include more binding language vis-à-vis Internet platforms, as opposed to mere encouragement, including in respect of their content recommender systems and meeting their human rights responsibilities.
  • Include stronger and clearer language on the need to improve, in the area of access to information, both the legal frameworks in most countries and implementation.

CLD’s Note is available here.

For further information, please contact:

Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
X: @law_democracy

18 November 2024.

You are invited to a webinar hosted by the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) on international freedom of expression standards on digital rights, focusing on standards for regulating online speech and emerging practices for regulating digital platforms. The webinar will feature presentations from CLD on international standards on digital rights and platform regulation, as well as a presentation from the co-director of El Veinte, a Colombian civil society organisation which has been active in digital rights litigation. The webinar is directed at lawyers who work at the national level and wish to enhance their understanding of international law standards in these areas, including with a view to bringing national rules more fully into line with international human rights.

The webinar will be held on 27 November 2024 at 8:30 Eastern Time/14:30 Central European Time. A draft agenda for the webinar is available here.

This webinar is being held as part of CLD’s Supporting the Establishment of Networks of Media Lawyers Globally project, funded by the Global Media Defence Fund managed by UNESCO. The project seeks to encourage the creation of and support national-level networks of legal professionals working to advance media freedom and freedom of expression. For more information on this project, please see https://www.law-democracy.org/projects/media-lawyers-networks.

You can register for this webinar at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvc-uhrTIpHNGar-mgbp7d56AoSSC74kSD

For further information, please contact:

Raphael Vagliano
Legal Officer
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: raphael@law-democracy.org
+1 514 506-0948
www.law-democracy.org
Twitter: @law_democracy

24 October 2024.

A new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Freedom of Expression for Parliaments and Their Members is being launched on Monday, 28 October, and everyone who is interested in this subject is encouraged to take the course, which is available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese (see links below). The course was developed by the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), and commissioned by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The primary aim of the course is to develop the skills and capacity of members of parliament, parliamentary staff, and civil society organisations, academics and others who focus on parliaments, so as to protect and promote freedom of expression inside and outside of parliament.

“This course provides an excellent introduction for parliamentarians to international standards on freedom of expression,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “We believe the need for this course has never been higher, as parliamentarians around the world grapple with how to protect the right to freedom of expression in an increasingly challenging digital environment.”

The course features a range of pedagogical tools, including readings, games and quizzes, as well as videos by internationally recognised experts and members of parliament from around the world, who share their knowledge, expertise and relevant parliamentary experiences. A core background document for this course is a 2018 IPU publication authored by Toby Mendel, Freedom of expression for parliaments and their members: Importance and scope of protection.

You can register for this free, self-paced course at the following links in English, French, Spanish or Portuguese. The course will go live on 28 October 2024. Those who complete the course will receive a certificate.

For further information, please contact:

Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
Twitter: @law_democracy

3 October 2024.

You are invited to a webinar on international freedom of expression standards which provide particular protection to journalists, with a focus on whistleblower protections, protection of sources and anti-SLAPP measures. 

The webinar will be held on 10 October 2024 at 8:30 Eastern Time/13:30 Central European Time. An agenda for the webinar is available here.

This webinar is held as part of the Centre for Law and Democracy’s (CLD’s) Supporting the Establishment of Networks of Media Lawyers Globally project, funded by the Global Media Defence Fund managed by UNESCO. The project seeks to encourage the creation of and support national-level networks of legal professionals working to advance media freedom and freedom of expression. For more information on this project, please see https://www.law-democracy.org/projects/media-lawyers-networks.

You can register for this webinar at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsduuopz4qG9zGNbhIJORYnyhoHHGlaTjh

26 September 2024.

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) would like to wish everyone a happy International Right to Know Day (IRTKD), 2024. First established in 2002 by civil society organisations, IRTKD has grown in stature and recognition, ultimately being formally recognised by the United Nations General Assembly as a formal UN day, International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI), in 2019. IDUAI provides an opportunity to reflect on the importance of and progress towards realising the right to information (RTI), which was included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as Target 16.10: “Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements”.

“As we celebrate IRTKD this year, at CLD we are thinking about the slowing rate of adoption of new RTI laws, which number only 10 since 2020, or an average of approximately two per year”, said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “More needs to be done to increase this rate while, as always, significant implementation challenges exist in many countries.”

For its part, CLD is participating in numerous events this year to celebrate IRTKD. Toby will attend UNESCO’s main event, being held in Ghana under the title Mainstreaming Access to Information and Participation in the Public Sector. Specifically, Toby will moderate a panel on Challenges and Opportunities in implementing Access to Information Laws in the SIDS. CLD has also contributed a video to the event taking place in Uzbekistan and will participate in videoconferences in Mexico, Ukraine and yesterday participated in an event in Atlantic Canada.

CLD has also, as it does every year, updated the RTI Rating, adding two countries since last year – namely Qatar and Zambia – for a total of 140 countries, updating a number of other national ratings and adding more sub-national jurisdictions.

Happy International Right to Know Day!

For further information, please contact:

Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
Twitter: @law_democracy

25 September 2024.

Today, as a pre-International Right to Know Day event, the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) is releasing its Principles on Right to Information for Small Island Developing States: The Case of the Pacific. The right to access information held by public authorities, or the right to information (RTI), is a human right which should be respected by all States, large or small. And yet small population countries face particular challenges in this area, in particular in putting in place the needed administrative structures. The CLD Principles represent the first attempt to look at how traditional approaches to delivering RTI can be adapted so as to be practical for very small States while still respecting human rights standards.

“A recent review by CLD showed that of the 56 UN Member States which still lack RTI laws, 17 or nearly one-third have a population of less than one million, illustrating the challenges these States face in adopting such laws”, said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “Our Principles provide guidance to these States as to how to adapt RTI laws to make them more practical for small bureaucracies, and also on how to streamline implementation.”

A key idea in the Principles is that instead of appointing separate information officers in each public authority to respond to requests, a central unit can do this for the whole of the government, thereby both reducing the strain on the bureaucracy and concentrating expertise. Such a central unit can take on other roles, such as reporting centrally on the processing of requests by the whole of the government and leading on the proactive publication of information for the whole of government. The Principles also set out the key powers oversight bodies need to process information appeals, opening the way for allocating this role to an existing body rather than creating additional administrative structures.

CLD calls on all small States which have not yet done so to adopt RTI laws, and encourages them to reach out to us for assistance in this endeavour. We have other support materials for this work, such as legal drafting proposals which implement the recommendations in the Principles.

The Principles are available here.

For further information, please contact:

Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
+1 902 431-3686
www.law-democracy.org
twitter: @law_democracy

23 September 2024.

Three of Atlantic Canada’s access to information oversight offices are coming together during this year’s Right to Know Week for a live virtual panel discussion. Joining them will be a representative from one of the world’s leading access to information organizations, the Centre for Law and Democracy. The discussion will take place on September 25, 2024 from 12:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. (Newfoundland Time) and we are inviting everyone to attend.

Join us for this engaging live virtual panel discussion that will explore why access rights are foundational to democratic governance as well as some of the current and pressing challenges to the right of access to information. The panelists are:

• Tricia Ralph, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Nova Scotia
• Maria MacDonald, Deputy Information and Privacy Commissioner, Prince Edward Island
• Sean Murray, Director of Research and Quality Assurance, OIPC Newfoundland and Labrador
• Raphael Vagliano, Legal Officer, Centre for Law and Democracy

Don’t miss this opportunity to join in!

OIPC NL is hosting this Atlantic virtual event through Zoom Webinar. Register to attend.
 

Background

Right to Know Day (September 28) is an internationally recognized day dedicated to creating awareness about the importance of people’s right to access government information, while promoting freedom of information as essential to both democracy and good governance. In Canada, Right to Know Day extends to a week of celebrations known as Right to Know Week, which takes place this year from September 23 to 29, 2024.

Media contacts:
OIPC NL
Sean Murray
Director of Research and Quality Assurance
709-729-6309
commissioner@oipc.nl.c

OIPC PEI
Maria MacDonald
Deputy Information and Privacy Commissioner
902-368-4099
InfoPrivacy@assembly.pe.ca

Centre for Law and Democracy
Raphael Vagliano
Legal Officer
514-506-0948
raphael@law-democracy.org

You are invited to CLD’s webinar on 18 July, Introduction to Creating a Media Lawyers’ Network. This webinar provides a general introduction to the concept of creating a national professional network of media lawyers, steps which can be taken to establish one and resources developed by CLD to support the formation of such networks. 

Register here and learn more about our project on creating media lawyers’ networks here.

24 June 2024. 

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) has submitted an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief to the Constitutional Court of Colombia in a case in which a journalist was blocked on X (formerly Twitter) by the official account of a regional government.

Official government accounts are part of the wider public information system, in this case using social media to communicate important updates and information to the public. Blocking users, especially journalists, interferes with their right both to access information and to express themselves on the platform. Like other restrictions on freedom of expression, such actions are invalid unless they meet the test for such restrictions under international human rights law.

“Journalists need to access government social media accounts to be able to fulfil their crucial role of disseminating important public information to their audiences,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “Limiting journalists access to such accounts undermines their ability to report on government actions, a breach not only of their right to information but also of the rights of others to receive information.”

The brief argues that blocking a journalist from an official social media account would only very exceptionally be legitimate, for example if the journalist was posting spam or acting in a way which interfered with participation by other users. Such an action can never be legitimate if its aim is to target those who are critical of government of officials. In addition, blocks should be imposed only following repeated violations of a clearly worded social media policy and pursuant to a procedure which incorporates due process protections.

In this case, the journalist was blocked arbitrarily after he had made critical comments about government officials. CLD hopes that the Colombian Constitutional Court will consider the serious concerns such circumstances raise under international human rights law.

CLD’s amicus curiae brief is available in English and Spanish.

El informe de amicus curiae está disponible en español aquí.

For further information, please contact:

Laura Notess
Senior Legal Officer
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: laura@law-democracy.org
+1 782 234 4471
www.law-democracy.org
Twitter: @law_democracy