Freedom of Information and Expression

Hungary has one-upped its usual penchant for thriving on the fly! Unlike learned the specifics of my job when I arrived in Heves (key factors like "German" had previous been left unmentioned...), this time I find out my mission the morning before leaving for O'Hare! :-)

I'll be manning the Freedom of Information and Expression project, and I'm jazzed!

"The Justice Initiative is in the midst of a project to collect “best law and practice” (BL&P) concerning freedom of information from around the world. The project will result, by November 2007, in an on-line resource and print version. This is the first such effort of its kind and will provide the basis for advocacy to establish “evolving standards” that eventually may ripen into cognizable norms and be codified in international instruments, such as that being developed by the Council of Europe. The resource will be organized by topic. Under each topic heading will be paragraphs about positive precedents with links to relevant documents where available, or else with citations to where the information can be found. Topic headings include the following:

• International Standards: declarations and treaties
• International Jurisprudence re the right to information
• The right to information in national constitutions and Constitutional Jurisprudence
• The main elements of access to information laws
• Recognition of access to information as a fundamental right (inc. justifications)
• The scope of access to information laws
o public bodies
o types of information
o private bodies
• Exemptions: Overview, and Harm and Public interest tests
• Information of High Public Interest
• Environmental Information
• Public Health Information
• Information Necessary for an Informed Electorate
• Specific Exemptions
• National Security
• Commercial Secrets
• Privacy
• Criminal Proceedings
• Working Papers and Drafts
• Written and oral requests
• Timeframes
• Costs
• Positive and Negative Silence
• Proactive Publication of Information
• FOI in Practice
o Information Officers
o Information Commissioners
o Good practice on information management
o Impact on Security (police) & Intelligence Units"

What will that look like on a daily basis?

• Review rough drafts of various sections of the BL&P resource submitted by partners from around the world; draft emails to the authors to ask for clarifications and additions where the writing is unclear or incomplete; edit papers.
• Compile a library of useful, recent articles on freedom of information, written in or after1996, and an annotated list of these articles, including urls where available. Electronic versions are preferred to hard copies.
• Sift through and select documents for the appendices from websites and Justice Initiative files.
• Search on-line websites and databases, including www.foiadvocates.net and www.freedominfo.org, for examples of good law and practice not already included in the drafts submitted. Write summaries of the on-line information.
• Assist Eszter Filippinyi with organizing files concerning FOI laws, posting information on the Justice Initiative website, and completing other tasks needed for FOI or FOE projects.
• Assist Eszter with editing a final report on activities and a paper for donors drafted by our Peruvian partner concerning lessons learned during its 2-year FOI implementation project.

Nagyon jo lessz!!

Jeremy Jewett
Legal Research Intern
Open Society Justice Initiative
Oktober 6. str 12.
H-1051 Budapest
HUNGARY
Tel: +36 327 3100 ext 3122/2247
Fax: +36 327 3103
www.justiceinitiative.org