[open-government] Access Info press release re OGP

Wed Sep 21 14:57:38 UTC 2011

ACCESS INFO EUROPE 

Press Release

Open Government Partnership should mark end to "transparency hypocrisy"

20 September 2011: With 46 countries gathering in New York today to launch
the Open Government Partnership <http://www.opengovpartnership.org/> ,
Access Info Europe warned that the promises being made must be carefully
monitored to prevent participating governments from using the process to
give a false impression of their transparency credentials. 

"This initiative has the potential to promote higher standards of openness,
in particular in the area of proactive publication of information, but care
must be taken to ensure that it does not become a window-dressing exercise,"
said Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe. 

The danger of "transparency hypocrisy" is very real: at the same time as
participating as a leading member of the OGP, the UK government is engaged
in litigation against Access Info Europe to block access to documents about
reform of the EU's own access to documents rules. 

Three other OGP participating countries - the Czech Republic, Greece, and
Spain - are also involved in this legal battle against transparency and
citizen engagement in EU decision making, in direct conflict with the OGP
standards on open and participatory government.

The lack of rigorous entry criteria for members of the OGP "club" could make
it easier for members to avoid full respect for the right of access to
information: two of the EU participating states, Spain and Luxembourg, do
not have an access to information law nor a constitutional protection of the
right, and both have very limited levels of access to information in
practice. 

"No mechanism for promoting open government should tolerate failures to meet
international standards," concluded Darbishire. 

Access Info Europe also raised a concern that Open Government Partnership
member countries are free to select the indicators on which they will report
progress. 

"Voluntary goals monitored by civil society are useful for raising a public
debate around open government," commented Helen Darbishire, "but this in no
way substitutes for the obligation to respect the right of access to
information, nor for transparency commitments made in treaties such as the
UN Convention against Corruption." 

For more information - in English, French or Spanish - please contact:

Helen Darbishire, Executive Director, Access Info Europe 
helen at access-info.org | +34 667 685 319

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