"The right to access
information held by public authorities is a fundamental human right which
should be given effect at the national level through comprehensive
legislation (for example Freedom of Information Acts) based on the
principle of maximum disclosure, establishing a presumption that all
information is accessible subject only to a narrow system of exceptions." Joint
Declaration by the UN, ODCE and OAS Special Mandates for Protecting
Freedom of Expression
Walter Keim, Email: walter.keim@gmail.com
Torshaugv. 2 C
N-7020 Trondheim, 24. August 2012
Group of
States against corruption (GRECO)
DIRECTORATE GENERAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND LEGAL AFFAIRS
DIRECTORATE OF MONITORING
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
Copy: UN Special Rapporteur freedom of opinion and expression, OSCE,
PACE, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), EU
Parliament (Petition No.
0748/2012): GRECO (CoE) failed to uphold human rights and
democratic standards, therefore the EUP has to do it
GRECO failed in Second Evaluation Round and must therefore do better in
Third Round
Madam/Sir,
monitoring report Greco
RC-II (2007) 3E of the Second Evaluation Round dated 1. June 2007 [A]
quotes recommendation i:
6. GRECO recommends to adopt appropriate freedom of
information legislation and put in place measures facilitating access to
information by the public in accordanc with such legislation
GRECO concludes:
11. GRECO concludes that recommendation i has been
implemented satisfactory.
This conclusion was obviously wrong, because 7 out of 16 Federal States
lacked freedom of information legislation. Even today 5 out of 16 German
Federal States, with more then half of the population lack general access to
information legislation.
In addition the federal Freedom of Information law is not in line with
European, international and democratic standards.
It will be shown here that this mistake has to be avoided in the 3.
Evaluation Round.
Access to documents of public administration is a human right according to
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) [1, 4,
5] and jurisdiction
of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) [6]
on the basis of the European Convention for Human Rights (ECHR) [2]
and is seen as a precondition for democracy and important in the fight of
corruption. OSCE supports access to information [A].
UN, OSCE and AOS confirm in their Joint Declaration by the Three Special
Mandates for Protecting Freedom of Expression 6. December 2004, that Access
to Information is a human right [3]:
"The right to access information held by public
authorities is a fundamental human right which should be given effect at
the national level through comprehensive legislation (for example
Freedom of Information Acts) based on the principle of maximum
disclosure, establishing a presumption that all information is
accessible subject only to a narrow system of exceptions."
Germany does not respect this human right and has problems with corruption
prevention:
more than 115 states (http://right2info.org/laws)
with more then 5.9 billion inhabitants
adopted FOI laws or provisions in constitutions. 5 German states with
half of the population lack FOI laws.
Germany did not ratify the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and
does not follow Recommendation Rec(2003)4 on common rules against
corruption in the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns
of the Council of Europe as GRECO (Group of States against Corruption)
suggested 9 December 2009.
Germany's answer 29. June 2012 shows that no progress has been made [B].
Germany is the only state in Europe which has not ratified any of
these to conventions against corruption.
This embarrassing situation is due to the German press not informing
citizens and the public about this situation [7]
and therefore many citizens still vote for the conservative party CDU/CSU,
the only party in the civilized world denying its citizens the fundamental
human right of access to information necessary for a living democracy [8].
It is obvious that this denial of a fundamental human right is a misuse of
national sovereignty unknown in other democracies worldwide.
GRECO is part of the Council of Europe claiming to promote human rights and
democracy in Europe.
Therefore it is important that GRECO does not repeat its mistake from the
second round of evaluation and fulfils its monitoring obligations in the 3.
round.
Deutsch:
http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/1208greco.htm