However Germany does not follow this
trend:
- 88 states with
approx. 5.5
billion inhabitants i. e. 78% of the world population give
better access to information then the federal Freedom of Information
Law in Germany (http://www.rti-rating.org/country-data/).
- more than 120 states (http://right2info.org/laws) with
more then 5.9 billion inhabitants i.
e. 84 % of the worlds population adopted FOI laws or provisions in
constitutions. 5 German states with half of the population lack FOI
laws.
- The UN Convention against Corruption is ratified by more than 159
states with more then 6,5 billion inhabitants, but not by Germany
Both national
authorities, regional ( EU,
CoE, OSCE )
and global mechanisms (HRC: CCPR)
did not support access to information and anticorruption in Germany.
Since 2001 I tried to make national authorities in Germany (
government,
parliaments,
politicians,
the
press,
NGOs and
courts)
aware of the human right of access to information [1] However only the
Pirate
Party seems to take note of this in Germany.
EU (
Parliament,
Commission,
Agency
for Fundamental Rights) [2],
Council of
Europe (
Parliament,
Commissioner
for Human Rights, ECHR, GRECO) [3,4],
International
Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), and
OSCE
[5] did not help.
Both
GRECO
(States against Corruption) and
HRC
(UN Human Rights Committee) [6] did not support the human right of access
to information.
UN "Summary of stakeholders' information" of Canada report
A/HRC/WG.6/16/CAN/3
mentions access to information: "54.Joint submission 4 (JS4) referred to
shortcomings in Canada’s law and policy regarding freedom of expression.
JS4 recommended Canada (...) repeal Sections 299-304 of the Criminal Code,
which criminalize defamation, bring the Access to Information Act in line
with international standards; and recognize a freestanding constitutional
right to information."
There are
269
hits (Accessed January 2013) on "Access to Information" in the
UPR-Info.org
database e. g.
freedom
of information laws are mentioned for
Canada,
Azerbaijan,
Bahrain,
Botswana,
Burkina
Faso,
Cameroon,
Cape
Verde,
Colombia,
Cuba,
Equatorial
Guinea,
France,
Kenya,
Tuvalu,
Uzbekistan,
and the
REPUBLIC
OF DJIBOUTI (submitted by ARTICLE 19).
UNESCO
has recommended Freedom of Information laws to all states reviewed during
the 16. UPR session. Austria recommended to Bahrain (
A/HRC/WG.6/13/L.4):
"Enact a progressive, substantive Freedom of Information law".
Djibouti
and
Ghana
got same suggestion.
Will the
UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) [7] support access to
information in Germany?
Does anyone have positive experiences with UPR?
Regards
--
Walter Keim
Netizen: http://walter.keim.googlepages.com
UN-Menschenrechtsausschuss: Deutsche Informationsfreiheits-
gesetze in der Kritik: http://t.co/vxdoGCuf
Is it possible to enforce access to information in Bavaria?
http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/enforce_access_to_information.html
References:
- Many petitions and complaints to Germany
authorities (government, administration, parliaments,
courts, NGOs)
2001 to 2012 did not help: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/foi-de.htm
- 1. September 2012: EU does not Support the Human Right of Access to
Public Documents in member states: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/foi-eu.htm
- 24. August 2012: GRECO failed in Second Evaluation Round and must
therefore do better in Third Round : http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/foi-greco.htm
- 7. November 2012: Will OSCE Support the Human
Right of Access to Public Documents?
- 31. March 2013: CoE failed to support ATI
in Germany: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/foi-coe.htm
- In the context of the 106th
CCPR session Human Rights Committee (HRC) did not observe
that the human right of access to public documents is violated in
Germany: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/foi-ccpr-de.htm
- Will the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) help?: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/foi-upr-de.htm
Development:
- There are 269
hits (Accessed January 2013) on "Access to Information" law in
the UPR-Info.org
database e. g. freedom of information laws are mentioned for Canada,
Bahrain,
Botswana,
Burkina
Faso, Cameroon,
Cape
Verde, Colombia,
Azerbaijan,
Equatorial
Guinea, France,
Kenya,
Tuvalu,
Uzbekistan, and the REPUBLIC
OF DJIBOUTI (submitted by ARTICLE 19).
- 28. April 2013: The UNESCO submission
mentions Freedom of Information laws and decriminalisation of
defamation
Answer
of the German Government 11. September 2013: Germany is accepting:
but what will be done?
- 124.22: "Accepted. Before ratifying the United Nations Convention
against Corruption, an adaptation of the legislation regarding the
criminal offence of bribery of members of parliament is needed. A
corresponding draft legislative bill should be submitted by members
of the German Bundestag."
- 124.28: (Withdraw reservations e. g. ICCCP): "Accepted. Legal
regulations and their implementation already comply with
international standards and norms. "
- 124.42: (Align its national legislation with international human
rights standards): "Accepted."
- 124.46: "Not accepted."
- 124.49: (control over Office of Youth): "Accepted. Already now it
is possible to subject decisions made by the Youth Welfare Office to
judicial review."
- 124.145: (supervision of Office of Youth)"Accepted. It is
already possible to have decisions taken by the Youth Welfare Office
examined by a court to verify their compliance with applicable
German law and also with the European Court of Human Rights’ rulings
with regard to the provisions of the European Convention on Human
Rights."
- 124.169: "Accepted. Human rights education is embedded in state
school curriculums. It is constantly reviewed, as is human rights
basic and further training in the Federal Police. Additional
monitoring is not necessary."
Conclusion: Germany accepts, but will do nothing, basically because of
the pretension that "standards are high enough".
Germany has to improve the federal FOI law, adopt FOI laws in 5 local
states (Bundesländer), ratify COE and UN conventions against corruption
and improve transparency of funding of political parties to catch up with
Europe, America, OSCE, OECD and BRIC states (see
weakness
no. 2, 3, 4, 8, 34, 35 and 52 of National Integrity Report Transparency
Germany).
Who will support Germany?:
http://wkeim.bplaced.net/foi-ngo.htm
--
Walter Keim
Netizen: http://sites.google.com/site/walterkeim/
Who will support transparency in Germany: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/foi-ngo.htm
http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/foi-ccpr-de.htm
[Freedom of
Information] [Petitions] [Human rights] [Homepage]
Colours on picture: dark green: FOIA enacted. Yellow: pending
law. FOIA= Freedom of Information Act