Category Archives: News

In East Timor, as in many States emerging from long periods of undemocratic rule, unprofessional reporting by journalists is a widespread problem. A Media Law adopted in May of this year by the National Assembly, which is currently awaiting Presidential signature, was justified in part as being necessary to address this problem. Comments on the … Continue reading →

The Centre for Law and Democracy notes with concern continuing moves by the Hungarian government to restrict the ability of NGOs to operate and to receive funding, including from foreign sources. The actions of the government, which include apparently politically motivated audits of organisations which disburse Norwegian funding, are a clear breach of the right … Continue reading →

Centre for Law and Democracy notes with concern that Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa, a prominent human rights defender, has been detained by the Burundian government. Mr. Mbonimpa has been charged with spreading false rumours to incite the population to rise up against the authorities, threatening external security and forgery. The charges stem from a radio broadcast in … Continue reading →

In many countries, criminal restrictions on the content of what may be published or broadcast seriously undermine respect for the right to freedom of expression. Often they ban far too much speech in the first place while in other cases they are drafted in vague terms which render them susceptible of overbroad application. The Centre … Continue reading →

Newfoundland and Labrador’s government has introduced a bill to protect those who expose serious wrongdoing and threats, i.e. whistleblowers, but is seeking to maintain a veil of secrecy around the Cabinet, even in the context of potentially criminal behaviour. The exception for cabinet documents was one of the key problems identified in an analysis released … Continue reading →

On 12 May 2014, the Council of the European Union adopted the EU Human Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Expression: Online and Offline (Guidelines). The initiative to adopt the Guidelines, which provide “political and operational guidance” to EU staff regarding this important area of EU foreign policy and assistance, is welcome. At the same time, … Continue reading →

Today, the 17th annual Joint Declaration by the four specialised mandates tasked with promoting and protecting freedom of expression at the UN, OAS, OSCE and African Commission was launched in Paris, France. This latest Declaration, prepared with the assistance of the Centre for Law and Democracy and ARTICLE 19, highlights issues relating to the universality … Continue reading →

The Middle East and North Africa remains one of the world’s most troubled media environments, despite some gains since 2011. Today the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), International Media Support (IMS) and Maharat Foundation are unveiling a Statement on Media Regulatory Reform in the Middle East and North Africa: Criminal Restrictions on Media Content. … Continue reading →

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), working with Democracy Reporting International (DRI), has recently published a Briefing Paper on International Standards on Transparency and Accountability. The Paper is one of a series which focuses on the main foundations of democracy. These, in turn, are drawn from a 2011 DRI report outlining the key components … Continue reading →

UNESCO has recently published a book on community radio prepared by the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), Tuning into development: International comparative survey of community broadcasting regulation. The book focuses on international standards govenring the regulation of community radio as well as the legal framework for this in some thirty countries from different regions … Continue reading →

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) has done an analysis of the latest draft of the Access to Information Law being prepared by the Palestinian authorities which indicates that the law has been substantially weakened since our last analysis in December 2013. Using the RTI Rating (www.RTI-Rating.org), the December draft obtained a score of … Continue reading →

Strong demand for information is critical to successful implementation of the right to information. It helps both motivate public authorities to undertake necessary supply side measures, and identify and address weaknesses. To promote implementation of Indonesia’s Law 14/2008 on Public Information Disclosure, the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) and the Indonesian Alliance of Independent … Continue reading →

As part of an ongoing programme to promote the right to information (RTI) in Indonesia, the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) and the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) today released a Training Manual for Public Bodies on Implementing Law 14 of 2008 Regarding Openness in Public Bodies. The Manual has already been used … Continue reading →

In October 2013, Sierra Leone became the 96th country in the world, and the 12th country in Africa, to pass an RTI law. An analysis by the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) rates the Right to Access Information Act as tied for the 5th strongest in the world. The law scored 124 out of … Continue reading →

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) and the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) are today releasing two sets of guidelines designed to assist Indonesian public bodies overcome the major challenges associated with implementing the right to information (RTI) legislation Indonesia adopted in 2008. One guideline provides an overall roadmap of what public bodies … Continue reading →

The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have prepared a Note analysing the Right to Access Information Law, No. 11 of 2013, adopted recently by the government of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Law is a relatively progressive piece of legislation, garnering 98 points out of a … Continue reading →

An assessment of Palestine’s draft Law on the Right of Access to Information by the Centre for Law and Democracy using the RTI Rating (www.RTI-Rating.org) has found that the draft would obtain a rather modest score of 92 points out of a possible 150, around the middle of the 95 countries globally with right to … Continue reading →

Specialist right to information organisations Access Info Europe and Centre for Law and Democracy led on the drafting of a set of recommendations for progressive improvements to the right to information (RTI) which should be introduced by governments participating in the Open Government Partnership. These recommendations form the right to information (RTI) chapter of the … Continue reading →

The Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) has been a magnet for controversy since its inception, largely due to the excessive secrecy in which it is being negotiated and rumours that its intellectual property provisions would threaten Internet freedom. Today, the Centre for Law and Democracy has released an Analysis which confirms that these fears … Continue reading →