| EU Parlament befasst
sich mit der Unterdrückung der Informationsfreiheit
in Deutschland 3. Oktober 2008 |
In ungezählten Fällen wird von den deutschen Behörden
die Akteneinsicht nicht gewährt oder behindert.
In Brüssel wird an einer Konvention gearbeitet, in welcher
der Zugang zu offiziellen Dokumenten geregelt werden soll.
Am 3. Oktober 2008 hat die Parlamentarische Versammlung des
Europäischen Rates (PACE) eine Resolution verabschiedet,
in der dazu aufgerufen wird, die "Konvention über
den Zugang zu offiziellen Dokumenten"
neu zu überarbeiten, da der bisherige Entwurf die Grundrechte
verletzt.
Amtliche Dokumente sind öffentliche Dokumente - Der
Zugang zu öffentlichen Dokumenten sollte grundsätzlich
frei sein ... Mehr info (in englischer Sprache)
|
hier der Bericht über die Resolution von "Access
Info" - einer Organisation, welche für die Informationsfreiheit
in Europa arbeitet.
Hier Informationen
zum Stand der Konvention über den Zugang zu öffentlichen Dokumenten,
welche in Brüssel gerade erarbeitet wird. |
hier der Bericht vom 3. Oktober als Archivkopie
3 October 2008, News
European Parliamentarians call on Council of
Europe
To Redraft Substandard Convention on Access to Official
Documents |
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE) on Friday 3 October 2008 adopted
a resolution expressing concern that the world’s
first treaty intended to guarantee public access
to information had significant flaws. In a
rare step, PACE called for the Convention on
Access to Official Documents to be redrafted.
The PACE ‘Opinion’ identifies a series
of problems with the draft treaty including:
• Lack of a general statement on the right to
information establishing that “all official documents
are in principle public and can be withheld subject
only to the protection of other rights and legitimate
interests”;
• The absence of mandatory time limits for answering
requests – the European Court of Human Rights
has established that information “is a perishable
commodity and to delay its publication even for a short
period may well deprive it of all value and interest”;
• Narrow definition of “public authorities” that
excludes the main functions of legislative and judicial
bodies as well as private bodies that perform public
functions or operate with public funds, “allowing
some public bodies to continue operating in the shadows”;
• Requestors should have a right to appeal to
a review body that has the power to order disclosure
of the requested official document;
• States given freedom to enter reservations
on any provision of the Convention, thereby undermining
the “delicate balance of many individual components” needed
to make the right of access to information function
in practice.
Access Info Europe, ARTICLE 19 and the Open Society
Justice Initiative, which have raised these concerns
for more than two years and garnered endorsements of
more than 250 civil society organizations welcomed
Friday’s vote and called on the Council of Europe’s
Committee of Ministers not to adopt the draft Convention
as it stands.
Speaking in the Parliamentary Assembly debate on
Friday, Mr Klaas de Vries, a former cabinet minister
in the Netherlands, who prepared the Opinion on
behalf of the PACE Legal Affairs and Human Right
Committee, called on the Committee of Ministers
to “go this extra
mile now” adding that “we will be criticized
for years to come if we don’t act now.”
Mr de Vries noted the current crisis of trust in
government in Europe, pointing out that this was
a result of the “structural
reluctance to inform” the public and that “governments
are not trusted because they do not trust their own
citizens [with information]”.
During the debate other parliamentarians stressed
that the world’s first binding convention on the democratic
right of access to information should not be drafted
by government experts alone but in full consultation
with the elected representatives of the Council of
Europe’s 47 member states.
The Parliamentary Assembly’s opinion will be
presented to the Council of Europe’s Committee
of Ministers. This body, composed of the Foreign Ministers
of member states, has the final say on whether or not
to adopt the draft Convention on Access to Official
Documents in its present form or to set up a process
for redrafting. Sweden currently holds the Chairmanship
of the Council of Europe (May to November 2008).
For
the Parliamentary Assembly Opinion, click here
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