Anders Chydenius
- foundation
P.O. Box 567
FIN-67700 Kokkola
Tel. +358 (0)6 829 4111
E-mail: asiamies@chydenius.net
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21.6.2007
OSCE media freedom representative marked 240th anniversary of first access to information law
 Marking the 240th anniversary of the world´s first freedom of information (FOI) act, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, has encouraged those OSCE participating States which have not yet developed and enforced access to information legislation to speed up this process.
Forty five out of 56 OSCE participating States have adopted national laws giving specific rights to citizens and journalists to obtain information from government bodies.
The first access to information act took effect in the then Kingdom of Sweden and Finland on 2 December 1766. Since then, many democracies worldwide have adopted freedom of information laws and set up transparent principles of classification.
"Public access to information has become the foundation of modern media rights. Free flow of information, a core principle of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, is unrealisable today without the media having guaranteed access to data on activities of state offices. As media are the embodiment of the public´s right to know, their access to information is a vital component of this human right," says Haraszti.
In April 2007, the Representative issued a report and recommendations on how participating States could implement best practices in public access to information. The detailed country reports were released today (21 June 2007).
The Anders Chydenius Foundation will follow closely how the FOI issues will be address during the Finnish OSCE Presidency in 2008.
http://www.osce.org/fom/ Back >>
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