Conference to Address Advancements, Challenges
to Worldwide Access to Public Information Laws

21 February 2008

• Citizens of the Kouga community of South Africa uncovered public housing fraud by their local government by using their country's Promotion of Access to Information Law, leading to final completion of 40 much-needed homes.
  
• Photographs depicting flag-draped caskets carrying U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, initially withheld from the public by the Pentagon, were ultimately released following a lawsuit filed  under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
  
• Misuse of funds earmarked for HIV/AIDS patients in Mexico's hospitals was exposed under the country's Federal Transparency and Access to Information Law.

Access to public information matters to the average citizen: it is a human right with the power to make a difference in both individual lives and in the life of a community.   Although great advances have been made worldwide over the last decade, countries still face important challenges in the implementation and enforcement of access to information laws. 

To that end, The Carter Center will host the International Conference on the Right to Public Information Feb. 27-29, in Atlanta, Ga., with 125 high-ranking officials and civil society leaders from almost 40 countries in attendance.  Participants include former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Bolivian President H.E. Evo Morales, former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, civil society leaders, World Bank representatives, and information ministers.

The event is being held at a critical time for global information laws, according to Laura Neuman, assistant director of the Carter Center's Americas Program.

"At The Carter Center, we believe we are at a crossroads.  It's an important moment to reflect on advancements over the past decade,  to consider the obstacles facing the establishment of a universal right to information, and to begin creating a blueprint for how to move forward and overcome those potential challenges," she said.

During the two-day conference, participants will examine the current worldwide status of the right to public information as well as the impact of access to information on areas such as development and governance, and recommend priority actions for advancing the passage and full implementation of access to public information laws.


While nearly 70 nations have freedom of information laws, the right faces numerous threats including government retreat toward secrecy and ambiguity about whether the benefits of such legislation are fully reaching the most disadvantaged people.  The advances must be tempered with diligence, according to Neuman.