However the Council of Europe's unit
GRECO
"well established mechanisms" failed to secure the
human right of access to information necessary in a democratic society [
C].
Unfortunately the European Court of Human Rights recognizes access to
information only for the press, NGOs and watchdogs, leaving the individual
right unprotected (
Keim v. Germany: Appl. No.
41126/05,
Keim (II) v.
Germany Appl. No. 31583/07 and
Keim
(III) ./. Germany Appl. No. 46953/09 at the European Court of Human
Rights.)
OSCE should
support access to
information, but did not answer when
asked to
support ATI in Germany [
E].
The
International Helsinki Federation for
Human Rights (IHF) focuses on other states.
In the context of the
106th
CCPR session the Human Right Committee (
HRC)
does not observe that the human right of access to public documents
is violated in Germany [
F] assuming EU
guarantees high human right standards.
The
Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) of Germany in April 2013 did not address this
problem ignoring the submission of the Baltic Sea NGO Forum [G]. The
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ignores and censors the
Baltic Sea NGO Forums contribution.
[
H]
5 out of 16 German Federal States, with more then half of the German
population lack a general operational access to information laws or
constitutional protection regime, which is found for 84% of the world
population.
In addition the federal Freedom of Information law in Germany is not in
line with European, international and democratic standards. 5.5 Billion
people i e. 78 % of the worlds population have better laws.
Access to documents of public administration is a human right according to
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (
ICCPR)
[
1,
4,
5]
and
jurisdiction
of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) [
6]
on the basis of the European Convention for Human Rights (ECHR) [
2]
and is seen as a precondition for democracy and important in the fight of
corruption.
UN, OSCE and AOS confirm in their Joint Declaration by the Three Special
Mandates for Protecting Freedom of Expression 6. December 2004, that
Access to Information is a human right [
3]:
"The right to access information held by public
authorities is a fundamental human right which should be given effect
at the national level through comprehensive legislation (for example
Freedom of Information Acts) based on the principle of maximum
disclosure, establishing a presumption that all information is
accessible subject only to a narrow system of exceptions."
Germany does not respect this human right and has problems with corruption
prevention:
- 88 states with
approx. 5.5
billion [10, 11] inhabitants 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 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 160
states with more then 6,5 billion inhabitants, but not by Germany.
- Germany did not ratify the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and
does not follow Recommendation Rec(2003)4 on common rules against
corruption in the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns
of the Council of Europe as GRECO (Group of States against Corruption)
suggested 9 December 2009. Germany's answer 29. June 2012 shows that
no progress has been made [12].
Therefore GRECO submitted 28. Nov. 2012 the (Non-)Compliance Greco
report RC-III (2012) 15E.
[13]
- Germany is the only state in Europe which has not ratified any of
these to conventions against corruption.
This embarrassing situation is due to the German press does not inform
citizens and the public about this situation [
7]
and therefore many citizens still vote for the conservative party CDU/CSU,
the only party in the civilized world denying its citizens the fundamental
human right of access to information necessary for a living democracy [
8].
Sincerely,
--
Walter Keim
Netizen: http://walter.keim.googlepages.com
Access to Information Baltic Sea NGO Forum: http://BSNF-ATI.tk/
Is it possible to enforce access to information in Bavaria?
http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/enforce_access_to_information.html
Sources:
- Access to information is a human right according to UN: https://www.right2info.org/international-standards#section-1
- Access to information in European Convention for Human Rights
(ECHR): https://www.right2info.org/international-standards#section-5
- 2004 Joint Declaration by the Three Special Mandates for Protecting
Freedom of Expression: http://merlin.obs.coe.int/iris/2005/2/article1
- "General Comment No. 34 on Article 19 of the ICCPR": http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/comments.htm
- Complains to UN Human Rights Committee: http://right2info.org/cases#section-6
- Jurisdiction
European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR): http://right2info.org/cases#section-2
- OSCE, April 2012: COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT LAW ON TRANSPARENCY, ACCESS
TO INFORMATION AND GOOD GOVERNANCE OF SPAIN: http://www.osce.org/fom/89577
- 24.07.2012: Offener Brief: Deutsche Presse größter Versager in der
Welt beim Menschenrecht Informationszugang: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/120727pr.html
- 09.07.2012: Menschenrecht
Informationszugang stärken: CDU/CSU ist das trojanische Pferd der
Bürokratie im Parlament :
http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/120709bt.html
- Access to Information Laws: http://right2info.org/access-to-information-laws
- FOI Laws: Counts Vary Depending on Definitions: http://www.freedominfo.org/2011/10/foi-laws-counts-vary-slightly-depending-on-definitions/
-
29.07.2012, Germany: Report on progress Greco-RC-III (2011) 9E: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/120729bmj.pdf
- GRECO (28. Nov. 2012): Non-Compliance Greco RC-III (2012) 15E
Interim report: http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/greco/evaluations/round3/GrecoRC3%282012%2915_Germany_Interim_EN.pdf
Published on Internet:
- 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
- CoE failed to support ATI in Germany: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/foi-coe.htm,
http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/pace1202.htm
- OSCE does not help Germany: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/foi-osce.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
- The Universal Periodic Review received and registered the
contribution of the Baltic Sea NGO Forum but does not mention this
contribution and its contents on ATI in the "Summary
of stakeholders' information": http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/foi-upr-de.htm
- The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ignores and
censors the Baltic Sea NGO Forums contribution: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/foi-ohchr.html
- 4. November 2012: Should GRECO and HRC
experts do the job they are paid for? http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/121104foianet.html
- Courts in Bavaria failed to support the human right of access to
documents: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/enforce_access_to_information.html
- 2014: 100 countries adopted RTI laws: http://www.freedominfo.org/2014/02/rti-law-passes-bhutan-100th-international-law/
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