The study presents an international overview of best practice standards and analyses the laws of 14 different countries, including five new ones in the second edition: Azerbaijan, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Peru and Uganda. The report concludes with a comparative analysis of the various laws and policies regarding the fundamental right to information.
At the launch of the survey in 2008, the author Toby Mendel declared that “since the last edition…we can now say that every region of the world has adapted right to information laws”. This evolution shows that the right to information is now internationally established as a fundamental right generated by freedom of expression. It is the main reason why this new version has been translated into several languages: it is currently available in French, Spanish, Russian and Nepalese. UNESCO is planning to translate it also into Arabic and Chinese.
The Russian version of the book, with its concrete examples, proves once more that access to information is one of the most important ways to ensure transparency in public administration, because it is a tool for citizens to hold their government accountable.
