Access to Information
Freedom of Information
Right to Information

Citizens and residents claim that they must, on demand, be given copies of paper or digital records held by the state, except when they deal with threats to state security or when issues of privacy arise.

This idea goes by various names. The oldest of these is freedom of information, used in the United States since 1966, and the name of the legislation passed in that year. More recently, the term access to information has supplanted the US term. In India, the claim is seen as a right, and so the term right to information is used.

This is not to say that terminology is unimportant, but nevertheless the terms are used interchangably by many people. More on that in the future. In any event, here is what I've written on this subject.

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Writings and Presentations

♦ The problem of access to information in African jurisdictions: constitutionalism, citizenship and human rights discourse. In: Access to Information in Africa: Law, Culture and Practice, ed. Fatima Diallo and Richard Calland. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2013, pages 27-53. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the presentation [277 Kb.]

♦ Statistics, indicators and access to information in African countries. In: Access to Information in Africa: Law, Culture and Practice, ed. Fatima Diallo and Richard Calland. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2013, pages 27-53. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the presentation [212 Kb.]

♦ “A less than fertile environment”: promoting access to information in South Africa. Presentation made to the Regional Workshop "Towards More Open and Transparent Governance in South Asia", organised by the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, in collaboration with the World Bank, 27-29 April, 2010, in the IIPA Conference Hall, at 09h30 on Thirsday 29 April 2010. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the presentation [100 Kb.]

♦ Records management and ATI. Webcast of an interview by Pam Sykes for the International School of Transparency. Click here to listen to or download the MP3 audio file, size 9.3 Mb.

♦ With Peter G. Underwood. Freedom of information and the developing world: the citizen, the state and models of openness (Oxford: Chandos, 2010), Click here to order a copy.

♦ All the information we're not allowed to access. Cape Times, 18 December 2009. Click here to download or view a PDF file, 130 Kb.
Review of the book Paper wars: access to information in South Africa, ed. Kate Allen (Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2009).

♦ With Peter G. Underwood. Freedom of information legislation, state compliance and the discourse of knowledge: the South African experience. International Information and Library Review vol.37, 2005, pages 77-86. Click here to view or download a PDF file. 220 Kb.