Access to information in international organizations 2017, para. 25
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- The World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have active institutional websites, training guides and designated access-to-information departments that oversee annual reporting and information disclosure. In its submission, the Center for Law and Democracy stated that the prevalence of access-to-information policies in the international finance sector “is largely due to heightened civil society scrutiny of their work, given its high impact, and also partly due to the fact that Member States are keen to ensure that their money is being handled appropriately”. There is also focused attention on the part of civil society, to such an extent that the Global Transparency Initiative, an informal network of civil society organizations promoting openness at financial institutions, has created a charter elaborating the standards upon which the access-to-information policies of international financial institutions should be based. This rights-based approach to establishing an access-to-information policy includes a presumption of disclosure, generous automatic disclosure rules, a clear framework for processing requests for information, limited (though still often overbroad) exceptions and a right to appeal refusals to disclose information to an independent body. Many financial institutions have access-to-information policies that embody a significant number of the elements of the charter advanced by the Global Transparency Initiative. For example, the World Bank’s policy includes guiding principles upholding maximum access to information, a list of exceptions, a set of procedures describing how information is made available and a two-stage appeals mechanism. Under the appeals mechanism, the requester enjoys recourse to an appeals board, consisting of external and independent outside experts. Its disclosure policy includes a declassification system timeline and a set of definitions. The World Bank has also instituted an “access to information committee”, which is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the policy.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Paragraph focus
- Key elements of an access-to-information policy
- Paragraph number
- 25
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