Archive | Access to information RSS feed for this section
Photo by Justin Grimes/ Flickr

OGP: France must do more to tackle corruption

Opening up government data to fight corruption has been a stated aim for many Open Government Partnership members. When data is open by default information is easier to work with, investigate, understand and leverage to combat corruption. With open data, released according to agreed standards, people have a key means to hold their institutions and […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }
Flickr Daniel Mennerich

The FATF report on the USA: More roof than holes on average

You arrive in a new city on a rainy day and check into your top floor hotel room, only to find the roof is leaking. When the receptionist comes to check, he looks up and says, “I don’t see what the problem is, madam. There is clearly more roof than holes on average.” This has […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

The role of the press at the Olympic Games: a first-hand account

With their hands up in the air, ministers, four-star generals and International Olympic Commission (IOC) officials danced to some of the most famous samba tunes at the closing ceremony of the Olympics in Rio last month. While carnival was taking over the Maracanã Stadium and the entire world was watching the party, politicians hugged each […]

Read full story Comments { 3 }

Korean companies get ‘F’ grade in voluntary information disclosure

The results of the Korean Transparency in Corporate Reporting survey shows that the biggest 50 companies in Korea still need to disclose a lot more information on a voluntary basis if they want to show they really want to increase their transparency and fight corruption. Companies that disclose information about how they set themselves up, […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Let’s celebrate whistleblowers

Four medical doctors received Transparency International Sweden’s Whistleblower of the Year (“Årets Visselpipa”) award earlier this month for speaking up against the gross ethical misconduct of a celebrated surgeon whose organ transplants turned out to be fatal. Whistleblowers provide a great service to society. The case of the Swedish doctors is a good example of […]

Read full story Comments { 4 }

Yes, there are legitimate uses of shell companies They still shouldn’t be secret

Thanks to an anonymous provider of data and the incredible work done by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), over the last days the world has gained an unprecedented peek into the global system of secret shell companies. The Panama Papers revelations have forced governments to respond, one national leader to step down, and […]

Read full story Comments { 3 }

Why open data can stop corruption

There has been a big push in recent years to make government data open so citizens know where their tax money is spent– from snow collection in Chicago and broken street lights in Tbilisi, to what public officials declare about their assets in Mexico and their lobbying meetings with companies in the EU. While data […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Maldives: islands lost in corruption

The Maldives is an archipelago made up of more than 1000 islands, with a population of about 351,000 people. Most of the islands are uninhabited; 187 are home to people and 106 are designed as beach resorts for the well-heeled traveller. Grand corruption emerged as the biggest problem in the country when a massive scandal […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

The first step toward creating Slovenia’s legislative footprint

The term “legislative footprint” has become a popular new concept surrounding transparency of the legislative process and supervision of lobbying in public decision-making. But the world has not yet seen a comprehensive, real life, IT-supported legislative footprint in practice. In the beginning of 2015, Transparency International Slovenia launched an innovative project with a vision to combine […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Cuando la transparencia manda

¿Cuál es el verdadero poder del acceso a la información? Recientemente en el Salvador las autoridades confirmaron que la ciudadanía tiene derecho a pedir información sobre el patrimonio de los servidores públicos. El caso es una poderosa contribución al debate sobre si la transparencia es una herramienta efectiva para la rendición de cuentas y la […]

Read full story Comments { 2 }