NationStates Jolt Archive

Free Access to Information

Category: Furtherment of democracy (?)
Strength: Significant (?)

Description:
The United Nations,

REAFFIRMING its commitment to democratic systems of government,

RECOGNISING that openness and transparency in government is usually conducive to democracy (because it is important for citizens to be able to make informed decisions at the ballot box) and enhances citizens' freedom,

ALARMED by some governments' excessive secrecy,

RECOGNISING that governments must sometimes withold information from citizens for a variety of reasons, and that cases of access to information are therefore better handled on a case-by-case basis,

SEEKING to find a balance between citizens' democratic freedoms and the need for different solutions in different situations,

1)ENDORSES the following principle - that if the government of a UN Member wishes to keep certain information from their citizens, and their citizens request said information, the onus should be on the government to justify secrecy, rather than on the citizen to justify openness. This shall be in the same sense that in many justice systems, the burden of proof is on the prosecutor rather than the defender;
2)STRONGLY URGES all governments of UN members to follow this guiding principle when creating legislation on the matter of access to government-held information;
3)CALLS UPON non-UN member states to do the same.

Thanks to Lancamore for inspiration.

I am attempting to create a type of proposal here that will satisfy those who campaign for national sovereignty - it places pressure on nations to liberalise, but there is no absolute obligation, and governments can choose exactly how they implement it.

What does everyone think? Also, can I have suggestions for better titles, because this is probably too long.

EDIT: Do I need to make it clear that future legislation could be passed to more forcefully mandate free access? Also, if this method of endorsing a principle and urging nations to adopt it finds favour, I can think of other applications where it might also be suitable.

Can some safeguard be built in that would prevent hackers from accessing citizen's private files?

This might get expensive...