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Date: 17/11/2020 Access Info's director Helen Darbishire participated in this videoconference meeting, where she called on all member states of the Council of Europe (47) to sign and ratify the Coe's Convention on Access to Official Documents – the Tromsø Convention – with a particular call on France, Germany, Italy and the UK to follow Spain in ensuring that Europe’s largest countries are party to the Convention. Speaking to the Information Policy group of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, she also called for rapid creation of the Group of Specialists that will monitor the implementation of the Convention after

Date: 21/10/2020 The right to freedom of information is an integral part of the freedom of expression, which constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society and is one of the basic conditions for its progress and development. OSCE participating States have explicitly stressed that the right to freedom of expression includes the freedom to hold opinions, and to receive and impart information as well as ideas without interference by public authorities, and regardless of frontiers. While almost all OSCE participating States have adopted access to information / freedom of information laws, there are still problems in practical enforcement

Date: 16/10/2020 Access Info Europe's director, Helen Darbishire, spoke before the Catalan Parliament on the Proposed Law for the Protection of Whistleblowers. Access Info has carried out different actions calling for a state project to protect whistleblowers, as well as for a participatory legislative process to transpose the European Directive 2019/1937 on this matter. "Protecting whistleblowers is about preventing and fighting corruption, defending the environment and respecting human rights," said Darbishire.