Spain has adopted an ambitious four-year Open Government Action Plan, replete with measures called for by Access Info, including reform of the 2013 Transparency Law, ratification of the Convention on Access to Official Documents, new laws on lobby regulation and whistleblower protection, and the opening of key data, including the company register and some health service data.
Madrid, 2 October 2020- The global news headlines might be talking about the worrying rise in coronavirus infections in Madrid - and the new lockdown - but there is also a lot of good news for transparency activists coming out of Spain this week, beautifully timed to coincide with International Access to Information Day on 28 September.
Madrid, 28 September 2020- On the occasion of International Access to Information Day, the pro-transparency organisation Access Info Europe is calling on the governments of the European region to sign and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents, which will come into force on 1 December 2020, and to commit to strengthening this fundamental right.
Access Info Europe and the Open Data Charter co-hosted a RightsCon panel where they spoke with data and privacy experts on the importance of making data open during the Covid-19 pandemic, while ensuring both the public’s safety and the privacy of the individual.
Madrid, 31 August 2020 – An open letter, signed by 28 health organisations, transparency associations, and academics, has called on the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to take the simple step of providing an email address so that EU citizens can send access to documents requests directly via email.
Madrid, 28 August 2020– Access Info Europe is glad to announce that its director, Helen Darbishire, has been elected as the new Chair of the UNCAC Coalition, the network that coordinates civil society activity in monitoring and promoting the UN Convention against Corruption.
Madrid/Seville, 20 July 2020 – Human rights organisations Access Info Europe and Andalucía Acoge, with legal support from Gentium and research support from Profundo, today announced the submission of legal arguments to the Spanish Supreme Court in a case challenging the granting of €30 million from Spain’s Contingency Fund to the Moroccan authorities for the control of migration towards Spain.
El País | 20/ 07/ 2020 In Spanish- La ayuda financiera entregada a Marruecos para frenar la inmigración irregular ha llegado al Supremo. El tribunal tendrá que decidir sobre la legalidad de 30 millones de euros que el Ejecutivo sacó en 2019 del fondo de contingencia de los Presupuestos para financiar parte del despliegue de las autoridades marroquíes con el objetivo de contener las entradas irregulares en España. La cuestión que estudiará el Supremo no es la ayuda en sí, sino si fue legal recurrir a ese fondo, una reserva presupuestaria destinada a necesidades “urgentes, imprevisibles e inaplazables”, como catástrofes
Madrid, 17 July 2020 – Having access to quality data is essential if governments are to measure the progress towards the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, and if civil society and the public are to be able to track progress. Recent research conducted by Access Info in seven European countries, published in the report “Opening Up SDG 5: What do we know about Gender Equality?” (March 2020), found, however, that although most of the surveyed countries had set up a reporting platform or were publishing SDG data online, the data was often outdated, hard to reuse, or
Madrid, 15 July 2020 - Access Info Europe has called for the right of access to information to be treated as priority during the first UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) against corruption, to be held in April 2021 in New York. In its submission to preparation of the UNGASS, Access Info recalls that the United Nations Convention against Corruption UNCAC establishes that States Party should establish specific mechanisms to implement the right of information. “To end corruption it is not enough to prosecute the corrupt once the crime has been committed. It is essential to work to prevent corrupt