Privacy International:- "Legal Protections and Barriers on the Right to Information, State Secrets and Protection of Sources in OSCE Participating States"
[via WikiLeak blog]
David Banisar of Privacy International has published an interesting legal review, pertinent to the countries belonging to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
It should also be read by legislators, civil servants, investigative journalists, government or private sector whistleblowers and bloggers, in the 56 participating States "from Europe, Central Asia and North America"
It should be of particular interest to those who are planning on setting up or using the WikiLeaks.org project,
Legal Protections and Barriers on the Right to Information, State Secrets and Protection of Sources in OSCE Participating States (.pdf 34 pages)
This report reviews the legal structures of three themes which affect the ability of the media and the larger public to seek and receive information on the activities of their governments: access to information, state secrets and protection of journalists’ sources. The three areas are inter-related. The right of access to information both limits and is limited by state secrets laws; excessive state secrets laws often lead to the leaking of documents which necessitates the protection of sources laws while an open system based on access to information limits the needs for leaks and protection of sourcesTable of Contents:
| Legal Protections and Barriers on the Right to Information, State Secrets and Protection of Sources in OSCE Participating States | |
| David Banisar | |
| I. INTRODUCTION | 3 |
| II. ACCESS TO INFORMATION | 3 |
| Overview | 3 |
| FOI and the Media | 4 |
| OSCE, Regional and International Standards | 5 |
| Constitutional Rights | 6 |
| FOI Laws | 7 |
| Problems | 9 |
| Media Laws | 10 |
| III. STATE SECRETS | 12 |
| Overview | 12 |
| Overview on National Security | 12 |
| Recent Cases in OSCE States | 13 |
| Laws on Procedures for Protecting Classified Information | 15 |
| Elements of the Laws | 15 |
| Criminal and Civil Codes | 20 |
| State Secrets | 20 |
| Other types of Secrets | 21 |
| Whistleblowers and Public Interest Disclosures | 21 |
| IV. PROTECTION OF SOURCES | 23 |
| Overview | 23 |
| Why Protection of Sources is Important for the Media | 23 |
| International Standards | 23 |
| Legal Rights and Issues in OSCE States | 24 |
| Application of the Law | 26 |
| Defining Journalists | 26 |
| Assistants and Third Parties | 27 |
| Protections on Identifying Sources | 27 |
| Protections against Searches | 29 |
| Electronic surveillance | 30 |
| Journalists as Witnesses | 32 |
| PROPOSED GUIDELINES ON ACCESS TO INFORMATION, STATE SECRETS AND PROTECTION OF JOURNALISTS’ SOURCES | 34 |