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For Immediate Release
November, 15 2016, 11:45am EDT
Contact:
Reprieve's London office can be contacted on: communications [at] reprieve.org.uk / +44 (0) 207 553 8140.,Reprieve US,, based in New York City, can be contacted on Katherine [dot] oshea [at] reprieve.org
UK Govt Buried Plans to Weaken FOI on Day Trump Elected
The British Government published plans to weaken the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on the same day as the result in the US Presidential election was announced, it has emerged.
The statement was published on Wednesday 9 November as part of an 18-page document entitled 'Government Response to the Justice Committee's Second Report of session 2016/17.'
The British Government published plans to weaken the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on the same day as the result in the US Presidential election was announced, it has emerged.
The statement was published on Wednesday 9 November as part of an 18-page document entitled 'Government Response to the Justice Committee's Second Report of session 2016/17.'
In it, the Government announces that "legislation should be introduced" to implement one of the recommendations of a widely-criticised review of FOI undertaken by a panel including former Home Secretaries Jack Straw and Michael Howard.
The recommendation is that "legislation should be introduced to remove the right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal." This would significantly weaken the ability of those making FOI requests to overturn decisions made by the Government not to disclose information, where those decisions have been supported by the Information Commissioner.
According to the Campaign for Freedom of Information, 20% of such appeals were successful in 2014. By removing the right of appeal to the Tribunal, the Government will effectively narrow the basis on which Government decisions can be challenged.
In recent years, FOI requests by human rights charity Reprieve have led to revelations that the UK sought redactions to the US Senate's report on CIA torture; and that British police have trained their counterparts in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere despite concerns that such training could contribute to torture and executions.
Commenting, Donald Campbell, Director of Communications at Reprieve said: "It is alarming that ministers have resurrected these discredited proposals to water down Freedom of Information. The Government's decision to bury this news in an obscure report published on the day Trump was elected is yet another attack on transparency. Ministers must abandon this shameful proposal to restrict the British public's right to know what is done in their name."
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
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According toABC 7:
For the second year in a row, the group ran in front of the Ronald McDonald float to briefly stop the parade.
This year, they jumped the barricades at West 55th Street just after 9:30 am.
Many sat on the ground, locking arms and chanting "Free, free Palestine!"
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