yemen-comment-on-the-draft-law-concerning-the-information-of-yemen

COMMENT on THE DRAFT LAW CONCERNING THE INFORMATION OF YEMEN October 2009 ARTICLE 19 · Free Word Centre · 60 Farringdon Road · London EC1R 3GA · United Kingdom Tel +44 207 324 2500 · Fax +44 207 490 0566 · info@article19.org · http://www.article19.org ARTICLE 19 GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR FREE EXPRESSION I. Introduction This Comment provides an analysis of the draft Law Concerning the Information of the Republic of Yemen, 2009 (hereinafter “Draft Law”) which was prepared by the 1Media and Culture Committee of the Yemeni Parliament. The Draft Law follows a number of earlier proposals of laws on access to information in Yemen, including the proposal by the Yemeni Journalists Against Corruption (that ARTICLE 19 analyzed in 2November 2008 ) and the proposal of the Yemeni Government (that ARTICLE 19 3analyzed in May 2009 ). The Comment is intended to assist the Yemeni Parliament to ensure that the freedom of information law finally adopted is, as far as possible, in accordance with international standards and comparative national best practice. ARTICLE 19 welcomes the continuous efforts of the Yemen Parliament to adopt a freedom of information law, following the global trend towards legal recognition and reinforcement of this right. Such legislation is central to moves to bolster democracy in the country, as well as to wider issues of good governance, controlling corruption and building ...