Implementing a Model Access to Information Law in Africa: Lessons from the Americas

Abstract

The Model Law on Access to Information for Africa portends a great opportunity in the promotion and protection of access to information in the region. The effective implementation of such a model law could benefit by looking towards other regional systems and how different strategies were used to advance legislation. In the Americas, there had been a progressive trend in the legal recognition of the right to access public information and the implementation of access to information legislation at the national level, and in 2010, the Organization of American States (OAS), with the support of civil society experts, developed a Model Law on Access to Information as well as an implementation guide for use by governments. This legislation, the Model Law, and the work of civil society have been instrumental in influencing the states in the region. It is thus through the lens that this chapter aims to provide strategies for the implementation of the Model Law in Africa. The chapter thus examines the adoption process of the model laws in both the Americas and Africa. It also discusses the main differences between the Inter-American Model Law and the African Model Law. We also consider litigation and advocacy strategies, among others, developed in the Americas, taking into account the differing political, social, economic and cultural contexts of both continents, which may shed some light on the development of access to information legislation in countries in Africa and the implementation of the African Model Law.

Keywords: access to information, freedom of expression, human rights, Latin America, Africa