On 14 December 1946, one of the very first resolutions adopted by the new United Nations General Assembly (59 (I)) stated:

Freedom of information is a fundamental human right and ... the touchstone of all freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated.

The point that the UN General Assembly was making was a very simple one - and something that is still absolutely key to the argument in favour of freedom of information:

People cannot make real choices in any area of their lives unless they are well informed.

This goes for politics, the workplace, education, civic life or any other sphere of existence.

Unless we have proper, accurate information, we cannot fully exercise our rights and freedoms. This is the sense in which freedom of information is a 'touchstone'. Without information none of our other human rights is really complete.

Bearing in mind this clear and simple point, the UN did not create a separate and independent right to freedom of information.

Instead, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted in 1948 states:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

What Article 19 of the UDHR creates is a right to freedom of opinion and expression. Part of this right is the freedom to 'seek, receive and impart information'.

Article IV of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, which was adopted in 1948 by the Organisation of American States (OAS), similarly states:

Every person has the right to freedom of investigation, of opinion, and of the expression and dissemination of ideas, by any medium whatsoever.

Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) , which was adopted by the UN in 1966, uses the same language:

1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.

2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.

3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:

(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others;

(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.

Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights, which was adopted by the OAS in 1969, also draws on the language of the UDHR as well as the ICCPR:

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and expression. This right includes freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, in print, in the form of art, or through any other medium of one's choice.

2. The exercise of the right provided for in the foregoing paragraph shall not be subject to prior censorship but shall be subject to subsequent imposition of liability, which shall be expressly established by law to the extent necessary to ensure:

a. respect for the rights or reputations of others; or

b. the protection of national security, public order, or public health or morals.

3. The right of expression may not be restricted by indirect methods or means, such as the abuse of government or private controls over newsprint, radio broadcasting frequencies, or equipment used in the dissemination of information, or by any other means tending to impede the communication and circulation of ideas and opinions.

4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2 above, public entertainments may be subject by law to prior censorship for the sole purpose of regulating access to them for the moral protection of childhood and adolescence.

5. Any propaganda for war and any advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitute incitements to lawless violence or to any other similar action against any person or group of persons on any grounds including those of race, color, religion, language, or national origin shall be considered as offenses punishable by law.

On 11 March 1994, the Western Hemisphere Conference on Free Speech organised by the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and in Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City, adopted the Declaration of Chapultepec, a series of principles serving as guidelines for protecting and preserving freedom of expression and of the press.

The Declaration, which is currently endorsed by 32 Heads of States or Governments of Latin American States, includes the following principles:

Every person has the right to seek and receive information, express opinions and disseminate them freely. No one may restrict or deny these rights. [Principle 2]

The authorities must be compelled by law to make available in a timely and reasonable manner the information generated by the public sector. No journalist may be forced to reveal his or her sources of information. [Principle 3]

But who has the duty to provide access to information?

This is not clearly specified in the provisions on freedom of information in international law.

For this reason, in 1997 the UN Commission on Human Rights issued a request to the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression - the top United Nations expert on the issue - to look more closely into the right to seek and receive information.

The following year, the Special Rapporteur issued a Report on the Promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression in which he stated the following:

"[T]he right to seek, receive and impart information imposes a positive obligation on States to ensure access to information, particularly with regard to information held by Governments in all types of storage and retrieval systems."

In 1999, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression joined with the special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression of the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in issuing a Joint Declaration on International Mechanisms for Promoting Freedom of Expression that includes the following sentence:

"Implicit in the freedom of expression is the public's right to open access to information and to know what governments are doing on their behalf, without which truth would languish and people's participation in government would remain fragmented."

In 2004, the three Rapporteurs issued a second relevant Joint Declaration in which they affirmed that:

"[t]he right to access information held by public authorities is a fundamental human right which should be given effect at the national level through comprehensive legislation."

Although they are not legally binding, these statements are of crucial importance because they pin the responsibility on states to make sure that people have access to the information that they hold.

Over the last decade, significant steps to strengthen the international legal framework on access to information have been taken in issue-specific areas such as the environment:

In 1998, Member States of the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the European Union signed the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Aarhus Convention)

The Aarhus Convention recognises access to information as part of the right to live in a healthy environment rather than as a right in itself. However, it is the first legally binding international convention that sets out in detail what the responsibilities of the state are on access to information.

In November 2006, the Council of Europe began drafting a treaty on Access to Official Documents. A draft is expected to be presented to the Council of Europe's political bodies in the 2007 or 2008. For more information on this project, see ARTICLE 19 and the Open Society Justice Initiative's Briefing regarding the elaboration of a Council of Europe treaty on access to official documents.