Access to Information as a Human Right
November 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1-59332-459-9 / Hardcover
Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 / x, 232 pages
"Accessible even for a non-human rights lawyer....a notable achievement....an entree to literally a world of information." -- Journal of Information Policy
"Offers a model of careful research and deploys a wide range of international jurisprudence....A excellent resource for all law libraries." -- Law Library Journal
Conceptualizing access to government information as a human right is a new development in the global trend promoting institutional transparency. Bishop provides a comprehensive examination of international human rights law and explains four conceptualizations of access to information as a human right. Rights to information have been linked to the right to free expression, the right to privacy, and the right to a healthy environment, and the right to the truth about human rights abuses. She concludes that a human right to access information is evolving in disparate ways. The current evolution of access rights creates a patchwork system of guarantees; nonetheless, the freedom-of-expression conceptualization holds the most promise for proving a broad right of access.