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Information Clearinghouse Japan
Working to broaden and improve access to government information @ ¡What is Information Clearinghouse Japan? Information Clearinghouse Japan (ICJ) is a non-governmental and non-profit organization devoted to improving public access to government-held information. ICJ was established in 1999 to continue and build upon the efforts of the gCitizens Movement for a Freedom of Information Law.h The Citizens Movement was launched in 1980 to promote the adoption of a national information disclosure law. When this objective was achieved with Diet passage of the new law in 1999, the Citizens Movement was disbanded and ICJ was born. ICJ continues the kind of research, publishing, training, and contract projects that the Citizensf Movement for a Information Disclosure Law has been conducting for the last two decades and, through these activities, to collect and disseminate examples of best practice in the Information Disclosure field. By providing the information we collect through surveys and research on best practices in Information Disclosure to a broad spectrum of recipients, including citizens, elected officials, and civil servants, we aim to expand the scope of Information Disclosure. In other words, we want to work to broaden and improve access to information through the exchange of information. To broaden and improve access to government information in Japan, we will concentrate on disseminating best practices, and in some cases will we create best practices on our own. To that end we are also establishing a Information Disclosure Fund to cover the necessary costs for disclosure requests, administrative appeals, and court cases. Finally, we hope to broaden and improve access to information without regard to national borders by linking up with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) abroad that are concerned with information disclosure. @ ¡Time to Use the Information Disclosure System The Significance of Converting to Non-Profit Organization Status How do we go about mastering the information disclosure system? This is the most important question being asked of us as citizens as we welcome the passage of the Information Disclosure Law. In order to use the law well, just obtaining the information disclosed is not enough; we also must put the information we get to good use. Now, while the Information Disclosure Law is in the implementation process and local governments are enacting and revising information disclosure ordinances at a rapid pace, we need to collect information and disseminate it, through research reports and so on, more than we ever have before. As citizens we have used the local information disclosure ordinances to raise various questions, propose policies, and pursue injustices. Now that the Information Disclosure Law has been enacted we must not only work individually but also establish a support structure for people so that they may access information from, and ask questions of, the massive central government. In order to provide the basic strength for sending out needed information and mastering the information disclosure system, Information Clearinghouse Japan decided to acquire non-profit organizational status under the 1998 NPO Law so that it can move forward with building that base. As a non-profit organization under the new NPO law, we can maximize distribution of information about our own activities and fulfill our social responsibility, as well as make management of the organization even more transparent. By doing this we hope to connect with an increasing number of citizens who want to participate in the Clearinghousefs activities, and to develop our programs for broadening and improving access to government information. @ ¡Activities of Information Clearinghouse Japan Enactment of Japanfs Information Disclosure Law means that the time has come to institutionalize information disclosure. In other words, we have gone from the era of building a system to the era of using it. Unless we as citizens use the information disclosure system, that system cannot change the status quo in government or society. By mastering the tools of the trade and using the information that is disclosed to make proposals and counterproposals, citizens can for the first time become the engine for changing government and society. By mastering the information disclosure system in a variety of fields, Information Clearinghouse Japan will build a base for nurturing the diversity and the potential of that system so as to allow citizens to be subjects, not objects, in the formation of policy in both government and society. Building on this idea, we will make researching best practices the focus of our activities, and we will lend support to citizens who utilize the system by providing them with the information we find. To this end, the Clearinghouse implements the following programs.
@ ¡ Fund for Information Disclosure Information Clearinghouse Japan has established a gFund for Information Disclosureh to support efforts to create best practices, and continues to solicit contributions to expand the operations of the Fund. The Fund covers fees for filing information disclosure requests, costs for administrative and judicial appeals, and publication of materials that introduce significant cases. In the course of using local information disclosure ordinances, citizens have fought non-disclosure decisions through administrative appeals and through the courts, and have gotten many indefensible non-disclosure decisions reversed. This struggle has surely broadened the scope of information disclosure. According to a 1998 study by the Citizensf Movement for a Information Disclosure Law, reports favoring disclosure in part or in full climbed to 57% of all cases of non-disclosure brought to administrative appeal. In addition, about 58% of all cases brought to court resulted in decisions that broadened the scope of disclosure. Experience with local governments has proved that using the information disclosure system and fighting groundless non-disclosure decisions are necessary steps in expanding information disclosure. The Information Clearinghouse Japan plans to engage itself actively in creating best practice by filing disclosure requests, administrative appeals, and lawsuits. To provide the funds needed for these activities, we have decided to establish the gInformation Disclosure Fund.h Management and use of the fund will be by agreement of the Information Clearinghouse Japanfs board of directors. Even in ordinary cases of disclosure requests, funds will be disbursed on the basis of case approval by the board of directors. The Information Clearinghouse Japan is managed by the directors listed below. Yoshiko Amano (Associate Professor, Nara Sangyo University) @ |
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