Freedom of Information and International Law
Jack Beatson and Yvonne Cripps (eds) Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Information: Essays in Honour of Sir David Williams (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000) 349
Victoria University of Wellington Legal Research Paper Series, Keith Paper No. 7/2017
27 Pages Posted: 28 Feb 2013 Last revised: 31 Oct 2017
Date Written: 2000
Abstract
In this tribute to Sir David Williams, author of "Not in the Public Interest – the Problem of Security in Democracy", Sir Kenneth Keith discusses some of the categories of official information with which Sir David was concerned – especially information relating to foreign, defense and security matters. The author considers them in terms of international law as well as national law. He begins with a brief account of the deferential attitudes often adopted by legislatures and courts to foreign, defense and security matters, and also to Cabinet proceedings, while recording some significant qualifications to those attitudes. The second part summarizes the reasons for changing to a more open approach to the release of official information. Those reasons are taken up in the international context in the third part of the paper, which also calls attention to the requirements of open processes and disclosure of information increasingly imposed by international law. The paper concludes by suggesting some consequences for constitutional, legal and educational practices and attitudes.
Keywords: Freedom of information, official information, defence, national security, international law, New Zealand Official Information Act, state secrecy
JEL Classification: K23, K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation