On 12-14 December 2008, the Center for Media and Communication Studies at Central European University hosted an International Experts Workshop on "Global Norms on Access to Environmental Information: A Point of Departure for Improving International Access to Information". Represented were experts from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe; the Organization of American States; the Council of Europe, the UNECE Aarhus Convention; Access-Info Europe; Article XIX; Open Society Justice Initiative and other experts on access to information, including Frank LaRue, UN Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom ofopinion and expression. Participants analyzed internationally developed safeguards on access to environmentalinformation, discussed how those norms can foster the improvement of access to public data in other fields, and debated the controversial and recently revised Council of Europe Convention on Access to OfficialDocuments. As a result, workshop participants (excluding those representing intergovernmental organizations, such as UNECE) drafted and adopted the"Budapest Declaration on the Right of Access to Information." TheDeclaration underlines the need to recognize Access to Information as afundamental human right. The full text of the Declaration is availableat: http://www.cmcs.ceu.hu/foi/declaration.
