Members of GTI prepared this paper to examine implementation of the Transparency Charter for International Financial Institutions from the perspective of the Aarhus Convention. The "Transparency Charter for International Financial Institutions: Claiming our Right to Know" is based on the right to access information held by public bodies--a fundamental human right set out in Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees the right to "seek, receive and impart information and ideas". This right applies to intergovernmental organisations, just as it does at the national level. The Charter elaborates nine principles upon which access to information policies of international financial institutions should be based.
