President Yuschchenko has issued a Decree removing the unlawful stamp restricting access “Not to be published” from numerous Presidential decrees and instructions, an absolute majority of which were issued by his predecessors

There are currently at least 800 legal acts holding the “quasi-lawful” (envisaged by a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers, but not by law) stamp restricting access “for official use only”

The very suggestion that any hotel could be built in this place was monstrous, and aroused outrage within Ukraine and abroad

The very idea that the authorities could build a hotel at Babi Yar, a place where tens of thousands of people were murdered can arouse only sick outrage – and the urgent demand that the information be checked. There were few such public demands and the media worked in cut & paste mode

The aim of Right to Know Day is to raise awareness of every individual’s right of access to government-held information: the right to know how elected officials are exercising power and how the tax-payers’ money is being spent

The new version does not fully supply the needed changes, but is an improvement, and the very fact of its having been tabled could provide the stimulus to achieve the relevant changes when preparing legislative changes to the second and third readings

It is all very well removing thoroughly illegal stamps restricting access, like the notorious “not to be printed” and “not to be published”, however being just as secretive under different labels will not wash

A court in Kyiv has allowed a law suit by the newspaper “Delo” and ordered disclosure of information about money spent on State-run sanatoria for National Deputies, however it named some other information of public interest “confidential”

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group is calling on the authorities to reveal the content of all normative acts, not just those issued with the unlawful stamps “Not to be published” and “Not to be printed”., but also those secreted away as “for official use only”.

The Minister of Justice says that the Ministry’s analysis shows that since 2005 the number of documents classified through stamps restricting access has noticeably decreased

“Ukrainska Pravda” and “Korespondent.net” are angered over a statement made by the President’s Press Secretary in which she asserted that the question from Internet users which had gained the most votes reflected the interests of Russian users

They must provide information on the number of applications by staff for court warrants on intercepting communication channels, seizing postal or telegraphic correspondence and more

The Head of the State Archive Committee believes that the percentage of classified documents - 0.42% of all documents held in the archive is the lowest number of secret documents among CIS countries.

Monitoring carried out this year has highlighted the surreal fact that some public bodies classify as confidential their lists of confidential information …

A study carried out by civic organizations working in 9 regions of the country has found that the Luhansk region is firmly in the lead as regards the number of violations of the right to information, this time regarding land and city construction work

“First prove that the information is public, and then we’ll tell you if you can receive it”

An interview with Volodymyr Yavorsky, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union regarding legitimate restrictions on access to information and problems in this sphere in Ukraine

Members of the public have already appealed against the decision

The National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council has informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of possible consequences for those foreign television channels which play on language issues or the subject of Russian – Ukrainian relations.

Why do we tolerate untruth in the media? On the vital force of outrage at being conned and treated like idiots in the fight against paid news items, propaganda and other lies