Transcript Hungarian Civil Liberties Union www.tasz.hu

Hungarian Civil Liberties Union
www.tasz.hu
Ádám Földes
Strategic Litigation in
Freedom of Information
Activities of HCLU
public advocacy
legal aid
litigation
 Civil liberties
 patients rights, reproductive rights, HIV/AIDS,
Hepatitis patients, psychiatric patients
 Freedom of information, privacy
 Drug policy
Aims
 freedom of information can be an
instrument for the orgainzation’s
other issues,
but
lessons learned are also useful in
 FOI for FOI
- challenge the exemptions
- test the current law
- help public advocacy of FOI
How to find the case?
 the client comes in
 the HCLU contacts the client
 HCLU is the client
 no client /class of clients cases
 someone else has the client
the client comes in / HCLU contacts the client
– legal aid
− the legal problem is given / selection
− almost no planning
− the client is exposed
− weighty stories
− no control over the story/client
HCLU is the client
– planning
− the legal problem is chosen
− sometimes the HCLU employees are exposed
− divisive stories
− full control over the story
no client / class of clients cases
– extra-judicial cases: Parliamentary Commissioner,
Constitutional Court, other
− planning
− the legal problem is chosen
− less tangible ~ difficult to communicate
− no deadline ~ difficult to communicate
− full control over the story
someone else has the client
– no planning
− the legal problem is given / selection
− better impact
− more expertise
− cooperation or concurrence ?
− limited control over the story
Planning I.
time
 Program of the Government
 legislative plan of the Parliament
 European Union legislation
 international agreements
(for 4 years)
(for 6 months)
sources of issues
 cases of the Parliamentary Commissioner
 legal aid
 media
 legislation
Planning II.
window of opportunity
planned
evergreens
novelty
evergreens:
- rise & disappear
novelty:
- raise attention
unplanned
Outcomes I.
• good sentences of higher courts:
re-use & publicize
• bad sentences of higher courts:
re-interpret
media
publicize
widely used jurisprudence
re-interpret by legislation
Outcomes II. (lost cases)
 lost-won cases
 cement the interpretation
 continue at Constituional Court,
international courts, etc.
Thank you for your attention!
Hungarian Civil Liberties Union
www.tasz.hu
[email protected]