Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Leesi Ebenezer Mitee stated the relevance of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to the right of free access to public legal information thus: “There is no international or regional human rights instrument that specifically created the right of public access to legal information as a human right.[119] Nevertheless, it is not just a legal right, which I have established that it is, in Part C above; it is also a human right with a derivative status. That means it acquires its status from a parent human right, which is the right to freedom of expression and the press.[120] Although the UDHR may not have the force of a binding treaty,[121] its Article 19 is the global source of the human right of freedom of expression and the press. It has been replicated as an enforceable human right in the ICCPR,[122] regional human rights instruments,[123] and national constitutions.[124]” Leesi Ebenezer Mitee, “The Right of Public Access to Legal Information: A Proposal for Its Universal Recognition as a Human Right” (2017) 18(6) German Law Journal 1429, 1455
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[119] See Jamar, supra note 108.
[120] For opinions relating to how it may be derived or construed as a human right, see id. See also Mommers, supra note 107, at 392–97.
[121] Some scholars hold the opinion that the UDHR is binding as customary international law. See generally Hurst Hannum, The Status of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in National and International Law, 25 Ga. J. Int’l & Comp. L. 287 (1995); Jochen von Bernstorff, The Changing Fortunes of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Genesis and Symbolic Dimensions of the Turn to Rights in International Law, 19 EJIL 903 (2008); What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?, Austl. Hum. Rts. Comm’n, https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/what-universal-declaration-human-rights (last visited July 6, 2017).
[122] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 19, para. 2, Dec. 16, 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171.
[123] See, e.g., European Convention on Human Rights art. 10, Nov. 4, 1950, 213 U.N.T.S. 221; African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, art. 9; League of Arab States, Arab Charter on Human Rights, art. 32., May 22, 2004, reprinted in International Human Rights Reports 893 (2005) [hereinafter Arab Charter]. The Arab Charter expressly provides for the right of access to public information, in addition to freedom of opinion and expression.
[124] See, e.g., Bundesverfassung [BV] [Constitution] Apr. 18, 1999, SR 101, art. 16 (Switz.); Constitution of Malta (1964), art. 41; Constitution of Nigeria (1999), § 39.
The Human Right of Free Access to Public Legal Information Advocacy (HURAPLA) promotes the right of free access to all categories of law and law-related public legal information globally, which include the following: primary legislation (statute law or statutory law); secondary legislation (subsidiary legislation, subsidiary instruments, delegated legislation), administrative memoranda, and executive orders; decisions and judgments of all levels of courts and tribunals from all the tiers of government (local, state or regional, and federal or national); legislative bills, resolutions, and other public documents directly related to the law-making function of the legislature; value-added publications that aid understanding and navigation of laws, e.g. annotations, summaries, indexes, and digests; decisions and judgments of regional and international courts; regional and international legal instruments (treaties, conventions, protocols, resolutions, declarations, etc.); and the comments, reports, and other documents on matters relating to regional and international legal instruments. HURAPLA website also contains the Global Human Right of Free Access to Law Discussion Group for Citizen Legal Education and the Professional Legal Network and the International Legal Directory of Lawyers, Law Firms, and Law Lecturers (Legal Academics, Law Teachers, and Law Professors).