Roger Vleugels, an independent Netherlands-based legal consultant, published on 1 February, with the help of the Freedom of Information Advocates network, a very comprehensive overview of the situation of of freedom of information laws all over the world.

The document offers a complete image of the adoption of FOI laws in the world and is structured into 5 lists of countries.

A first list (A) covers the 68 countries where FOI laws has been approved or adopted and provides the formal adoption dates, the dates for entering into force as well as the name of the law. The countries are listed in chronological order of adoption, in alphabetical order as well as grouped on continents.

List B is a list of countries where FOI law is either not yet in power or is pending and list C is a list of countries where nothing has been done in

The Civil Society in Macedonia is very much concerned about the quality of the proposed draft Law on Free Access to Information of Public Character as it does not meet international standards on access to information. Today (18.01.2006), it is expected that the Macedonian Parliament will adopt the Law.

Nongovernmental organizations Article 19, Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia, Pro Media-Skopje and Transparency-Macedonia sent an open letter to the President of the Republic of Macedonia, President of the Parliament and the President of the Government stating their concerns regarding the weaknesses in the latest Draft Law on Free Access to Information. They also complain about the lack of real progress towards its adoption.

The letter that was signed by 126 Macedonian civil society organizations

The international conference "e-Society.Mk" took place in Macedonia in October and November 2005, with the goal of raising awareness and sharing knowledge of decision makers about important information society issues with the general public. It was organised by Foundation Metamorphosis and supported by OSCE Mission in Skopje and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, in line with the recently adopted National strategy for the development of the information society.

Over thirty international and local experts interacted with an audience of around 400 participants in all events, discussing the topics of freedom of the media on the internet, e-business and cybercrime, copyrights and privacy, e-government and e-education. The audience consisted mainly of representatives of central and local government, IT experts, NGOs, journalists and university students (law, economics and IT).

After the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Tunis between 16 and 19 November 2005, a large number of attending civil society organisations decided to write another letter to Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations. During the WSIS the Tunisian government committed serious attacks on human rights and the right to freedom of expression. These attacks included harassment of delegates, assaults on Tunisian and international journalists and human rights defenders, denial of entry to the country, the blocking of websites, the censorship of documents and speeches, and the prevention and disruption of meetings. See also the report on the disturbance of a panel on freedom of expression, in EDRI-gram 3.23.

In the letter they ask him to investigate the attacks on human rights experienced by the participants during the Summit. "We believe it is essential that lessons are learnt from what has taken place here this week and we therefore call upon you, the Secretary General of the United Nations, to launch a full investigation into the attacks on human rights and freedom of expression that we have witnessed in Tunisia both in the run-up to and during the World Summit on the Information Society. We ask you to closely monitor the follow-up period in Tunisia."

In the UNESCO high-level round table 'Shaping the Future through Knowledge' on Thursday 18 November 2005 director-general Koïchiro Matsuura presented the four main pillars of knowledge societies: respect for human rights, especially for freedom of speech, universal access to information, respect for cultural and linguistic diversity and quality education for all. Those pillars have been described in detail in the recently launched UNESCO report 'Towards knowledge societies'. The report was prepared in three earlier conferences organised by Unesco in 2005, described in EDRI-gram 3.3 and 3.10.

The panel members were asked to reflect on the 4 mission goals. Improving universal access to education turned out to be the most prominent concern of the panel. Also the attempts to safeguard indigenous knowledge and the

As a side-event to the World Summit on the Information Society the Institute for Information Industry and AFACT organised a Forum on the Advancement of e-Trade & Ubiquitous Society in the Africa Hotel in Tunis.

Following the welcome address by Dr. FC Lin, Chairman of the Institute for Information Industry, and the opening remarks of Kenneth Lim, Ex-Chair AFACT, the morning session was dedicated to the advancement of a ubiquitous society and ICT for All. The afternoon session focussed on e-Trade Facilitation.

Njideka Ugwuegbu-Harry, Founder of the Youth for Technology Foundation presented the vision and activities of the Youth for Technology Foundation towards bridging the Digital Divide. Through cooperations with major international ICT companies the Foundation managed to benefit over 4.000

Together with the internet blogging project Global Voices online, the Dutch NGO Hivos organised a two day program on 17 and 18 November on freedom of expression. On the first day two panels and two lectures were scheduled, the second day was devoted to a workshop on secure communication tools for NGOs. It was only thanks to the Dutch embassy that the event could actually take place. The event was the subject of immense and incredible pressure from Tunisian authorities. They pulled every trick to cancel the event, including the presence of 20 grey-clothed unidentified representatives from some law enforcement services in the back of the room. They threatened to close the doors halfway during the event, if the announced coffee break was to be held, to make sure nobody could get back in.

On 17 November 2005 Reporters without Borders (RSF) released a new report during the WSIS on the 15 enemies of the Internet, and 15 countries to watch. RSF writes: "The 15 'enemies' are the countries that crack down hardest on the Internet, censoring independent news sites and opposition publications, monitoring the Web to stifle dissident voices, and harassing, intimidating and sometimes imprisoning Internet users and bloggers who deviate from the regime’s official line." Amongst those enemies Tunisia is prominently mentioned, next to predictable countries such as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The report says about Tunisia: "President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, whose family has a monopoly on Internet access inside the country, has installed a very effective system of censoring the Internet. All opposition