Freedom of Information

Toby Mendel is the Law Programme Director with ARTICLE 19, Global Campaign for Free Expression, a leading international human rights NGO based in London, a position he has held for some ten years. In that capacity, he has worked extensively on freedom of expression and right to information issues in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, running training seminars, critiquing laws, taking cases to both national and international bodies, advising NGOs and governments, and even working with offi cials to prepare draft right to information laws. In addition to his work with ARTICLE 19, he has provided expertise on these issues to a wide range of actors including the World Bank, various UN and other intergovernmental bodies, and numerous NGOs. Prior to joining ARTICLE 19, Toby Mendel worked in human rights and international development, including as a senior human rights consultant with Oxfam Canada and as a human rights policy analyst at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Toby Mendel has published widely, contributing to numerous ARTICLE 19 and other publications. He is, among other things, the author of the ARTICLE 19 publications The Public’s Right to Know: Principles on Freedom of Information Legislation and A Model Freedom of Information Law. This is the second book by Mr. Mendel published by UNESCO, the first being Public Service Broadcasting: A Comparative Legal Survey. His published work covers a wide range of free expression issues including broadcasting, communications rights, defamation, the right to information, the rights of the child, public service broadcasting and false news. He has an honours BA in mathematics from McGill University and a first class LLB (law) from Dalhousie University.