ARTICLE 19 GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR FREE EXPRESSION Article 19 of the UDHR, which was adopted as a United Nations General Assembly resolution, states: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the right to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. While the UDHR is not directly binding on States, parts of it, including Article 19, are widely regarded as having acquired legal force as customary international law. 12 In addition, the ICCPR is a formally binding legal treaty ratified by 154 States;13 it ensures the right to freedom of expression and information in terms similar to the UDHR. Both Article 19 of the UDHR and Article 19 of the ICCPR have been interpreted as imposing an obligation on States to implement measures to enable access to information held by public bodies. The content of these treaty obligations have been developed by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression and these measures have been recognised and supported by the UN Commission on Human Rights as critical to the proper enforcement of States’ treaty obligations under Article 19.14 In 1995, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression stated: Order, (Yale University Press: 1980), pp. 273-74, 325-27. See also United Nations General Assembly Resolution 59 (1), 1946. 13 As of 27 April 2005.. 14 Resolution 1997/27, 11 April 1997. 12(d). Memorandum on Jordan’s Protection of State Secrets and Documents Provisional Law No. (50) for the Year 1971ARTICLE 19, London, 2005 – Index Number: LAW/2005/1205 -3-