On August 31 last year the people of the Cayman Islands were granted a right now considered an essential one in democratic countries all over the world.

Parliamentarians in the tiny Caribbean country ¿ which has a population even smaller than Bermuda's ¿ passed a freedom of information (FOI) law in the Legislative Assembly.

The act was given a 14-month roll-out period and will come into effect in January, 2009 when the public will be able to access most records of government, including statutory authorities and government-owned companies.

Cayman, a fellow British Overseas Territory, shares many similarities with this Island, not least a reputation as a thriving offshore financial centre competing for the attention of international business.

As in Bermuda, a public discussion paper on FOI ¿ or public access to information (PATI) as it is known here ¿ was first tabled there in the autumn of 2005. Two years later it passed into law ¿ while Bermuda's PATI plans have never moved past the discussion stage.

Carole Excell, the Cayman Government's Freedom of Information coordinator, told The Royal Gazette last week: "I think FOI is critical to ensure participation by the public in government policy and decision making.

"In small jurisdictions this is crucial as the impact of government policies is evident to most people quickly and may have a larger impact on the lives of citizens on a whole."

Cayman is not alone in the Caribbean in having FOI. A May 2004 survey conducted by David Banisar of human rights group Privacy International found that half a dozen countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean ¿ including Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago ¿ had adopted laws and nearly a dozen more were considering them. Antigua and Barbuda ¿ which has a similar sized population to Bermuda ¿ passed an Act later in 2004.

The concept of people having the right to access information to make government more accountable is certainly nothing new. Sweden has the oldest FOI legislation, dating back to 1766. The US passed its first freedom of information law more than 40 years ago and Canada got its Access to Information Act in 1983.

But it is in the last ten years that the idea of 'a right to know' has really gone global.

In a report from 2006, Mr. Banisar says that the last decade saw "a virtual tidal wave of countries adopting laws" including Ireland, Japan and the UK. Scores of human rights groups and other organisations pushing for good governance and transparency insist that public access to information is fundamental to democracy.

Nelson Mandela, when drawing up the new South African constitution, recognised that access to information was a key fundamental right to be included and that the lack of it had allowed apartheid to thrive.

In 1999, the Commonwealth Law Ministers recommended that member states ¿ of which Bermuda is one ¿ adopt laws on freedom on information based on the principles of disclosure.

The UN Convention on Anti-Corruption in 2003 demands it and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund both view it as necessary to reduce corruption.

Former Premier Alex Scott is convinced the time has come for Bermuda to follow suit with the 70-plus countries that have adopted FOI and is urging Islanders to look at similar jurisdictions which have already enriched their democracies.

He questions whether Bermuda's high quality of life means many Bermudians are not as hungry to hold government to account as elsewhere. Of Jamaica, he says: "They are as aware if not more aware of their rights as Bermudians. When one becomes acutely aware of their rights, PATI is one of the fundamentals.

"Hopefully this article will just cause Bermudians to take pause and think about the notion of getting information from their government when they require it, when it would be helpful."

As Mr. Banisar wrote in 2004: "Laws opening government records and processes are now commonplace among democratic countries...it is no longer possible to tell citizens that they have no right to know."