Prevent ministers and officials from hiding substantial policy paper changes as minor

[cbeuw]

FCDO's Policy paper Statement on freedom of religion or belief and gender equality has been substantially edited between 10 July and 22 July, omitting references to "sexual and reproductive health and rights, bodily autonomy", yet both versions say "Updated 7 July 2022", which is clearly untrue on 22 July.

diff --git a/10 July.txt b/22 July.txt
index 9657904..310dd32 100644
--- a/10 July.txt       
+++ b/22 July.txt       
@@ -1,34 +1,18 @@
 Preamble
-       1       We recognise that the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and rights related to gender equality are interdependent, intertwined and mutually reinforcing. A holistic approach to identify and understand the challenges can support the promotion and protection of both sets of rights.
-       2       We note with concern that around the world, millions of women and girls experience discrimination, inequality, and violence on the grounds of both their religion or belief and their gender, whether at the hands of state or non-state actors. Women from religious or belief minority groups and indigenous communities, women who are atheists or humanists, and women whose convictions otherwise differ from those of the majority, may be vulnerable or in vulnerable situations.
+       1       We note with concern that around the world, millions of women and girls experience discrimination, inequality, and violence on the grounds of both their religion or belief and their gender, whether at the hands of state or non-state actors. Women from religious or belief minority groups and indigenous communities, women who are atheists or humanists, and women whose convictions otherwise differ from those of the majority, may be vulnerable or in vulnerable situations.
+       2       We recognise that the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and rights related to gender equality are interdependent, intertwined and mutually reinforcing. A holistic approach to identify and understand the challenges can support the promotion and protection of both sets of rights.
        3       We affirm that the right to freedom of religion or belief includes the freedom for everyone, regardless of their gender, age, or sexual orientation, freely to believe and practise their beliefs. As such, FoRB serves not only to protect people from discrimination, inequality, and violence; it can also serve as a source of empowerment for those who find inspiration and strength in their convictions to fight for gender equality and justice.
 We commit to
-       •       uphold and protect gender equality, non-discrimination and freedom of religion or belief. Discriminatory personal status laws, laws that allow harmful practices, or restrict women’s and girls’ full and equal enjoyment of all human rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, bodily autonomy, and other laws that justify, condone, or reinforce violence, discrimination, or inequalities on the grounds of religion, belief or gender should be repealed
+       •       uphold and protect gender equality, non-discrimination and freedom of religion or belief. Challenge discriminatory laws that justify, condone, or reinforce violence, discrimination, or inequalities on the grounds of religion, belief or gender and that restrict women and girls’ full and equal enjoyment of human rights
        •       promote equal access to public goods, including health and education, as well as fair and un-biased funding and infrastructure for public goods
        •       support the provision of training and educational initiatives that encourage inclusion, equality and non-discrimination in the justice sector, the education system and elsewhere
-       •       encourage participation of women and girls from religious minority groups and indigenous communities, or of diverse sexual orientations or gender identities, and others who are marginalised or discriminated against on the grounds of their religion, belief or gender, in national and local decision-making processes, and support capacity-building to strengthen respect for their human rights and freedom of religion or belief
-       •       protect and support individuals, organisations and institutions that work to promote gender-responsive religious interpretations and practices
-       •       support and build capacities of local religious and belief leaders to advocate for gender equality, denounce sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices and ensure access to sexual and reproductive health and rights
+       •       encourage participation in FoRB of women and girls from religious minority groups and indigenous communities, or of diverse sexual orientations or gender identities, and others who are marginalised or discriminated against on the grounds of their religion, belief or gender, in national and local decision-making processes, and support capacity-building to strengthen respect for human rights and freedom of religion or belief
+       •       protect and support individuals, organisations and institutions that work to promote human dignity through religious interpretations and practices
+       •       support and build capacities of local religious and belief leaders
 Co-signatories
-       •       Albania
-       •       Australia
-       •       Bosnia and Herzegovina
-       •       Bulgaria
-       •       Canada
-       •       Cyprus
-       •       Czech Republic
-       •       Denmark
-       •       Estonia
-       •       Finland
        •       Greece
        •       Italy
-       •       Japan
-       •       Kenya
-       •       Latvia
-       •       Lithuania
-       •       The Netherlands
-       •       Norway
-       •       Romania
+       •       Malta
        •       Slovenia
        •       Ukraine
        •       United Kingdom

The incorrect dating of this particular statement has plenty of international implications: it suggests that the current text was the original outcome of the conference, published simultaneously with 6 other thematic statements; that Malta signed the statement on or before 7 July; that 17 countries delayed the signing of this theme, despite having agreed to all the other thematic statements more than 2 weeks ago. As with the date, all of these implications are incorrect.

Since the date recording is automatic, the only way I can see this happening is that the editor marked the update as a "minor change", whether due to negligence or dishonesty. A minor change does not update the document date or show up on edit history because it's meant to be trivial. https://github.com/alphagov/whitehall/blob/00293f5f5e12b0613bca25ae5cd1e9aae517ac61/app/models/document_history.rb#L64 https://github.com/alphagov/whitehall/blob/00293f5f5e12b0613bca25ae5cd1e9aae517ac61/app/views/admin/editions/_change_notes.html.erb#L4-L17

This is despite the editor having regarded the addition of signatures on 7 July, without changing the text of the original statement, as a major change

We put a great deal of trust on the labelled date of a document. It's on bills, payslips, bank statements, FPNs, court and jury summons, and so on. The importance of having accurate dates on these documents is self-evident. It's also worth noting that the person trusting the date quite often cannot easily verify it, resorting solely to the reputation of the issuer of the document. Documents published on gov.uk must be accurately dated.

The edit that made this substantial change on this article needs to be corrected as major. As this is a content matter, I've submitted a feedback at https://www.gov.uk/contact/govuk (#5031051). I hope it's on the record that this issue has been raised.

Software wise, automatic safeguards should be in place to protect the truthfulness and trustworthiness of document dating on gov.uk. For instance, when the "minor change" radio button is selected but the edit size is greater than a threshold, it could require an additional confirmation pop up, or require the edit to be further reviewed before going live. A better and simpler solution is that, if the last edit was a "minor change", then gov.uk should still prominently display the date of the last major change as it does now, but accompanied with a smaller text showing the date of the last minor change, such that the date of any change is always truthfully displayed.

[BMaxV]

Good catch!

One minor thing, the link for "22 July" points to the snapshot of the "10 July". There are only 3 snap shots right now for "5, 7, 10" of July. Might confuse someone who only reads the first paragraph.

[cbeuw]

@BMaxV there absolutely was a snapshot timestamped 20220722140343 because I personally submitted it on Internet Archive. But yes it's gone now and there are only 5, 7, 10 and 26 (today).

Very fishy...

[cbeuw]

Here are some alternative archive links

10 July (original): https://archive.ph/FkOtb 22 July (silently edited): https://archive.ph/UeNHf

[richardTowers]

Hi @cbeuw, thanks for raising this - we're looking into it

[cbeuw]

@richardTowers much appreciated!