Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

“If we want to preserve democracy as a conversation based on shared facts, we must build a digital environment in which such conversation is possible,” writes Catalina Botero Marino for El País. “And the US is not the model.”

In her recent op-ed, CGFoE’s former Consulting Director argues that rampant disinformation – embraced by the current US government – threatens “freedom of expression, privacy, political rights, and democracy itself.” Botero Marino calls for the creation of new digital spaces that nurture constructive debate and public trust as opposed to sowing divisions and eroding institutions.

This week, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) opened its 58th Session. Digital threats are on the agenda, along with many others: from autocracy to wars to climate change. “Human rights are the oxygen of humanity,” said the UN Secretary-General at the opening, “but one by one, human rights are being suffocated.”

In Belarus, President Lukashenka’s autocratic regime has been stifling critical voices with exceptional cruelty. The advance version of the Report on Belarus – which the Group of Independent Experts will present to the UN HRC on March 19 – cites further evidence of crimes against humanity, namely imprisonment and persecution of Belarusians on political grounds “as part of a widespread and systematic attack.”

Today’s decisions concern Belarus. The UN Human Rights Committee consolidated over 60 cases into just three rulings. “This procedural innovation marks a strategic shift,” said Lautaro Furfaro, Legal Researcher at CGFoE. “The Committee is not only reinforcing its jurisprudence but also streamlining its response to structural restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

The right to protest demands protection beyond Belarus. In Georgia, as nationwide rallies against the Moscow-aligned government continue, so does the crackdown on free speech. Most recently, the Georgian parliament adopted amendments imposing severe criminal penalties for critical speech and restrictions on gatherings. “​​The UN Human Rights Committee affirms that failing to notify authorities or seek authorization does not make an assembly unlawful,” ARTICLE 19 responded in a statement.

In Serbia, the deadly collapse of a train station in Novi Sad this past November ignited an anti-corruption movement led by students. Tens of thousands are protesting, with many facing violence, arrests, and persecution. Three ministers have resigned, including Prime Minister Milos Vucevic. “We don’t care about resignations,” one student protester told the New Lines, “[but] we do care about our demands and the rule of law.”

In Slovakia, protests against another pro-Kremlin government have been ongoing for weeks. Last Friday, reiterating their call for Prime Minister Robert Fico to step down, thousands marked the 7th anniversary of the murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée. The International Press Institute and partners have renewed their call for ultimate justice – the conviction of the mastermind behind the murder.

“Slovakia is Europe,” the crowds chanted last week. Those in power must be listening.

Why Are Protests Sweeping Across Serbia, Slovakia, and Georgia? RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty explains the reasons, similarities, and differences. Image credit: rferl.org

United Nations Human Rights Committee
Amelkovich v. Belarus
Decision Date: October 14, 2024
The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) held that Belarus violated the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly of Vitaly Amelkovich and 20 other petitioners by imposing administrative fines and detention penalties for their participation in unauthorized peaceful protests. The petitioners were prosecuted under Article 23.34 of the Belarusian Code of Administrative Offenses, which penalizes individuals for organizing or participating in public events that have not received prior approval from the authorities. As a result, domestic courts imposed fines and, in some cases, administrative detentions of up to 15 days. The petitioners unsuccessfully appealed their convictions, arguing that the restrictions violated their rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The UNHRC consolidated 21 separate communications into a single decision—a measure aimed at streamlining the handling of cases revealing systematic patterns of human rights violations in Belarus. To the Committee the cases reflected patterns identical to those examined in previous decisions. It emphasized that sanctioning individuals for participating in peaceful demonstrations, even if unauthorized, violated their fundamental rights. The Committee concluded that Belarus violated Articles 19 and 21 of the ICCPR and ordered the State to provide full reparation to the petitioners, including reimbursement of fines and legal costs and compensation for those subjected to administrative detentions. Additionally, the Committee recommended Belarus to amend its Public Events Act to ensure its compliance with international human rights standards and to prevent future violations of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Kulakov v. Belarus
Decision Date: July 24, 2024
The United Nations Human Rights Committee found that Belarus violated the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The case concerned individuals who faced fines or detention for participating in peaceful protests without prior government approval. In this decision, the Committee consolidated 21 separate communications into a joint ruling, a measure aimed at streamlining the handling of cases that revealed systemic patterns of human rights violations in Belarus. It found that penalizing individuals for engaging in peaceful protests, even if unauthorized, was an unjustified restriction on fundamental freedoms. The Committee emphasized that these violations were part of a recurring issue in Belarus, as documented in previous cases. The Committee concluded that Belarus must compensate the affected individuals, annul the fines, and cover legal costs. Additionally, it urged the country to reform its laws to comply with international human rights standards and prevent future violations.

Lupach v. Belarus
Decision Date: July 17, 2024
The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) held that Belarus violated the right to freedom of expression of independent journalist Dmitry Lupach by imposing administrative sanctions against him for publishing journalistic content on foreign websites without prior accreditation. Lupach was repeatedly fined between 255 and 480 euros for allegedly violating Article 22.9(2) of the Belarusian Code of Administrative Offenses, which penalizes journalists for working without accreditation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Belarus argued that the imposed restrictions complied with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee reaffirmed its jurisdiction over the case as the communication was submitted before Belarus’ denunciation of the Optional Protocol became effective. Furthermore, given the high number of pending cases concerning similar issues, the Committee consolidated 20 communications into a single decision, recognizing the structural and systemic nature of the violations at hand. Furthermore, the UNHRC explained that the facts of this petition reflected patterns identical to those examined in previous decisions. The Committee concluded that Belarus violated the petitioner’s right to freedom of expression by sanctioning him for publishing media materials on foreign websites without being accredited in Belarus as a foreign journalist. Consequently, the Committee ruled that Belarus violated Article 19 of the ICCPR. It ordered the State to provide an effective remedy—including the reimbursement of fines and legal costs paid by Lupach. Additionally, the Committee urged Belarus to amend its media legislation to ensure compliance with international human rights standards and prevent future violations of freedom of expression.

● Serbia: NGOs Accuse Government of Pressure Over Police Raids, by Milica Stojanovic. Balkan Insight reports that Serbian police raided the offices of four Belgrade-based NGOs earlier this week. The targeted organizations – Civic Initiatives, Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability, Centre for Practical Politics, and Trag Foundation; all focusing on human rights and the rule of law – are under investigation into alleged misuse of funds they received from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The case follows the current US administration’s freeze of foreign aid. The police raid constituted “a form of pressure and a senseless showing off of the authoritarian regime’s muscles,” said Dragan Popović, Director of the Centre for Practical Politics. Popović is worried that “Trump’s pursuit of USAID is being used to threaten the work of civil society in Serbia.”

● Georgia: Campaign Call – Free Mzia Today. At the time of this writing, 238 individuals – journalists, human rights defenders, activists – and 95 organizations, including the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, Committee to Protect Journalists, and IFEX, jointly urge the Georgian authorities to immediately free veteran journalist Mzia Amaglobeli. Amaglobeli, who is the founder and director of news portals Batumelebi and Netgazeti, has been detained since January 11, 2025, and is facing disproportionately severe charges of assaulting a police officer, punishable by up to seven years in prison. Amaglobeli had been on hunger strike for five weeks, ending it last week over warnings of a life-threatening condition. In a message from her cell, Amaglobeli wrote, “Fight before it is too late […] I will not bow to this regime. I will not play by its rules.”

● Belarus: HRF Celebrates the Release of Dissident Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk. The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) celebrates the freedom of Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, a Belarusian pro-democracy activist and coordinator of the European Belarus civil campaign. Released in early February, Sharenda-Panasiuk had spent 1,491 days in detention. Initially receiving a two-year prison sentence for “insulting the president and government officials and using or threatening to use violence against an official,” she was handed additional one-year sentences in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Last year, together with Human Rights Center Viasna, HRF appealed to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Sharenda-Panasiuk’s case; in October 2024, several UN special mandate holders addressed the Belarusian authorities on her behalf. “[W]e should not forget those who remain detained in this slaughterhouse, as I call it,” said Sharenda-Panasiuk, finally freed. “We should make every effort to free them.”

● Slovakia: New Report Highlights Growing Media Freedom Crisis. Marking the seventh anniversary of the murder of Ján Kuciak, Slovak investigative journalist, and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, the International Press Institute and partners published a report on Slovakia’s media freedom crisis. Based on the fact-finding mission carried out by press freedom experts and advocates this past November, the report shows further undermining of freedom of expression and media pluralism in Slovakia since the 2023 re-election of Robert Fico, leader of the populist Direction – Social Democracy party. (Fico was Prime Minister at the time of Kuciak and Kušnírová’s murder in 2018, which sparked mass protests and forced him to resign.) Among the many current threats to media freedom in the country, the report lists “erosion of legal protection and hostile environment” and “continuous impunity for violence against journalists.”

This section of the newsletter features teaching materials focused on global freedom of expression which are newly uploaded on Freedom of Expression Without Frontiers

Mapping Media Freedom: Monitoring Report 2024. Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) published its annual Europe-focused report documenting press freedom violations in the EU Member States and nine candidate countries between January and December 2024. MFRR recorded a total of 1,548 press freedom violations with 2,567 entities or media professionals involved. The 359 of those violations were online attacks – a significant increase from 266 such cases recorded in the previous year. Legal attacks against journalists also occurred more frequently: 319 cases concerning 556 media workers or organizations. MFRR described demonstrations and protests as “among the most dangerous environments for journalists in 2024”: more than 50% of the 271 protest-related press freedom violations documented were physical attacks on reporters – with police or state security forces often being the perpetrators.

Journalism History – Call for Abstracts. Journalism History, a quarterly scholarly journal, invites submissions for the Special Issue on Media Literacy, Mis/Disinformation Research, and the Institute for Propaganda Analysis. Anya Schiffrin, Columbia University, and Efrat Nechushtai, George Washington University, will be the Issue’s guest editors. Send your CV and abstract to acs76@columbia.edu by May 1. Learn more here.

This newsletter is reproduced with the permission of Global Freedom of Expression.  For an archive of previous newsletters, see here.