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.

It’s been a difficult year. Marking a drastic decline in the protection of fundamental rights, for the first time in two decades, autocracies have outnumbered democracies. We have seen this unfold in more repressive laws, suppression of protests, silencing of speakers – in courts or through violence – and surging digital threats across the globe.

Meeting the challenging moment, CGFoE continued to grow. We’ve expanded our legal resources, strengthened our expert network, and held urgent dialogues. Today, the Global Database hosts 2,560 cases from over 130 countries; in 2025, more than half a million users consulted CGFoE’s website, resulting in 1.2 million views and 4.3 million user interactions – an ever-rising engagement with our platform.

Yet what truly defines CGFoE is the collective power of its mission to advance the free flow of information and ideas worldwide – and the people that mission brings together: lawyers, scholars, journalists, advocates. In other words: you, dear readers. As we revisit the past months, we invite you to join us. Once again, the CGFoE Team reviewed 2025’s cases, published in the Database, to select some of the most impactful decisions that expand or contract expression. Our top picks and reflections are below.

As we look ahead, one thing becomes distinctly clear: it takes a shared effort to defend freedom of expression globally. In a video excerpt from a recent interview, Yaman Akdeniz of Istanbul Bilgi University and İFÖD (the Freedom of Expression Association) captured that collective resolve. “We have to continue the fight,” Akdeniz said from Türkiye, one of the most embattled places for free expression. “Whether you are a lawyer, journalist, activist, academic, or student, we have to keep resisting.”

Going into 2026, CGFoE remains as committed as ever.

TOP 2025 CASES
Expanding Expression

United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC)
Fátima v. Guatemala
July 11, 2025

The decision is part of a landmark set of rulings including Susana v. Nicaragua, Norma v. Ecuador, and Lucía v. Nicaragua.

“By recognizing access to evidence-based sexual and reproductive information as a prerequisite for autonomy and decision-making, the UNHRC provides a novel and robust interpretation of freedom of expression under Article 19 of the ICCPR, placing access to information at the core of human dignity and free speech. This jurisprudence sets a new paradigm for interpreting and applying Article 19 for all 175 Member States and for international human rights law.” Lautaro Furfaro, Senior Legal Researcher

“The four cases articulate a gender-sensitive understanding of freedom of expression within the universal human rights protection system. Through strategic litigation led by They Are Girls, Not Mothers movement, the cases make visible how the denial of sexual and reproductive information operates as a structural condition that facilitates sexual violence, forced pregnancy, and imposed motherhood on girls.” Estefanía Mullally, Program Coordinator

Learn more by reading CGFoE’s recent interview with Catalina Martínez Coral, who played a central role in leading the strategic litigation behind the four cases.

European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)
Novaya Gazeta v. Russia
February 11, 2025

“As the Russian army continues to commit atrocities in Ukraine, the authorities are waging another war at home: against journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and ordinary citizens who condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The ECtHR’s ruling points to the gravity of censorship in the country, where no independent media can operate and where prosecution meets any mention of Russia’s war crimes, calls for peace, however feeble, or the mere use of the word ‘war’.” Anastasiia Vorozhtsova, Editor

“This decision has established a perfect diagnosis of the eroding effect that restricting freedom of expression can have on democracies, while underscoring the importance of plural and diverse voices on matters like armed conflicts and calls for peace. The list of human rights violations this decision outlined might not have a decisive and immediate effect on Russia, but serves as a shameful and painful reminder to other societies that freedom of expression is an essential guarantee against tyranny.” Juan Manuel Ospina Sánchez, Senior Legal Editor

United States
American Association of University Professors (AAUP) v. Rubio
September 30, 2025

“The Court’s bold decision, in a case filed by the Knight First Amendment Institute, reaffirmed that non-citizens lawfully present in the United States enjoy the same First Amendment rights. The opinion condemned the weaponization of immigration enforcement as “scandalous and unconstitutional” and ICE tactics as mechanisms “to terrorize Americans into quiescence,” clarified the President is not allowed to use the law for retribution, underscored that dissent is essential to democracy, and called on citizens to help safeguard constitutional freedoms against executive overreach.” Hawley Johnson, Associate Director

“By invalidating an immigration enforcement regime designed to chill student activism, this decision safeguards academic freedom and political expression for noncitizens, including students and immigrants in heightened positions of vulnerability. Its impact extends beyond the United States, sending a crucial signal against the global replication of policies that suppress dissent through fear.” Anderson Javiel Dirocie De León, Senior Legal & Policy Consultant

CONTRACTING EXPRESSION

Argentina

Karina Milei’s Request for Prior Restraints (No. 1)
September 1, 2025

“Restraining the release of the recordings before anyone could even hear them is not only anti-democratic. It amounts to censorship and may have a chilling effect. By focusing on possible harm to a powerful public official instead of the public’s right to know, the decision risks discouraging journalists from doing their jobs and holding those in power accountable.” Marija Šajkaš, Senior Communications Manager

“The ruling imposed an unconstitutional prior restraint by prohibiting dissemination of allegedly unlawful audio recordings without knowing the actual content of the files or establishing irreparable harm. The order suppressed information of significant public interest – linked to an alleged bribery scandal involving the Secretary General of the Presidency and sister of the President. The restriction further fell outside the scope of exceptions under Inter-American and UN standards, marking a setback for freedom of expression in Argentina.” Hawley Johnson, Associate Director

To dive deeper into the case, explore CGFoE’s interview with Roberto Gargarella, one of Latin America’s foremost constitutional scholars.

A brief request: to ensure you keep hearing from us, please add our new email address globalfreespeech@chimp.mail.columbia.edu to your contacts. Thank you!

CGFoE 2025 HIGHLIGHTS

Notable Event

Hate Speech and the European Court of Human Rights Book Launch
October 2025

Featuring Aryeh Neier, President Emeritus, Open Society Foundations, and Mishi Choudhary, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Virtru, this event, co-hosted by CGFoE and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, launched Hate Speech and the European Court of Human Rights, a new book by Dr. Natalie Alkiviadou, Senior Research Fellow at the Future of Free Speech, Vanderbilt University. In what ways do political polarization, digital communication, and platforms fuel hate speech, and how do courts weigh in? Revisit the event on YouTube and read the book review by Anderson Dirocie de León, CGFoE’s Senior Legal & Policy Consultant, here.

Notable Webinar

CGFoE organized a groundbreaking discussion of The Cambridge Handbook of the Right to Freedom of Thought, edited by Patrick O’Callaghan and Bethany Shiner. The speakers – among them Ahmed Shaheed, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and Nazila Ghanea, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief – covered regional perspectives across the Inter-American, European, and African human rights systems and the growing relevance of the debate on emerging technologies, like neurotechnology and AI. The recording, also shared on ISOC Live, is available on YouTube. For more insights from the panelists, go to our website.

 

Interview Series

Portraits of FoE Defenders

This interview series, launched in 2025, highlights the voices of those who defend free expression – often at great personal risk, and rarely asked about their own experiences. We speak to journalists, lawyers, activists, and advocates whose work protects the rights of others while profoundly shaping their own lives. The interview that has drawn the most attention features Maria Ressa, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist and CEO of Rappler. “If no guardrails are put in place, small- and medium-scale news organizations will not be able to survive this time period,” Ressa told CGFoE this past August. “It’s an information Armageddon.” Photo: Ian DiSalvo

 

CGFoE Teaching

CGFoE Continues to Engage with Young Scholars Around the Globe

Some of our latest initiatives include the flagship seminar, Freedom of Expression in the Digital Realm, taught at Ain Shams University, Cairo, and designed for student teams qualified from the MENA Rounds of Oxford University’s Price Media Law Moot Court Competition. Another is Special Classes Series: Freedom of Expression in the European and African Regional Systems in collaboration with the University of Buenos Aires. This past spring, CGFoE’s Associate Director Hawley Johnson and Senior Legal Researcher Lautaro Furfaro visited the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights to judge the international rounds of the 18th Annual Price Media Law Moot Court Competition. In an earlier conversation, Moot Coordinator Nevena Krivokapić Martinović described CGFoE’s role in supporting Price Moot as “invaluable.”

 

Court Intervention

CGFoE Filed Amicus Curiae Brief in a Case Concerning Surveillance of a Journalist in Chile

In August 2025, CGFoE submitted an amicus curiae brief before the Seventh Court of Guarantee in Santiago, Chile, in a case involving the illegal surveillance of journalist Mauricio Weibel Barahona, who was targeted due to his reporting on military corruption. In its submission, CGFoE urged the Court to reaffirm that unlawful surveillance of journalists constitutes a serious form of censorship, violating the public’s right to know. The brief stressed Chile’s obligations under international human rights law and called for a strong judicial response to protect press freedom and ensure public access to information indispensable to democracy. Read our submission (in Spanish) here.

 

Team Spotlight

CGFoE’s Anderson Dirocie Behind Historic Dominican Court Win

Anderson Javiel Dirocie De León, Senior Legal & Policy Consultant at CGFoE, helped achieve a recent landmark ruling advancing equality and human rights in the Dominican Republic. This November, the country’s Constitutional Court struck down provisions that criminalized consensual same-sex intimacy among police and military personnel. “This decision dismantles a discriminatory and abusive regime that harmed countless LGBTI members of the security forces,” said Anderson Dirocie. “By recognizing sexual orientation as a protected constitutional category, the Court has taken an essential step toward equality, dignity, and democratic inclusion.” More on the case and Dirocie’s role coming soon – stay tuned.

 

 

Happy Holidays! 

We will be back with our regular newsletter on January 9, 2026.