26 Sep 2024 | Europe and Central Asia, News and features, United Kingdom
On Monday 16 September, the United States imposed financial sanctions and visa restrictions on Georgians who they believed to be involved with violent crackdowns on peaceful protests that had occurred in the country’s capital Tbilisi in the spring. The protests were sparked in resistance to the passing of a “foreign agents law”, which shares similarities with an existing law in Russia – raising concerns that the Georgian government is aligning more closely with the Kremlin.
These demonstrations were led by young adults. University students organised and turned out in their thousands, and the majority of protesters on the streets were members of Gen Z. It is commonplace for young people to be vocal about what they believe in, but despite the US supporting the struggle of the youth against their government in Georgia, when it comes to home soil, their commitment to free speech isn’t so steadfast. The US drew condemnation from UN human rights experts regarding the aggressive and harsh measures used by authorities against pro-Palestine protesters on US university campuses – many peaceful demonstrations were met with surveillance and arrests across the country. Further measures are being taken to prevent protests ahead of the 2024/25 academic year, and these have been met with disdain from the American Association of University Professors in a statement made last month.
The USA is far from alone when it comes to recent crackdowns on the right to protest. As Index has previously covered, there have been multiple arrests at both climate protests and pro-Palestine protests in the UK in recent years, and the Conservative government led by Rishi Sunak introduced the much criticised Policing, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the Public Order Act 2023, and Serious Disruption Prevention Orders, all of which significantly inhibit people’s right to protest. This crushing of demonstrations even breached the realms of legality when Suella Braverman was ruled to have passed unlawful anti-protest legislation in 2023. In recent times, the sheer scale of punishment for non-violent protesters in the UK has been brought into the public eye with the sentencing in July of Roger Hallam of Just Stop Oil (JSO) to five years imprisonment, and four other JSO members to four years, for coordinating protests on the M25.
Lotte Leicht, a Danish human rights lawyer who holds the position of advocacy director at Climate Rights International – a monitoring and advocacy organisation that recently put out a statement outlining hypocrisy from western governments regarding climate protests – spoke to Index on this issue, and she believes that the UK is the worst offender.
“The crackdown, and particularly the use of law to sentence non-violent disruption by climate protesters in the UK has stood out as the most severe and most extraordinary measure [from any country]. And one thing that’s very disappointing from our point of view is not to see the new Labour government tackling these draconian laws from the previous government, and taking steps to revoke them,” Leicht said.
She added: “The prevention of UK activists from explaining their motivations for their actions in court, and judges actually preventing them from doing so… As a lawyer, I would say this prevents people from having a fair trial.”
This crackdown on protests has become prevalent in many democracies within ‘the Global North’ in recent years, and examples are not hard to come by. On 11 September, thousands of anti-war protesters in Melbourne, Australia gathered outside a weapons expo, protesting the government’s stance on arms, and the use of such weapons in Gaza. The protests quickly became the subject of great scrutiny when there were violent clashes between Melbourne police and demonstrators, with police allegedly using excessive “riot-type” force, resulting in multiple injuries.
In Germany, pro-Palestine protests have also repeatedly been met with harsh measures, such as bans. The country’s history of anti-Semitism has impacted its attitude towards protests and events that are critical of Israel, causing police to be more heavy handed than in other democracies.
Leicht, who is also the council chairwoman at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), a nonprofit dedicated to enforcing civil and human rights globally, told Index that this increasing anti-protest action from western democracies sets a very worrying precedent.
“This represents a massive deployment of double standards. Because these are the same governments that rightfully stand up for freedom of expression, association and assembly in different corners of the world when authoritarian governments are cracking down horrifically on dissent in their countries,” she said.
“These countries are usually there to say ‘Oh, that’s not good’, and we want them to do that! But by not practising what they preach and undermining these principles at home, they will lose that credibility. In a way, they will provide a green light to authoritarian governments to do the exact same for those that they don’t like. I mean, why not?”
Leicht does, however, believe that a continued struggle against these litigations will not be in vain.
“Protests in the past have also been disruptive, annoying and irritating for those in power — look at the Suffragettes. Now, is that something that we today would say ‘That’s just annoying and irritating’? Many felt so at the time. They were disruptive, they were irritating, they were strong, they were principled – and they were successful. And I think history will tell the same story about courageous climate protesters,” she said.
It is clear that countries positioning themselves as “champions of democracy” must truly allow freedom of expression within their own borders, especially when they set the tone globally. If they continue to infringe upon the rights of people to demonstrate their beliefs and advocate publicly for change, then the future will be silent.
1 Aug 2024 | Europe and Central Asia, News and features, Russia, Statements
Index on Censorship welcomes the news that Vladimir Kara-Murza, a journalist, author, filmmaker and fierce Putin critic, and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich have today been released as part of a multi-country prisoner exchange including Russia and the USA.
The prisoner swap, one of the largest ever, has taken place in Ankara under the auspices of the Turkish National Intelligence Agency and involves 26 people held in Russia, Belarus, the USA, Germany, Slovenia, Norway and Poland. The exchange follows private discussions between the intelligence services of Russia and the United States and is the largest such exchange in decades.
Index has long championed the causes of Kara-Murza and Gershkovich.
Kara-Murza, a British citizen and father of three, had been a tireless pro-democracy campaigner and a champion of legislation that has provided for human rights violators and corrupt officials around the world to be subject to asset freezes and visa bans (so-called Magnitsky Acts). Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2022; he was awarded the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize the same year.
In mid-July, WSJ reporter Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony on espionage charges. He was arrested in March 2023 while on a reporting trip in the city of Yekaterinburg 1,600 km east of Moscow with prosecutors arguing that he worked for the US Central Intelligence Agency, claims which the journalist, his employer and the US government denied.
Jessica Ní Mhainín, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Index on Censorship, said, “In most of Europe, Kara-Murza is rightly lauded for his work in defence of human rights and was awarded the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize in 2022. During his time in detention, he was held in solitary confinement and has had access to medical treatment restricted despite suffering from polyneuropathy, a condition affecting his central nervous system, brought on by two failed poisonings by FSB agents in 2015 and 2017.”
Index on Censorship CEO Jemimah Steinfeld said: “Evan Gershkovich’s trial was held in secret and his conviction is widely regarded as politically motivated. Index will continue to stand up for press freedom both in Russia and in other countries worldwide. His release has come not a moment too soon but we will continue to fight for the release of reporters unjustly held in countries around the globe for doing their jobs.”
Sasha Skochilenko, who was sentenced to a seven-year jail term for distributing anti-war leaflets in a Russian grocery store, and Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who was seized by Russian authorities on a trip to visit her mother and has been in prison since October, are among those have who also been released. Former US Marine Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 on espionage charges, has also been freed.
Vadim Krasikov, a colonel in Russia’s FSB intelligence service, who has been serving a life sentence in a German jail since 2019 for the murder in broad daylight in a Berlin park of dissident Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, is also part of the exchange.
For more information, please contact policy and campaigns manager Jessica Ní Mhainín on [email protected] or acting editor Sally Gimson on 07890 403338 or [email protected]
3 May 2024 | Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Ethiopia, Georgia, Hong Kong, News and features, Opinion, Ruth's blog
With the world absorbed in too much news some important stories in the world of freedom of expression can be lost. As we mark World Press Freedom Day it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on what is really happening around the world, away from the daily news agenda, from the ‘foreign agent’ bill in Georgia, to the restrictions being placed on journalists in Myanmar, Ethiopia, Hong Kong and of course Afghanistan.
It’s one of these unheard stories which I want to focus on this week. In the ongoing global struggle for press freedom, Burkina Faso finds itself embroiled in controversy once again. The recent suspension of foreign media outlets over their coverage of a damning report accusing the country’s army of civilian massacres underscores an appalling trend towards censorship and repression.
The report, released by Human Rights Watch (HRW), alleges that Burkina Faso’s military was responsible for the killing of 223 civilians in retaliation for their support of armed Islamists. This accusation has been vehemently denied by the military government, which seized power in a coup in 2022 with the promise of quelling the Islamist insurgency plaguing the nation.
But instead of choosing light and transparency the government has chosen the tool of the tyrant – censorship.
Foreign media outlets such as the BBC, Voice of America, and Deutsche Welle have been suspended, their websites blocked, and broadcasts halted for daring to report on HRW’s findings. This outrageous approach to silencing truth and dissent stifles the flow of information and undermines the fundamental principles of freedom of expression.
The joint statement from the governments of the United States and United Kingdom unequivocally condemns Burkina Faso’s actions, emphasising the importance of an unfettered press in fostering informed public discourse. As we mark World Press Freedom Day, these acts of censorship serve as a stark reminder of the critical role that media plays in holding power to account and safeguarding democracy.
The suspensions imposed by Burkina Faso’s Superior Council of Communication not only violate the rights of journalists but also deprive the Burkinabe people of access to independent and accurate news. By blocking HRW’s website and restricting media coverage of their report, the government effectively shields itself from scrutiny and accountability.
Such tactics are not unique to Burkina Faso; they are part of a broader global trend towards authoritarianism and censorship. Across the world, journalists face intimidation, harassment, and violence simply for doing their jobs. This week, the BBC World Service has revealed for the first time that 310 of its journalists are living in exile.
The international community must stand in solidarity with journalists and media organisations under attack. Advocating for freedom of expression is not only a matter of principle but also a practical necessity for the functioning of democratic societies. When the voices of the oppressed are silenced, tyranny reigns unchecked.
As the world marks World Press Freedom Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to defending the rights of journalists everywhere. In the face of adversity, their courage and resilience serve as a beacon of hope for a brighter and more just future.
9 Feb 2024 | News and features, Opinion, Ruth's blog, United Kingdom
I was a British MP from 2015 until 2019.
I was friends with Jo Cox and I knew Sir David Amess. I was involved in the effort to protect Rosie Cooper and was also a target for a huge amount of abuse and too many threats of violence to count. So the news in the last week, after months of stories about politicians being targeted because of a war thousands of miles away, of more reports of threats of violence to politicians at home and abroad isn’t just a news story for me – it’s been my life.
I love politics, for me it’s the main vehicle in a democratic society to change the world. It allows us to support people who need it and to challenge the status-quo. Elections are the frontline in a battle of ideas about the type of country and world we want to live in. Words dominate and debate makes all of us better. Elections are the bedrock of our democracy and our rights to freedom of expression. For me this is everything. Which means the participants need to feel safe to make those arguments – to challenge each other, to debate. This is the ultimate test of how robust our democracy really is.
However, recent events have shed light on a concerning trend: the increasing need for special police protection for individual politicians or even their withdrawal from political life due to threats on their lives because of what they believe.
Politicians like Mike Freer MP in the United Kingdom and Nikki Haley in the US, the last remaining serious challenger to Donald J Trump for the Republican Party nomination, have become appalling examples of the risks individuals face for daring to voice their convictions.
Mike Freer, the Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green, has been subjected to vile threats and intimidation, culminating in his constituency office being firebombed. Unable to persuade him to change his views, extremists have sought to silence him through fear and intimidation. In response Mike Freer has understandably announced his retirement from politics at the next election.
Similarly, Nikki Haley, the Republican Party nominee vying for the presidency of the United States of America, has been thrust into a whirlwind of threats and intimidation due to her challenging Donald J. Trump for the nomination. She finds herself the focus of extremists who seek to undermine her campaign through fear and violence. Faced with the grim reality of constant danger, Haley has felt compelled to request secret service protection — a sobering indication of the challenges confronting modern democracy even at the highest levels of political discourse.
These stories are unfortunately increasingly common, British politicians now have a security assessment as standard. American politicians in a leadership role are provided with security protections. This is now common practice in nearly every western democracy.
The threats faced by Freer, Haley, and countless others are not isolated incidents but symptoms of a broader trend towards intolerance and extremism. In an era marked by polarisation and ideological division, the space for civil discourse is rapidly shrinking, replaced by a climate of hostility and intimidation. This not only undermines the democratic process but also erodes the very foundations of our society.
Since 1689 parliamentary privilege, otherwise known as protected free speech for parliamentarians, has been enshrined in British law, ensuring legal protections for political debate and opinion. It is an incredibly important core tenet of freedom of political speech. But this is for nothing if people are protected from being sued for making a political point – but not protected from violence.
As defenders of freedom of expression, it is incumbent upon us to confront this trend head-on and reaffirm our commitment to protecting the voices of those who dare to speak out, protecting those that seek to engage in our democracy. Politicians like Mike Freer and Nikki Haley should not have to live in fear for simply expressing their beliefs. We must stand in solidarity with them and demand that they be afforded the safety and security they deserve as public servants.
Politicians are the custodians of our national conversation – in turn we must be custodians of them.
