International System of Protection

"Freedom of expression and opinion online is increasingly criminalised with the aid of penal and internet-specific legislation. With this report, we hope to bring to light the problematic trends in the use of laws against freedom of expression in online spaces in Asia. In this special edition of GISWatch, APC brings together analysis on the criminalisation of online expression from six Asian states: Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Thailand. The report also includes an overview of the methodology adapted for the purposes of the country research, as well as an identification of the international standards on online freedom of expression and the regional trends to be found across the six states that are part of the study. This is followed by the country reports, which expound on the state of online freedom of expression in their respective states."

“The Windhoek+30 Declaration was adopted on 03 May 2021 during a conference held to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration and World Press Freedom Day. The conference was held under the theme ‘Information as a Public Good’ from 29 April and ended on 03 May. The Windhoek Declaration was promulgated in 1991 and focused on the role of a free, independent and pluralistic media. The date of the declaration’s adoption, 03 May, was declared World Press Freedom Day. The Windhoek+30 Declaration has called on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other intergovernmental organisations to reinforce cooperation with governments and civil society organisations in order to safeguard and enhance guarantees for the full exercise of the right to information and freedom of expression, both online and offline, with a particular focus on strengthening media freedom, diversity, and independence as well as media viability, transparency of digital platforms, and media and information literacy.”

This briefing paper, published by Amnesty International, outlines why, five years after the imposition of the National Security Law (NSL), renewed global advocacy is urgently needed to bring to justice those responsible for widespread rights violations in Hong Kong. The research examines patterns in arrests and prosecutions under the NSL framework, showing the drastic erosion of the main legal safeguards. The key findings are alarming: 1) in 85% of the analyzed cases, legitimate expression was on trial; 2) in 89% of national security cases, the courts denied bail; and 3) the length of pre-trial detention averaged 11 months. “[T]he authorities are deploying vague and overly broad legal provisions to target opposition voices and dismantle civil society,” the briefing concluded.