Unhealthy Silence: Censorship of COVID-19 Reporting and Scrutiny

AUTHOR
ARTICLE 19, Coalition for Human Rights in Development and IFEX
YEAR
2021
ANNOTATION

To commemorate the World Press Freedom Day, ARTICLE 19, Coalition for Human Rights in Development and IFEX relaunched their joint report that examined threats against and censorship of journalists and health workers who reported on or criticized responses to the COVID-19 pandemic  – whether by governments, public development banks or other institutions.

The report, originally published on July 27, 2021, highlights the vicious retaliation against people who raised questions about the responses to the pandemic and exposes how development banks failed to take actions to prevent and address reprisals linked to the COVID-19 projects they supported.

Since the pandemic, doctors, nurses, journalists and other frontline workers have courageously criticized or scrutinized the inadequate responses to COVID-19. Many of them have been threatened, attacked, or arrested for doing so.

Most of the perpetrators of retaliation have primarily been governments and their proxies. These violations have taken place amidst the complete silence and inaction of development banks playing a crucial role in shaping and funding those COVID-19 responses that journalists and defenders are reporting.

OPEN ACCESS
On
LANGUAGE
English
RESOURCE TYPE
MEDIA TYPE
SUGGESTED CITATION

ARTICLE 19, Coalition for Human Rights in Development and IFEX, Unhealthy Silence: Censorship of COVID-19 reporting and scrutiny. July 27, 2021. https://rightsindevelopment.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Unhealthy-silence_full-report.pdf