Freedom of expression is the bedrock of a thriving civil society. It allows people to formulate and exchange ideas, encourages transparency and accountability, and facilitates the promotion of human rights and civic space.
ICNL collaborates with its network of partners to strengthen freedom of expression throughout the world. Our current work focuses on threats to freedom of expression in digital spaces, including issues such as artificial intelligence, disinformation, and more. We also emphasize digital privacy issues, including data protection and surveillance, to ensure that people can fully exercise their expression rights without government or third-party surveillance.
This short piece examines how GhatGPT and similar tools might affect civic space and democracy in the coming years – both by creating new issues and exacerbating existing problems.
This piece examines key trends in regulation the digital sphere in Asia and the Pacific, including criminalization and censorship of online expression, surveillance, data protection, internet access, and AI governance. It provides examples of existing and pending digital laws in 17 countries.
Myanmar has seen a broad suppression of expression rights since the military’s coup d’état in 2021. ICNL and its partners have tracked both the general impacts of the crackdown and the campaign to silence Myanmar’s media. We also maintain a webpage that tracks journalist detentions.
This report analyzes privacy and data protection regulations in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and elsewhere. An accompanying interactive map highlights key findings.
This handbook provides an overview of the Cyber Security Act 2023, examining key provisions and how they could be applied to hinder expression rights in practice.
The UN Special Rapporteur makes recommendations on how to promote and protect freedom of expression. Work methods include visiting UN member states, gathering information on rights violations, issuing public statements, and publishing reports. Opinions of the Special Rapporteur are considered persuasive interpretations of existing international human rights law.
• UN Global Digital Compact: a comprehensive framework for digital cooperation and governance of artificial intelligence. See also ICNL’s submission to the consultative process for creating the Compact.
Are you interested in sharpening your ability to effectively advocate for digital rights? Take our free online course, produced in partnership with Advocacy Assembly. It features a mix of video, text, and interactive quizzes, and takes about one hour to complete.
The UN Human Rights Committee’s General Comment No. 34 provides comprehensive guidance on the rights to freedom of opinion and expression under Article 19 of the ICCPR.
Explore our full resource collection, which includes reports, legal analysis, and curated collections of materials covering an array of issues impacting civic space around the world.
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