When the Global Freedom of Expression (GFoE) initiative was launched in 2014, the leading concerns facing freedom of expression were violence against journalists, arbitrary imprisonment, government surveillance, and censorship. These challenges have been magnified by new series of complex issues in the contemporary world, such as cyberbullying, Internet blockages and restrictions, spyware threats to journalists, and disinformation campaigns – all these issues are occurring against the backdrop of growing authoritarian tendencies throughout the world. Given this context, GFoE’s efforts to defend freedom of expression at the global level have greatly intensified.

Our main initiative is the Global Case Law Database, which is a key open access resource for a broad audience of stakeholders working on freedom of expression. It is supported by a network of international experts. It surveys jurisprudence around the world, critically reviews exemplary cases, engages in comparative analysis, and aims to identify national, regional and global trends. Updated weekly, it hosts analyses of more than 1,700 cases from over 130 countries. To reach as many regions as possible, we also have emblematic cases available in Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, and Portuguese.

To show how the database works, we developed videos in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, and Portuguese to help viewers understand the filters, thematic issue areas, and search functionality of the database. The videos include a sample case analysis on our website, highlighting its key features and showing users where they can find a case’s summary, facts, applicable law, arguments, and more. Each case analysis also summarizes the legal reasoning that the courts followed in order to help users better understand how freedom of expression norms are adjudicated in national or international tribunals. Finally, each video features a high-profile member of the judiciary or expert on freedom of expression, where they discuss how the database is an important tool that will help users improve their understanding of legal developments globally.

These videos were made possible thanks to support from UNESCO.

 

 

 

English

Featured Speaker: Honorable Lady Justice Stella Anukam, African Court on Human & Peoples’ Rights

Spanish

Featured Speaker: Daniela Salazar Marín, Judge & Vice President of the Constitutional Court of Ecuador

Portuguese

Featured Speaker: Minister Og Fernandes, Superior Court of Justice of Brazil

French

Featured Speaker: Jean Aloise Ndiaye, Director of Cabinet of the First President, Supreme Court of Senegal

Russian

Featured Speaker: Andrei Richter, Professor, Comenius University in Bratislava and former director of the Office of the OSCE Rep on Freedom of the Media

Arabic

Featured Speaker: Hicham Kantar, Judge, Lebanese Judiciary