ARTICLE 19

Discussions on preventing the abuse of surveillance technologies against activists and journalists, addressing violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people, defending freedom of assembly and association online, and ensuring accountability for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, are high on the agenda of the UN HRC 41st session in Geneva.

Lack of progress on reform commitments undermines fundamental freedoms and democracy a year after the victory of the Pakatan Harapan coalition.

All language versions of the Wikipedia website have been banned since April 2017. The Turkish authorities say they imposed the ban after Wikipedia refused to remove an article alleging Turkish government support for terrorist groups in Syria.

The bill creates a system that gives the authorities the capacity to extra-judicially block access to parts of the Internet in Russia; the public would not know what has been blocked and why.

Not only are these women activists facing prosecution without due process, they’ve also subjected them to severe torture, including by sexual violence and electrocution.

Jolovan Wham was sentenced to 16 days in prison for organizing a Skype talk with a Hong Kong youth activist.

Discussions around preventing the abuse of counter-terrorism laws, protecting the safety of journalists, and combatting religious intolerance, must be focused on bringing practical national-level changes to protect civil society space and dissent, while routine human rights violators must be brought to account.

Forty-seven MEPs and 14 press freedom groups joined a resolution underscoring the lack of effective domestic legal remedies for journalists targeted in Turkey’s media crackdown.