Joint Statements

For the second time this year, Chadian authorities have disrupted internet services in the country leaving internet users with no access to social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp.

Over 500 Ecuadorean journalists and rights organizations have signed a letter calling for the governments of Colombia and Ecuador to take immediate action to protect a team of journalists abducted by militants on their mutual border.

Nearly 100 rights groups asked the Council of Europe to engage civil society in their negotiation of a second cybercrime convention protocol, which is aimed at setting the terms for data access by law enforcement to servers outside their geographic authority.

The Court found that the journalists’ rights to liberty, security and free expression had been violated and that the two men should be released.

While Kyrgyzstan has generally been a rare positive example in a region where autocracy has been the rule, recent developments threaten to send the country down a similarly repressive path.

In a joint open letter to Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, organisations urge EC officials to ensure that police investigations are full, thorough and independent in Slovakia and Malta.

Threats, harassment and assaults against media outlets and journalists continue to intensify under the Maduro administration

48 NGOs and professional groups say the draft law restricts freedom of expression and independent broadcasting.

An already adverse environment for journalists in the Midwestern United States has worsened in the year since President Trump’s inauguration, an international group of media watchdogs concluded after traveling to the state of Missouri. The group also met with journalists from Illinois and Wisconsin.

The membership of the African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX) and other African internet governance stakeholders attending the Sixth African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF), have called for the prioritisation of digital rights of all citizens across the continent.

On 31 December 2017, security forces shot and killed at least seven protesters while several others were arrested during anti-government demonstrations in Kinshasa. The Congolese government also ordered a nationwide internet shutdown and disruption of SMS services a day before the protests.