The Law Commission will review how sex and gender characteristics are treated within existing hate crime laws and whether new offences are needed.
Governments should not be policing thought
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CATEGORY: Europe and Central Asia
Academic’s indictment reflects the Turkish government’s criminalisation of free speech
Despite the lifting of the state of emergency in July, arbitrary arrests and human rights violations continue.
A permanent state of emergency by any name is no substitute for respecting human rights
Index on Censorship joins call for Turkey’s government to end the state of emergency by withdrawing recently passed legislation that replicates many of the state of emergency’s special provisions
Far right steps up anti-media campaign ahead of Swedish election
Sweden baked in record temperatures this summer, matched only by the increasingly heated political climate as it gears up for an unprecedentedly bitter and divisive general election
Illiberal democracies: Awash in media without plurality
Visitors to Eurasian countries — Turkey, Russia, Ukraine or, to a lesser extent, Azerbaijan — might be impressed by the sheer number of domestic television channels that offer news programming. But all the coverage doesn’t translate into media plurality.
50 years after Theatres Act, censorship has evolved
Marking the 50th anniversary of the end of 300 years of theatre censorship, the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new exhibition explores how restrictions on expression have changed.
Nurcan Baysal: In colonised Kurdish society even the flowers can be labelled terrorists
When Turkish forces attacked Kurdish villages in the southeast of the country in 2016 after the collapse of a ceasefire between Ankara and the Kurdish Workers’ Party in July 2015, journalist Nurcan Baysal was there to document the human rights violations.
Hungary’s deteriorating press and media freedom
The undersigned media freedom organisations are writing to draw your attention to the deteriorating situation of press and media freedom in Hungary, in particular the recent case of Hir TV
Journalism in Exile: “Turkey had turned into hell for journalism”
It’s 2016. Turkey is in a state of emergency after the failed coup d’etat of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government. Journalists like Yavuz Baydar are going to be more at risk than ever before.
ENO youth company combats censorship with operatic expression
A group of teens shuffle onto a stage. It could be any summer programme, but when professional opera singer Abigail Kelly leads them in a song on political dissent and dictatorship, it’s clear that they’ve come together to create something novel, provocative and, above all, youth-led.
Germany: Journalists facing conflict with emergency responders over filming
When journalist Marvin Oppong began photographing the scene of an accident involving a police car and a taxi, he was just doing his job. But before long Oppong ended up being violently detained by police and stripped of his camera’s memory card.
After three decades of relative freedom, Lithuania’s media is is being reined in
While initiatives by the country’s ruling coalition haven’t seen the press attacked on the same levels as neighbouring Poland, the government’s resolve seems clear: the media must be more controlled
