11 Mar 2026 | Asia and Pacific, News, Pakistan
All over the world, International Women Day is celebrated to recognise the achievements and rights of women. But unfortunately, in Pakistan, that recognition means nothing. The reason: on that same International Women’s Day, in Islamabad, the federal capital of Pakistan, 44 women taking part in the annual Aurat March (a non-violent demonstration by women’s rights activists demanding social and economic rights) were detained by the police.
The were held simply because they were planning to celebrate and put on a rally in the capital to recognise the achievements and challenges of women in Pakistan.
The Aurat March activists were picked up by the police under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which was imposed in the federal capital
Pakistan is a deeply patriarchal society where women lag behind in everything, which is why women face discrimination, violence, and sexual harassment on a daily basis. Perhaps unsurprisingly Pakistan was ranked bottom amongst 148 countries such as Sudan, Chad, Iran, and Guinea in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2025, with only 56.7% gender parity. This is even worse than in 2022, when it ranked 145th out of 146 countries, above only Afghanistan.
The Aurat March organisers stated on X that they “were peacefully exercising their right to protest.”
Three women journalists who had gone to cover the protests, including investigative reporter Saddia Mazhar (pictured), were also arrested. Reports suggest the women marchers, before being arrested, were dragged, beaten up, and had their arms twisted by the police.
Shahbana Zafar, the wife of Harris Khaliq, Secretary General of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), and others went to the Women Police and Child Station to meet the arrested marchers and they too were detained
After their release, the Aurat March organisers held a press conference at the National Press Club. They stated that the theme of Aurat March Islamabad was a feminist constitution, among other things.
As a result of the arrests, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s message on International Women’s Day drew strong criticism from female social media users.
His message on X read: “On International Women’s Day, I wish to reiterate my government’s commitment to ensuring a safe, equal and enabling environment for women. The government is taking steps to empower women, protect their rights and provide them opportunities to excel in every field.”
23 Feb 2026 | Europe and Central Asia, News, Statements, United Kingdom
On 23 February, Index coordinated a letter signed by nine media freedom, free expression and journalist organisations to the UK Government, after the BBC Director-General publicly stated that the current funding arrangement for the BBC World Service with the FCDO runs out at the end of March 2026. The letter calls for a future funding arrangement to be confirmed as a matter of urgency to ensure that uncertainty and instability as it relates to the World Service’s funding does not directly hinder its work and impact those across the globe who depend on its public service reporting.
Here is the letter that was sent to the Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper MP:
Letter to Rt. Hon. Yvette Cooper MP, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
23 February 2026
Dear Rt. Hon. Yvette Cooper MP,
We are contacting you as Foreign Secretary to call on the UK Government to ensure the BBC World Service has the funding it needs to maintain its vital work as a public service broadcaster. The undersigned organisations were alarmed by the recent comments made by the BBC Director General that the outlet’s current funding arrangements only extend to the end of March 2026. It is vitally important that FCDO immediately makes the necessary funding available to maintain the World Service’s important work, while also ensuring a sustainable funding model for the outlet’s continued viability to ensure this issue is not repeated in the future.
Speaking at a Global Media Security and Innovation event in February, Tim Davie, the BBC’s Director-General said: “the current funding arrangement with the Foreign Office runs out at the end of March” and that the BBC is “waiting to hear the outcome of the settlement.” This alarming news threatens to hasten the decline of high-quality and accessible international public interest reporting. Following the US Government’s move to defund Voice of America and Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL), while private outlets such as Washington Post have also closed a number of international bureaus, if the World Service were to similarly lose its funding, the public interest information space upon which democracy depends would surely be in significant jeopardy.
Public service broadcasting is one of the most potent tools available to champion democracy and reinforce the international rules-based order. It also helps challenge repressive regimes who seek to control or censor journalistic reporting and hinder the public’s access to information. The World Service’s recently-announced plans to establish an “emergency lifeline radio programme for Iran” to respond to the unprecedented clampdown on civil society and protected speech best demonstrates the outlet’s innovative defence of free expression in the most challenging contexts. This work must be defended not defunded.
We acknowledge the Government’s position that the World Service’s funding is to be decided “through the FCDO allocations process” and that the decision will be made in “good time before the beginning of the 2026-27 financial year.” However, considering the urgency of this situation, we call on the FCDO and all other relevant policy makers to respond in good time to ensure the World Service, as a world leading public service broadcaster, can continue its vital work. Any uncertainty and instability in the World Service’s funding will directly hinder its work and impact those across the globe who depend on its public service reporting.
We are ready to support where we can and await your response.
Kind regards,
Index on Censorship
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
Reporters Without Borders UK (RSF)
Association of European Journalists (AEJ)
Justice for Journalists Foundation (JFJ)
Rory Peck Trust (RPT)
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
PEN International
National Union of Journalists (NUJ)
18 Feb 2026
MUBI and Index on Censorship present IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT. After the screening, join us for a panel discussion exploring the role of cinema in challenging authoritarianism in Iran. Our speakers will examine how film becomes an act of resistance and the harsh realities faced by citizens living under state repression.
Winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes festival, the latest film from Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi (Taxi, No Bears) – his first work following his most recent prison sentence – is both a muscular thriller and an engaging morality tale, following a group of citizens considering revenge against a man they believe was their torturer.
Nominated for two Oscars and five Golden Globes, including Best International Feature Film, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.
About the speakers
Tara Aghdashloo is an award-winning writer, director, multidisciplinary artist and poet born in Iran. Her background spans journalism, political philosophy, and visual arts. She holds a BA in Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University and an MA in Global Media and Postnational Communication from SOAS, University of London. Her essays have been published in London Review of Books, The Guardian, and Financial Times, and her early documentary and broadcast work aired on Channel 4 and the BBC among others.
Malu Halasa is a writer and editor. She is the editor of Woman Life Freedom: Voices and Art from the Women’s Protests in Iran (2023) and has coedited two anthologies on the country’s photography, art and culture, with Maziar Bahari and Hengameh Golestan.
Negin Shiraghaei is a feminist journalist, activist, and community organizer with over two decades of experience in media and international human rights. She is the founder and director of Azadi Network, a grassroots initiative committed to centering and elevating the voices of Iran’s most marginalized through bold storytelling, movement-building, and advocacy. Since the eruption of the Women, Life, Freedom uprising, Negin has been a force in mobilizing transnational solidarity, leveraging media, international policy forums, and grassroots organizing to demand global accountability and amplify the resistance of women and marginalized communities in Iran. Her interventions—from the UN to the streets of London—have helped carve out space for Iranian feminist voices in public discourse and policy debates. Negin’s work continues to focus on protecting civic space, uplifting frontline defenders, and challenging systems of gendered oppression.
Chair: Jemimah Steinfeld is CEO of Index on Censorship. She has lived and worked in both Shanghai and Beijing where she has written on a wide range of topics, with a particular focus on youth culture, gender and censorship. She is the author of the book Little Emperors and Material Girls: Sex and Youth in Modern China, which was described by the FT as “meticulously researched and highly readable”. Jemimah has freelanced for a variety of publications, including The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Vice, CNN, Time Out and the Huffington Post.
18 Feb 2026 | Europe and Central Asia, News, United Kingdom
Each generation has its resentments and irritations with the previous one. The baby boomers rebelled against post-war austerity, and their fury fuelled the student revolutions that swept the world in 1968. In some senses, they were the lucky ones. In the UK, free higher education and cheap housing made the boomers rich and comfortable. My own peers, Generation X, sneered at their smug complacency as we were hit by recession, the Poll Tax and Thatcherism. But some also benefitted from the unleashing of the free market, or rather the housing market. The millennials that followed were the first digital natives. They were hopeful and idealistic, but they were also the first generation to be saddled with crippling student debt.
These generations had little in common, but one thing they rarely felt, in the West at least, was silenced.
At the launch event for our Gen Z edition of Index on Censorship at the University of Essex recently it was striking how many ways the panellists felt their voices had been muffled and contained, if not outright censored. The speakers at the event (Has Gen Z Been Silenced On and Off Campus) could not have been more diverse, but they each felt restrictions on their free expression keenly. Sariah Lake, head of editorial at Essex Student Union’s Rebel Media said while she recognised that in some parts of the world, young people’s voices were being genuinely censored, for her the key issue was the influence of social media. “We are losing focus, we are getting distracted, we are just going to repost things,” she said. “Overcoming distraction, connecting with the real world, connecting with originality is what we can do to maintain freedom of speech.”
Adil Zawahir, an Indian lawyer working on a master’s degree in human rights law, said the situation was different for overseas students. “In the West, and the UK in particular, the curtailment of speech is not due to a fear of repression, it is more because of the fear of social ostracization and the anxiety you may feel after you’ve spoken out.” He added that international students have a double problem. “We share the social anxiety, but in addition to that, every time we think about speaking out, in the back of our minds is our status in this country. It is a temporary status. We are always subject to what the government decides for us.”
For Yelyzabeta Buriak, a journalism student from Ukraine who has written about her experience for the latest edition of Index, her situation as a refugee from a war zone brought with it extra concerns and restrictions. She said she avoided discussing the topic of Ukraine altogether for the first year in this country. “I’ve been carrying a feeling of guilt: for being safe here while my parents and friends are still in Ukraine in a very dangerous area,” she said. “You have this feeling of guilt, and you are always careful with words. You think ten times before saying something.” Sometimes, according to Buriak, the biggest silences are not caused by the law or university policy. “Sometimes it is self-censorship, sometimes it is fear, guilt and online judgement and sometimes its is paperwork and systems.”
An important reminder of the wider international context was provided by Merick Niyongabo, President of the Politics Society at Essex, who celebrated the Gen Z revolutions in Nepal, Bulgaria and Kenya but also pointed to the internet shutdowns being used across the world to silence dissent. “It’s important we raise the voices of those who are not being heard, the voices of those in Iran and Russia, who are going through repression, but not able to publish what they are writing or express their views because of censorship.”
A launch event for the Index on Censorship Gen Z issue was also held at Liverpool John Moores University, where the students mainly discussed a campaign to make LJMU a “Pro-Choice Campus”. A report of the event can be found on the Mersey News Live website, which is run by students at the university.
The event at University of Essex was to launch the Winter 2025 issue of Index on Censorship, Gen Z is revolting: Why the world’s youth will not be silenced, published on 18 December 2025.
