Columbia World Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the event of an built-in and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and data world wide. It maintains an in depth database of worldwide case regulation. That is its e-newsletter coping with latest developments within the discipline.
This week marks Worldwide Human Rights Day, honoring the 1948 adoption of the Common Declaration of Human Rights. As CGFoE reaffirms that freedom of expression is a cornerstone proper – enabling folks to talk brazenly and problem abuses – we have a good time the work of those that advance it: one hard-won step at a time.
Catalina Martínez Coral, Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean on the Heart for Reproductive Rights, is a human rights defender who builds coalitions. A number one strategist in feminist authorized advocacy, she performed a central position within the strategic litigation earlier than the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), leading to historic wins in Susana v. Nicaragua, Norma v. Ecuador, Lucía v. Nicaragua, and Fátima v. Guatemala.
“Once I realized the tales of Lucía, Susana, Norma, and Fátima, I understood that what they endured was not solely sexual violence, however probably the most excessive consequence of that violence – being compelled to hold a being pregnant, give start, and assume motherhood after they have been nonetheless kids,” Martínez Coral informed Lautaro Furfaro, Senior Authorized Researcher at CGFoE and Professor on the College of Buenos Aires.
Because of the efforts of the They Are Ladies, Not Moms motion, the UNHRC acknowledged – amongst different violations suffered by the women – that denying sexual and reproductive data, together with complete sexuality training and the likelihood to entry protected abortion, violates the best to freedom of expression.
On this interview, Martínez Coral explains that throughout all 4 instances, a lack of knowledge on sexual and reproductive well being was “not an remoted failure, however a structural violation,” stripping the women of the flexibility to make knowledgeable selections about their our bodies and lives. Under is an abridged excerpt. The complete model is obtainable in each English and Spanish.
Catalina Martínez Coral, Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean on the Heart for Reproductive Rights, was just lately acknowledged within the TIME100 Subsequent 2025 record as one of many world’s most influential rising leaders.
Photograph: Courtesy of Catalina Martínez Coral
Lautaro Furfaro: What’s most progressive in regards to the Committee’s interpretation of Article 19 of the Worldwide Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in these instances?
Catalina Martínez Coral: Probably the most progressive facet of the Committee’s interpretation is that complete sexuality training and sexual and reproductive data are stipulations for exercising autonomy and freedom of expression in a full sense. As a way to make selections, a woman wants to grasp what consent is, establish when she is being sexually abused, know the dangers that little one being pregnant poses to her life and well being, and know that there are providers and alternate options out there to her. All of this requires clear, accessible, and evidence-based data. The instances reveal this with overwhelming power: not one of the women had the minimal instruments to grasp what they have been experiencing or to make free and knowledgeable selections about their our bodies. By recognizing this direct hyperlink between data and autonomy, the Committee takes a decisive step towards a deeper and extra protecting interpretation of Article 19.
What motivated you to undertake this complicated, multi-country effort over so a few years?
It was the understanding that the women whose instances we introduced had been compelled into one thing no little one ought to ever expertise: a compelled motherhood. Once I realized the tales of Lucía, Susana, Norma, and Fátima, I understood that what they endured was not solely sexual violence, however probably the most excessive consequence of that violence – being compelled to hold a being pregnant, give start, and assume motherhood after they have been nonetheless kids. For me, that is among the most profound and painful types of dispossession: it takes away their our bodies, their childhood, their well being, and their future. And what’s hardest to just accept is that, most often, the very establishments that have been supposed to guard them have been those that failed them. What sustained my dedication was figuring out that their struggle went far past their particular person tales and spoke for 1000’s of ladies throughout Latin America who proceed to face pregnancies and motherhood imposed by violence, poverty, silence, and States’ indifference. Accompanying them via this course of reaffirmed one thing important for me: reproductive justice is not possible except we begin by recognizing that women have the best to not be compelled into motherhood, and that litigating these instances was a approach to break that cycle and open a unique path for all of them.
Learn the complete interview in English or Spanish.
United Nations Human Rights CommitteeFatima v. GuatemalaDecision Date: July 11, 2025The United Nations Human Rights Committee held that Guatemala violated Fátima’s proper to freedom of expression, particularly her proper of entry to data beneath Article 19 of the Worldwide Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, by failing to offer her with clear, well timed, and evidence-based data on sexual and reproductive well being. The case arose from Fátima’s sexual abuse on the age of 13, which resulted in a compelled being pregnant and motherhood after State authorities failed to tell her about emergency contraception, the opportunity of a lawful therapeutic abortion, adoption, or post-cesarean medical care. The Committee held that this lack of knowledge prevented her from making knowledgeable selections about her physique and her future and straight contributed to her compelled being pregnant and compelled motherhood. Reaffirming that the best of entry to data contains the best to obtain high quality, evidence-based training on sexual and reproductive well being, the Committee concluded that Guatemala’s omissions breached Article 19. As a treatment, the Committee ordered Guatemala to offer full reparation and compensation to Fátima, guarantee psychological help, and undertake structural measures to ensure entry to sexual and reproductive well being data and providers for women and adolescents, notably victims of sexual violence.
MexicoMontes v. PeredoDecision Date: April 25, 2025The Fifteenth Unitary Civil Chamber (Décima Quinta Sala Unitaria Civil) of the Superior Courtroom of Justice of the State of Nuevo León, México, held journalist Ximena Peredo Rodríguez answerable for ethical damages. In response to the Courtroom, she abused her proper to freedom of expression by publishing statements that unlawfully broken Mr. Montes’ honor and repute. The case stemmed from two opinion columns printed within the newspaper “El Norte” in 2018, which referred to nameless allegations of varied types of gender-based violence – together with sexual harassment and abuse of energy in a tutorial atmosphere – posted on a college weblog towards author Felipe de Jesús Montes Espino Barros. The appellate courtroom overturned the first-instance ruling that dismissed the declare, holding that the columns exceeded the bounds of protected worth judgments and amounted to the illegal imputation of unproven felony conduct. The Courtroom held that such accusations required an satisfactory factual foundation and a degree of journalistic diligence, and couldn’t rely solely on allegations printed on an nameless weblog, no matter its public nature. In response to the judgment, the absence of verification, coupled with inflammatory language supposed to trigger hurt, constituted reckless disregard for the reality and violated the author’s proper to honor and presumption of innocence. Consequently, the appellate courtroom awarded Montes Espino Barros compensation for ethical damages, together with psychological remedy prices.
CGFoE extends its due to Ezequiel Curcio, College of Buenos Aires, for his substantial contribution to the drafting of the case evaluation.
Oversight BoardOversight Board Case of Express AI Photographs of Feminine Public FiguresDecision Date: July 25, 2024The Oversight Board discovered that AI-generated nude pictures of feminine public figures violated Meta’s Bullying and Harassment coverage and have been inconsistent with the corporate’s human rights obligations. In a cut up end result, the Board overturned Meta’s resolution to depart up an AI-generated nude picture of an Indian public determine highlighting flaws within the automated appeals system that closed the case with out evaluate. It additionally upheld Meta’s elimination of an identical picture depicting an American public determine. The Board emphasised that such content material causes extreme hurt, notably to girls and women who’re disproportionately focused, and concluded that elimination is the one efficient and proportionate response to guard people’ rights to privateness, dignity, and security. It advisable that Meta make clear and consolidate its insurance policies on manipulated sexual content material, undertake clearer language reflecting the non-consensual nature of this abuse, and enhance reporting mechanisms for victims, particularly these with out public visibility.
Oversight Board Case of Breast Self-ExamDecision Date: December 18, 2023The Oversight Board issued a abstract resolution overturning Meta’s authentic resolution to take away a video on Fb demonstrating easy methods to carry out a breast self-exam, because it fell throughout the health-related exceptions to the Grownup Nudity and Sexual Exercise coverage. The Board highlighted this case for example of an inconsistent enforcement alternative that disproportionately impacted girls’s freedom of expression and their proper to entry well being data. It burdened that eradicating such instructional content material undermined efforts to advertise the early detection of breast most cancers and hindered the flexibility of ladies and women to make knowledgeable selections about their well being.
CGFoE at Columbia’s SIPA: Visitor Lecturer Marija Šajkaš Teaches a Class on Media and Freedom of Expression in Serbia. Final week, CGFoE’s Senior Communications Supervisor Marija Šajkaš was again within the classroom at Columbia College’s College of Worldwide and Public Affairs (SIPA), sharing her skilled insights on Serbia’s unfolding political disaster. Šajkaš joined the graduate class Human Rights within the Western Balkans, taught by SIPA’s Professor Tanya Domi, an affiliate school member of the Harriman Institute. A seasoned press advocate, Šajkaš mentioned freedom of expression and the media, specializing in the present second in Serbia: a time of youth-led nationwide protests – probably the most steady anti-government motion within the nation’s historical past – and escalating repression, with systematic assaults on journalists. Study extra in regards to the dialogue right here. Photograph: Marija Šajkaš’s private archive.
● OAS: Gendered Disinformation – a Risk to Democracy and Safety within the Americas. On December 8, the Inter-American Fee of Ladies (CIM) of the Group of American States (OAS) hosted a high-level occasion, calling for pressing institutional and civic motion to sort out campaigns that search to censor girls’s voices and normalize gender-based violence. Following reflections from audio system, together with UN Particular Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Irene Khan and Particular Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Fee on Human Rights Pedro Vaca, CIM launched Responding to Gendered Disinformation: A Sensible Information, a software to acknowledge the issue and apply strategic counter-steps. To strengthen the resilience of civil society, public establishments, and residents towards gendered disinformation, CIM will quickly introduce a specialised on-line course on the Academic Portal of the Americas. Keep tuned.
● New Examine: 7 in 10 Ladies Human Rights Defenders, Activists, and Journalists Report On-line Violence. A new examine by UN Ladies exhibits that on-line violence towards girls human rights defenders, activists, and journalists is peaking globally. Performed in collaboration with TheNerve, Metropolis St George’s, College of London, the Worldwide Heart for Journalists, and UNESCO, the report attracts on a survey throughout 119 international locations: 70% of ladies respondents reported experiencing on-line violence; 42% flagged real-world hurt linked to on-line abuse. “This information exhibits that within the age of AI-fueled abuse and rising authoritarianism, on-line violence towards girls within the public sphere is growing,” mentioned lead researcher Julie Posetti of TheNerve. “However what’s really disturbing is the proof that girls journalists’ expertise of offline hurt related to on-line violence has greater than doubled since 2020 […].”
● 2025 Spherical-Up: A Lethal 12 months for Journalists. Reporters With out Borders’ annual round-up, launched this week, exhibits, as soon as once more, that probably the most excessive types of censorship towards journalists – by homicide, detention, enforced disappearance, or hostage-taking – don’t simply prevail however develop in numbers. In 2025, 67 journalists have been killed, with nearly half of them by the Israeli military in Gaza; whereas Russia retains focusing on reporters with deadly power in Ukraine, Sudan has change into yet one more exceptionally harmful battle zone for media employees; in Mexico, the place organized crime teams proceed to gun down journalists, 2025 is the deadliest of the previous three years. 503 journalists are behind bars worldwide, with China (121), Russia (48), and Myanmar (47) jailing probably the most. 135 journalists are lacking globally; greater than 1 / 4 of them are nonetheless unaccounted for in Syria. Entry all the information right here.
This part of the e-newsletter options educating supplies targeted on international freedom of expression that are newly uploaded on Freedom of Expression With out Frontiers
The Authorized System Is Being Weaponized to Silence Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based mostly Violence. This report by Index on Censorship addresses a spot in coverage conversations on Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPPs). Regardless of being primarily related to journalism, SLAPPs more and more goal survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. Specializing in the authorized techniques of the UK and Eire, the report reveals a sample: threatening authorized letters, complexities of authorized motion, excessive prices of protection, and hostile courtroom environments – a system that does greater than fail to guard survivors: it assists abusers in silencing them. “A lot was taken from me after I was sexually abused, however I nonetheless had my voice. It felt like in suing me he was taking that ultimate piece,” shared one survivor. “Being sued for defamation felt like the final word type of gaslighting. The impression of those proceedings will observe me for the remainder of my life.”
● Unyielding: Private Essays From Ladies Human Rights Defenders. How does one keep on the grueling work of human rights protection when violence, each on-line and offline, surges in response? This anthology gathers the tales of energy from girls throughout Kenya, Pakistan, Myanmar, Mexico, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Guåhan, Syria, Palestine, Iran, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
● How a Small Group of Ladies Modified the Regulation on Deepfake Porn, by Anna Moore. Reporting for The Guardian, Anna Moore traces the marketing campaign, led by girls specialists and survivors of deepfake abuse, behind the UK’s Knowledge (Use and Entry) Act 2025, which criminalizes the creation of intimate picture abuse with out consent.
● Job Opening: Analysis Officer – Rule of Regulation. Berlin-based Democracy Reporting Worldwide is hiring a full-time Analysis Officer with a powerful experience in EU Regulation and public regulation in EU Member States. Apply right here by December 19.
This text is reproduced with the permission of World Freedom of Expression. For an archive of earlier newsletters, see right here.
