Four key stories from the year that ended, and notes on what’s ahead
From war in Ukraine to European anti-SLAPP advocacy, from crackdowns in Belarus to dangerous laws in Turkey, IFEX’s Regional Editor Cathal Sheerin looks into key issues in 2022 and what to look out for in 2023.
At times horrific, at other times hopeful, 2022 was an eventful year for human rights in Europe and Central Asia.
Ukraine and Russia: War
Few will disagree that the region’s most significant event in terms of its impact on civil society, human rights and freedom of expression was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
According to UN figures from December, the war has so far resulted in the deaths of over 6,800 civilians and the wounding of another (almost) 10,800; the current total for refugees created by the conflict has surpassed 7.8 million.
As the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded in September, Russia’s forces have also committed war crimes, including: rape and sexual abuse, arbitrary detention, deportation of children to penal camps and Russian territory, torture and extrajudicial executions.
During 2022, our Ukrainian colleagues at the Institute of Mass Information (IMI) produced monthly reports on the great cost to Ukrainian journalism of Russia’s invasion. Their final report for 2022 recorded 467 attacks carried out by Russian forces on journalists and the media in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. These attacks include killings, woundings, kidnappings, death threats, the shelling of TV towers and the forced closure of 216 media outlets. IMI was itself the target of a number of cyber attacks; the organisation believes that this was in retaliation for “exposing Russian war crimes”.
Particularly impressive was the number of IFEX member initiatives launched during the year to assist Ukrainian journalists and other media working inside Ukraine. These activities include the provision of safety and reporting equipment, relocation assistance, fundraisers and more: full details can be found here.
While attacking Ukraine, the Russian government also launched an unprecedented attack on free expression, human rights and civil society at home. In an effort to crush dissent over the war, the authorities blocked or banned several independent domestic and international media outlets. Various social media platforms were also blocked. Over 150 international and Russian journalists were forced to flee the country. Tens of thousands of anti-war protesters were arrested, some of them tortured. A new law was passed to criminalise spreading ‘false information’ about — or ‘undermining’ — the Russian army. This law was described by UN experts as an attempt to impose a “total information” blackout on the war, and as giving the official seal of approval to disinformation. Several individuals, including journalists and opposition politicians, were charged and/or jailed under the new law.
During this period, Russia also expanded its already vast ‘foreign agent’ legislation which the authorities have been using to undermine and harass civil society groups since 2012. According to analysis by Human Rights Watch, the definition of ‘foreign agent’ is now so broad that it includes any person or entity that “engages in civic activism or even expresses opinions about Russian policies or officials’ conduct… so long as the authorities claim they are under foreign influence”.
Looking ahead
There is no immediate end in sight to Russia’s war on Ukraine. Opposition voices and civil society groups in Russia are likely to experience a ramping up of pressure on them via the recently-passed ‘foreign agent’ legislation and the law against spreading ‘false information’ about the army.
LGBTQI+ civic space will also be increasingly restricted after Putin signed a law expanding the ban on so-called ‘gay propaganda’ in early December. As HRW explains, this legislation outlaws virtually all LGBTQI+ expression.
Belarus: Suppressing civic space and media freedom
The impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine was also felt by civil society in neighbouring Belarus, where anti-war protesters were arrested and imprisoned, often solely for comments on social media that criticised Putin and the war.
President Lukashenka continued his crackdown on critical and opposition voices throughout the year.
In its annual overview, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) described 2022 as another “devastating year for media freedom”. The second half of 2022 saw draconian prison sentences handed down to several journalists; by the end of the year there were over 30 journalists behind bars (either convicted or in pre-trial detention). On 31 December, there were 1,448 political prisoners in Belarus.
The year also witnessed some disturbing legislative changes. May saw the widening of the application of the death penalty to include ‘attempted terrorism’. Rights advocates condemned the move, pointing to the vagueness of the Belarusian authorities’ definition of ‘terrorism’ and the frequency with which they have used “ terrorism-related charges to prosecute political dissent”. As Amnesty International said, “opponents of the government now face the prospect of being shot if they dare to speak out”.
In December, lawmakers passed a bill that could, when signed into law by Lukashenka, be used to target Belarusian critics living abroad by stripping them of their citizenship.
The year also saw the work of human rights and press freedom advocates recognised: jailed human rights defender, Ales Bialiatski, won the Nobel Peace Prize; and IFEX member BAJ was awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.
Looking ahead
The trial of Ales Bialiatski and two Viasna colleagues is set to begin on 5 January 2023. Arrested in July 2021 as part of President Lukashenka’s “ purge “ of civil society, they are charged with “smuggling” cash and “financing group actions grossly violating the public order”; they face up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
In October 2022, Belarus withdrew from the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, meaning that individual victims of human rights violations in Belarus, who have been denied justice domestically, will no longer be able to bring their complaints to the UN Human Rights Committee. This decision comes into effect on 8 February 2023.
In late December, the state news agency published an article suggesting that Belarus could introduce anti-’gay propaganda’ legislation, similar to Russia’s. The article quoted the Chair of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly, Natalya Kochanova, who is supportive of such a law, and who ran Lukashenka’s election campaign in 2020.
EU: Progress against SLAPPs
In recent years there has been a growing determination in Europe to tackle the threat to free expression posed by Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). These are abusive lawsuits (most often defamation claims) filed by the rich and powerful to silence investigative journalist and activists. There have been several hundred such suits in Europe in recent years.
Free expression groups — including IFEX members — have been involved in the push for anti-SLAPP legislation for several years.
In 2022, the European anti-SLAPP movement made significant progress.
In April it saw the European Commission propose an Anti-SLAPP directive and a recommendation to member states.
In October, the CASE Coalition against SLAPPs and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom hosted a historic, first ever anti-SLAPP conference in Europe. Following the event, the CASE Coalition issued an anti-SLAPP call to action, urging governments across Europe to take immediate legislative and practical action to protect journalists and other public watchdogs from the growing threat of these abusive lawsuits. A full list of recommendations to the EU, Council of Europe member states and international bodies can be viewed here.
The year also saw anti-SLAPP efforts taking place outside the EU. In November, the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition presented a model anti-SLAPP law to the UK Secretary of State for Justice. The model law outlines how best the UK Government can make good on its commitment (made in July) to reform the law to introduce robust anti-SLAPP measures.
Looking ahead
The European Commission’s Anti-SLAPP directive will have to be negotiated and adopted by the European Parliament and the Council before it can become EU law.
The Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on SLAPPs has been tasked with drafting a recommendation on SLAPPs by the end of 2023. CASE Coalition members have been calling for this for some time, saying that the recommendation “should be issued with clear guidance on measures needed to discourage SLAPPs and dismiss them at an early stage, to sanction those who use SLAPPs or threaten to do so, and to provide financial and legal support to those targeted by SLAPPs. It should also give guidance on how to prevent the use of forum shopping, whereby cases are brought in jurisdictions that maximise the cost and inconvenience for the defendant”.
Turkey: A dangerous ‘Disinformation’ law and anti-LGBTQI+ actions
Amidst the seemingly never-ending harassment and prosecution of journalists and civil society activists in Turkey, there were two particularly disturbing developments in 2022 that are likely to have long-term implications for freedom of expression and human rights more generally.
The first of these was the adoption in October of the so-called ‘disinformation law’ (frequently dubbed the ‘censorship law’). This legislation, which consists of 40 articles amending several laws, makes “disseminating false information” online a criminal offence with punishments of up to three years in prison. Rights groups have pointed to how the vagueness of the definition of “false information” could be abused by Turkey’s heavily-politicised judicial system, and also to how it is likely to encourage a greater degree of self-censorship among citizens and journalists alike. In December, journalist Sinan Aygül became the first person to be arrested under the new law.
The second development was the uptick in government-sponsored homophobia. Against a backdrop of anti-LGBTQI+ rallies supported by elected officials and homophobic comments made in public by President Erdoğan, the ruling party proposed an amendment to Article 41 of the Constitution to bring the definition of the family more into line with ‘traditional values’.
Bianet reports that the proposed amendment will delete from Article 41 the phrase “The family is the foundation of Turkish society and based on equality between spouses” and replace it with “the family is constructed by a man and a woman”. One lawyer told Bianet that the amendment represented the government “showing its teeth” to LGBTQI+ people and that the goal was really to stoke up homophobic hatred.
ILGA-Europe’s 2022 report on the situation for LGBTQI+ people in Europe shows that Turkey is already the second worst country in the region for LGBTQI+ rights.
Looking ahead
Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for June 2023, when it is expected that a referendum will also be held on amending Article 41. It is highly likely that the hostile rhetoric directed at LGBTQI+ people — a group described as “ cultural terrorism “ in November by the Interior Minister — will increase as voting day approaches.
Similarly, Kurdish journalists and artists could find themselves disproportionately targeted by the authorities in the coming months, continuing 2022’s trend of mass arrests of reporters from Kurdish media outlets and the banning of music concerts by Kurdish performers.
It remains to be seen what impact 2022’s ‘disinformation’ law will have on self-censorship in Turkey, but it is reasonable to fear that it will be used against critics of the government as the country heads towards the elections, presenting a serious challenge for access to accurate information.
Originally published at https://ifex.org on January 4, 2023.
