The Global Expression Report 2021: The State of Freedom of Expression around the World

"The most common democratic violation in relation to the pandemic was media restrictions. Populist governments have continued to threaten democracy by attacking the free press."

The Global Expression Report, published annually by ARTICLE 19, is a worldwide data-informed look at freedom of expression. By tracking freedom of expression indicators, the report reflects on not only the rights of journalists and civil society but also on how much space there is for individuals and members of organisations to express and communicate: how free a person is to post online, to march, to research, and to access the information they need to participate in society and hold those with power to account.

Using the Global Expression Report's metric (the GxR Metric), researchers tracked freedom of expression across 161 countries. They used 25 indicators to create an overall freedom of expression score for every country on a scale of 1 to 100, which places countries in an expression category that ranges from: open, less restricted, restricted, highly restricted, or in crisis. In 2021, the research included an exploration of the relationship between GxR and violations of democratic standards over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report begins with a global overview of the major shifts in expression. Expression is covered in its various manifestations: from street protests to social media posts; from the right to information to the right to express political dissent, organise, offend, or make jokes. It also looks at the right to express oneself without fear of harassment, legal repercussions, or violence. The structure of the metric, the range of data, and the big movers at a geographic level are also discussed. In addition, analytical overviews of the trends and events of 2020 are presented, with essays on democracy, disinformation, and protest in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Following the global overview, the report zooms in on the five different regional contexts for expression and, in particular, looks at where progress and downward trends are visible.

The following are some of the global findings and trends highlighted in the report:

• When the pandemic hit, states across the globe responded by presenting a false dichotomy between human rights and public health, shutting down public discussion and scrutiny over key decisions in the name of crisis management.
• Expression was the biggest human rights casualty of the pandemic: Two-thirds of the world's states put restrictions on media; many countries implemented states of emergency that were counter to human rights standards; and the flow of information came under tight control, as many governments took more interest in controlling the narrative around the pandemic than controlling the pandemic itself.
• In 2020, 62 journalists were killed, and a record number (274) were imprisoned. Journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders (HRDs), political activists, and whistleblowers were arrested, detained, and summoned for questioning, often arbitrarily, and prosecuted for criticising governments' responses to COVID-19, expressing views on the pandemic, or sharing information, including in Palestine, Poland, Madagascar, Eswatini, India, Tunisia, Niger, and Cameroon. The biggest jailers were China, Turkey, and Egypt.
• Of 620 violations of press freedom recorded globally in the first 14 months of the pandemic, 34% were physical and verbal attacks on journalists, 34% were arrests of journalists, or charges filed against journalists and media organisations by governments, and 14% were government-imposed restrictions on access to information. Arrests quadrupled from March to May 2020, and harassment and physical attacks rose across the world - from Brazil to Italy, Kenya, Senegal, and Nigeria.
• Whistleblowers were inadequately protected - and, in many cases, even silenced by governments themselves. Most of this violence and harassment happened in a context of total impunity. Most murders of journalists do not even reach the headlines in international media. Even those that do, such as Jamal Khashoggi, Jan Kuciak, and Daphne Caruana Galizia, do not get justice - even though high-level government officials were implicated in their deaths. In the case of Khashoggi, United Nations (UN) investigators faced death threats.
• In 2020, three-quarters of women journalists experienced online abuse and harassment. HRDs are also under attack. At least 331 were killed in 2020, 69% of whom were working on indigenous people's or land rights.

Highlights from Africa:

• No country in the region is rated open; more people are living in the in-crisis and highly restricted categories than have been in the last decade.
• Pandemic management was characterised by security force abuses - particularly against demonstrations and around elections - and attempts to control the narrative, while disinformation laws proliferated, and economic challenges hit independent media across the region.

Highlights from the Americas:

• The regional score is at its lowest in a decade.
• The Americas are plagued by populist autocrats, many of whom poisoned the information environment through denialism and disinformation around the pandemic.
• The murder of journalists and HRDs is a chronic issue in the region; this violence continues with impunity and is often linked to coverage of corruption or activism against extraction or agribusiness projects.

Highlights from Asia and the Pacific:

• The regional score is at its lowest in a decade; 85% of the population lives in countries ranked in crisis or highly restricted - a 39% rise since 2010.
• China's influence in the region is rising; Hong Kong's score took a huge hit in 2021 as China passed laws throttling freedom of expression.

Highlights from Europe and Central Asia:

• 34% of the population lives in in-crisis countries.
• The regional score fell in 2020, having held steady since 2016.
• Autocratisation continues apace in Central Europe, even within the European Union (EU); the populist leaderships of Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia continue to erode checks and balances - and to capture independent media - while other countries are following suit.

Highlights from the Middle East and North Africa:

• The region has the world's lowest regional score by some distance, and it is still falling.
• No country in the region is ranked open, while 72% of the population lives in countries in crisis.
• Due to entrenched authoritarianism in the region, as well as extremely restricted civic space and non-existent independent press in many countries, many scores have not moved in the last 10 years.

ARTICLE 19 Executive Director Quinn McKew offers some thoughts on the way forward, making the point that a critical area to address is "that of meaningful investment and sustained action to centre Expression as a means of strengthening public health, drive rapid action on the climate crisis, and to support economic recovery. We are at a critical juncture. As with addressing climate change and poverty reduction, turning away is not an option. With a renewed global effort to focus on freedom of expression we can - and will - succeed in rebuilding a world where rights are respected, power is in check, and one that is safer, healthier, and more equal for all."