International Women’s Day: Digital Rights Advocate Gladys Mbuyah
Gladys Mbuyah is a barrister and renowned human rights activist working in Cameroon. She has been part of Media Defence’s network for several years, having attended our digital rights litigation surgeries. She is currently part of our peer support programme for women lawyers in sub-Saharan Africa. President of the Cameroon Bar Association Social Affairs Commission, […]
Digital Rights Advocates: Interview with Zambian Lawyer Michelle Mwiinga
Welcome to the Digital Rights Advocates Blog Series, where we hear from lawyers litigating digital rights in sub-Saharan Africa. Digital rights have become indispensable for people around the world to exercise and enjoy their fundamental rights. Independent media is increasingly moving online – from established newspapers and television channels to bloggers and human rights activists […]
Partners: How Human Rights Platform Has Used Strategic Litigation to Defend Press Freedom in Ukraine
Since 2017, Media Defence has worked in partnership with the Human Rights Platform (HRP), to provide legal defence to journalists and independent media in Ukraine and conduct strategic litigation on press freedom and freedom of expression. During the grant period, threats and attacks against journalists in Ukraine remained high. In particular, HRP noted an increase […]
Partners: Hanifi Baris of TOHAV on Defending Press Freedom in Turkey
Welcome to the latest instalment of our ‘Partners’ blog series. In this series, we interview some of our partners from around the world about their crucial and fascinating work in freedom of expression. This time, our Legal and Grants Officer Emmanuel Vargas spoke to lawyer Hanifi Baris of TOHAV (Toplum ve Hukuk Araştırmaları Vakfı/Foundation for […]
Digital Rights Advocates: Interview with Rwandan lawyer Louis Gitinywa
Welcome to the Digital Rights Advocates Blog Series, where we hear from lawyers litigating digital rights in sub-Saharan Africa. Digital rights have become indispensable for people around the world to exercise and enjoy their fundamental rights. Independent media is increasingly moving online – from established newspapers and television channels to bloggers and human rights activists […]
Digital Rights Advocates: Interview with Kenyan Lawyer Mercy Mutemi
Welcome to the Digital Rights Advocates blog series, where we hear from lawyers litigating digital rights in sub-Saharan Africa. Digital rights have become indispensable for people around the world to exercise and enjoy their fundamental rights. Independent media is increasingly moving online – from established newspapers and television channels to bloggers and human rights activists […]
Partners: Interview With an Anonymous Azerbaijani Lawyer
Welcome to the second instalment of our ‘Partners’ blog series. In this series, we interview some of our partners from around the world about their crucial and fascinating work in freedom of expression. In Azerbaijan, there has been an ongoing crackdown against media freedom for many years. The constant harassment, intimidation and legal prosecution of […]
Digital Rights Advocates: Interview with Tonny Kirabira
Tonny Kirabira is a Ugandan lawyer and researcher who attended Media Defence’s 2018 East Africa Litigation Surgery as part of our Digital Rights Advocates Project. This project is funded by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the US State Department and aims to build the capacity of lawyers in Sub-Saharan Africa to […]
Training Kenyan lawyers on online freedom of speech
BAKE, the Bloggers Association of Kenya, ran litigation workshops in Kenya to defend bloggers and other online media. The workshops were run for lawyers, in partnership with Media Defence and aimed to support the development and understanding of the right to freedom of expression and digital rights. The workshops equipped lawyers with the skills and knowledge they […]
Engaging advocates to advance press freedom standards in the Gambia
MLDI’s training and capacity building programme aims to train lawyers on international standards on freedom of expression; the legal defence of journalists, bloggers and media outlets; and how to engage with international and regional mechanisms to secure justice. As part of this programme, we carried out a three-day litigation surgery in the Gambia in November […]
Paving the Way Towards Justice for Sudanese Journalists: How One Lawyer Is Taking on the State Utilizing the African Regional Systems
From the time she was studying for her law degree at the University of Pretoria, Cynthia knew she wanted to make a difference in people’s lives by utilising the law and the African regional systems to promote human rights across the continent. She began her career at the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative in 2013, […]