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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
“The training has advanced our knowledge in an area that is lacking in East Africa at a time when these issues are most acute”
In 2016 MLDI delivered its second East African Litigation Surgery (EALS) in Kampala, Uganda between the 8 -11 August 2016. The EALS was a training project which aimed to enhance the knowledge and skills of lawyers in East Africa, enabling them to provide legal defence to journalists, bloggers and media outlets. This was to enable […]
Latin America Fellowship Programme
MLDI recently hosted Colombian lawyer Emmanuel Vargas, as its first Latin America Fellow. MLDI is piloting a fellowship project with human rights lawyers from Latin American to help it develop its relationships and reach in the region. Emmanuel is advisor to the Executive Director at one of MLDI’s funded partners, Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP), […]
“It has definitely become more popular to sue journalists”
Linda Birina is currently Head of Intellectual Property and IT Practise at Attorneys at Law Borenius in Riga. But Linda never had a big ambition to become a lawyer. She toyed with journalism and economics as career choices before settling down to study law at the University of Latvia, Riga. It was the right decision. “Since then I have […]
Latvia case: an encouragement for investigative journalism
Irina Kostina admits that her younger self wasn’t exactly sure what being a lawyer involved when she was deciding on her career path – but she knew law would be fascinating. After a decade in practise, Irina is thoroughly satisfied with her chosen career. “In the last few years I’ve started to feel real enjoyment […]
“Super Lawyer” Rob Balin
Besides his law practice, in which he represents news organisations and journalists in all aspects of media legislation, Rob teaches media law at Columbia University Law School. He has also provided media law training to lawyers in Thailand and Malaysia and journalism students in China, and has lectured and written widely on media law issues. […]
Pro bono spotlight on: John Jones
“It was pitiful to see the state of the defendants. They were in prison smocks, handcuffed with their heads shaved. It was a terrible way to treat any criminal accused, never mind journalists whose only wrong was to have expressed their opinions.” Why do you get involved in pro bono work? It is a […]