Media Defence files application to ECOWAS Court against Guinea following government-ordered internet shutdowns
Media Defence has filed an application to the ECOWAS Court on behalf of four applicants after Guinea cut internet access across the country in March 2020, and again in October 2020. The shutdowns were imposed at critical moments in Guinea’s democracy. In March 2020 millions went to the polls to vote in a constitutional referendum to determine whether President Alpha Conde would be entitled to stand for a third term as president. In October 2020 the presidential election was held.
The constitutional referendum, and the presidential election that followed it, were highly contentious. Protests took place across the country in the lead up to each vote. In response, the government restricted access to the internet. During the March 2020 shutdown social media was inaccessible for four days. In October 2020, the internet was shut down for one week, while Facebook was inaccessible until December 2020.
As a consequence, the applicants – all NGOs who do public interest work – were unable to report on what was happening as voting took place. Citizens who would ordinarily share information via their social media platforms using hashtags such as #Guineevote were unable to do so. Information about how to participate in the vote, about ongoing protests, could not be shared.
Our application
Our application argues that, by shutting down the internet on two separate occasions, Guinea breached the applicants’ rights to freedom of expression. It also argues that a complete and indiscriminate shutdown across an entire country has a profound chilling effect and is clearly arbitrary and disproportionate.
Further, our application contends that the interference extends beyond the individual applicants in this case: both shutdowns interfered with the free expression rights of all people in Guinea, as well as those outside of it, including international journalists.
Media Defence is working with Nigerian lawyer Mojirayo Ogunlana Nkanga.
If you are a journalist or citizen journalist in need of support, please click here.
Thank you to NetBlocks for the accompanying image.
Recent News
UN Working Group finds Viet Nam is Unlawfully Detaining Journalist Nguyễn Lân Thắng
In an Opinion published in late 2024, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) held that the detention of independent journalist Nguyễn Lân Thắng is arbitrary and in contravention of his rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Media Defence represented […]
Stronger Together: Working with Funded Partners in 2024
Established in 2009 our Funded Partner programme supports local legal centres worldwide that focus on the defence of journalists.
Press Freedom Is at Risk — Help Us Defend Journalists
When journalism is silenced, power goes unchecked — and people suffer, especially those already marginalised. That’s why Media Defence exists: to protect journalists facing legal threats, so they can keep reporting the truth without fear of retaliation. Since 2008, we’ve supported over 2,000 journalists and independent outlets around the world. But the legal landscape has […]