Each year on the 10th of December, Human Rights Day commemorates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its protection of fundamental freedoms, including the right to freedom of expression.
But the day is more than symbolic: it asks us to recognise the threats facing fundamental freedoms and renew our commitment to defending them. As global democratic backsliding deepened throughout 2025, those threats only intensified.
RSFs’ 2025 World Press Freedom Index documents a sharp deterioration in global press freedom: for the first time in the Index’s history, journalism is classified as “difficult” or “very serious” in over half of the 180 assessed countries, with a record 42 in the lowest category and the global score at its worst in 23 years.
Lawfare remains one of the most pervasive threats. Globally, governments and powerful actors continue to turn to abusive prosecutions and SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation) to silence dissent. In many countries, journalists increasingly face arbitrary arrest, prolonged pre-trial detention, and prosecution under vague or overbroad laws – often on “anti-state” or “false news” charges designed to criminalise public-interest reporting. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), as many as 325 journalists are currently imprisoned worldwide – part of a global pattern of using legal systems to suppress independent journalism.
Meanwhile violent attacks against journalists and impunity remain pervasive. At least 125 journalists and media workers have been killed in 2025, over 50 of them Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli military operations. Impunity remains entrenched with 85% of journalist killings go unpunished, according to UNESCO, fuelling further violence in conflict zones and precarious and illiberal democracies.
Against this backdrop, Media Defence’s casework has doubled over the past two years, reflecting the scale of the crisis. On Human Rights Day 2025, Media Defence highlights three urgent cases we are supporting to underscore the diversity of threats facing journalists and the profound impact of legal harassment, criminalisation, and impunity.
Lê Đình Lượng (Vietnam)
A Twenty-Year Sentence for Journalism and Advocacy
The 10th of December is not just Human Rights Day, it is also the birthday of Vietnamese journalist, activist, and political prisoner, Lê Đình Lượng.
This will be his ninth birthday spent behind bars. He was arrested on 24 July 2017 in connection with his reporting on various topics including human rights abuses, environmental disasters and allegations of corruption. He was charged and later convicted to 20 years imprisonment for allegedly carrying out “activities that aim to overthrow the people’s administration”.
He has spent the last six months in solitary confinement amid worsening health conditions – while being routinely denied adequate medical care. He was also held incommunicado for several months, leaving his family entirely in the dark about his wellbeing.
In October this year, Media Defence submitted update letters to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, urging them to intervene on behalf of Lượng. We also urgently call upon Vietnamese authorities to end his solitary confinement, provide adequate medical treatment and release him.
Chutima Sidasathian (Thailand)
Criminal Defamation as a Weapon Against Public-Interest Reporting
One such example is the case of the Thai investigative journalist Chutima Sidasathian, who has dedicated her career to exposing corruption and human rights abuses.
In 2021, after reporting on the misappropriation of public funds in Nakhon Ratchasima province that left poor farmers indebted, she was targeted with five criminal defamation cases, later recognised as SLAPPs by the The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand. Four have since been dismissed, but one case continues. Sidasathian is currently receiving intensive cancer treatment abroad.
Throughout these ordeals, Sidasathian has remained connected to the communities she reports on. She has traced missing relatives for Rohingya families, helped trafficking survivors secure safety, supported rural children’s education, and guided frightened farmers through court procedures.
If convicted in the remaining criminal case, she could face a two-year prison sentence. She has publicly advocated for it to be dismissed on the basis that her reporting was in the public interest and the case lacks merit – and for Thailand to abolish criminal defamation entirely. Sidasathian notes that these laws in Thailand serve to restrict journalists, activists and citizens who stand for their fundamental rights. She emphasises that civil defamation laws can still be used to protect reputational damage, similar to practices in other countries.
Her story exemplifies the human cost of laws weaponised against journalists and underscores her role not only as a journalist but as an advocate for legal reform and press freedom in Thailand.
The remaining charges against Sidasathian should be dismissed and the Thai Government should take meaningful steps to towards decriminalising defamation, in line with international human rights standards. We have supported Sidasathian’s legal defence in the various cases that have been bought against her, underscoring our belief that press freedom and public interest journalism must be protected.
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Samuel Wazizi (Cameroon)
Killed in State Custody – Still No Justice
On Human Rights Day, we also honour the memory of Cameroonian journalist and broadcaster Samuel Abuwe Ajiekha, widely known as Samuel Wazizi, whose death highlighted deep systemic breaches of human rights in the country.
Wazizi was arrested in 2019 in connection with his critical reporting on the Cameroonian government’s handling of the Anglophone Crisis. In 2020, the government confirmed he died in military detention, citing severe sepsis as the cause of death. To date, no autopsy or independent investigation has been carried out, and his body has still not been returned to his family. Photos of his body received by RSF show signs of torture while in detention.
Cameroon, ranked 131 of 180 countries on the RSF Global Press Freedom Index, remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, especially for Anglophone journalists and others reporting on the crisis, who continue to face arbitrary detention, harassment, and violence, often with complete impunity for the perpetrators.
In August 2024, Media Defence filed a complaint to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in Wazizi’s case requesting a full and independent investigation into Wazizi’s death. The government must hold accountable those responsible for his death and ensure that his body is promptly returned to his family.
Honouring their Essential Work
As Human Rights Day invites us to reflect on the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration, it also reminds us that these rights are upheld every day by individuals who choose to speak out, investigate, challenge abuses of power, and defend those whose freedoms are threatened. Their work is essential – and increasingly perilous.
