Global Courant
The freedom to express oneself freely, without fear of government reprisals, is a fundamental pillar of free and open societies. Without press freedom there can be no democracy.
In autocratic regimes, expressing oneself freely has consequences that put one’s life at risk. Thus, the effort that autocrats put into censoring, co-opting, limiting, or even closing media outlets, persecutes journalists.
The importance of freedom of expression has been recognized in numerous international instruments: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) establishes in its article 19.2 that “(everyone) has the right to freedom of expression; This right includes the freedom to seek, receive and disseminate information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of borders, whether orally, in writing or in printed or artistic form, or by any other means of their choice”.
When the freedom of expression of a person is arbitrarily limited, -as established by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights- “it is not only the right of that individual that is being violated, but also the right of all to ” receive” information and ideas, from which it follows that the right protected by article 13 has a special scope and character.
Thus, the two dimensions of freedom of expression are revealed. Indeed, this requires, on the one hand, that no one be arbitrarily undermined or prevented from expressing their own thought and represents, therefore, a right of each individual.
But it also implies, on the other hand, a collective right to receive any information and to know the expression of other people’s thoughts”.
The latest Reporters Without Borders report points out that authoritarian governments use the pretext of polarization, stability and national security to justify all kinds of abuses against the press. In Cuba (172nd), the new Penal Code -approved in 2022- allows the government to continue intimidating and legally persecuting journalists critical of the regime, using vague terminology (“public disturbances”, “outrage”, “danger to public order”). constitutional”…) that can easily serve as a pretext to persecute journalists.
On May 26, the National Assembly of the People’s Power of Cuba approved by show of hands the first law that regulates communication and information on the Internet, known as the “Social Communication Law.”
Article 28 of this text indicates that the media are “socialist property of all the people or of the political, social and mass organizations, and cannot be the object of any other type of property”.
In his speech before the Assembly, President Miguel Díaz-Canel justified the need for this new law as a measure to prevent “subversion”, and described the independent media as “mercenaries in the pay of foreign interests.”
This is a new state censorship tool towards those who contradict the official narrative. One more attempt, from a very long list, to silence dissent. A similar measure was taken by the Erdogan government in Turkey in 2020, legal yes, arbitrary and illegitimate too.
Those of us who live in a democracy have the obligation to raise our voices for those who cannot, for those who are silenced: information is our best weapon against the advance of authoritarianism, because we know that when all tools fail, the last valve of restraint against autocracies is the press.
Constanza Mazzina is a political scientist. She has a PhD in Political Science; Master in Economics and Political Science from ESEADE
