ISLP has partnered with Media Institute of Southern Africa – Mozambique (MISA Mozambique) chapter to launch a series of initiatives to support freedom of expression through digital and human rights. Media freedom is of significant concern in Mozambique; the country was ranked 116 out of 180 countries in the Freedom of the Press and Expression Ranking published by Reporters Without Borders International in 2022. Between 2019 and 2020, MISA-Mozambique registered six cases of journalists and newspapers facing lawsuits apparently aimed at silencing public criticism. As Mozambique considers new legislation punishing “cybercrimes,” there is concern that analog prosecutions could increase exponentially under a new cybercrime law and this would have the effect of imperiling freedom of expression.
It is within this context that, with funding from UNESCO’s Global Media Defense Fund, ISLP partnered with MISA-Mozambique to present a training session for local media lawyers to support local capacity for defending journalists. The session was the first in a series of three workshops aimed at improving participants’ understanding of both local and international frameworks and arguments for defending human rights where online communications are concerned. Discussants also addressed questions about gender-based discrimination and other issues facing women journalists and media professionals in conducting their work. ISLP volunteer Kay Murray of Baron Harris Healy held a live interview with her client, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Sally Keaton, who spoke from personal experience about navigating practical hurdles in her investigative work. ISLP’s Media Law Working Group chair Richard Winfield also outlined international human rights law arguments used in ISLP amicus curiae briefs that have proven persuasive, and urged local lawyers to consider incorporating such interventions in cases involving defense of freedom of expression.
Additionally, earlier this month, in collaboration with MISA Mozambique and with funding support from the Fund for Global Human Rights, ISLP held a capacity-building session for civil society organizations on cybersecurity and data protection legislation for Mozambique. The session’s focus was the threat to human rights that newly enacted and proposed cybersecurity and data protection laws have had in neighboring countries. Speakers highlighted the fact that certain governments around the world have rushed the adoption of such laws without adequate consultation with civil society, and these laws have now been used to silence government critics and violate the right to freedom of expression. Speakers cited concerning examples of cybercrime laws on the books in Uganda, Lesotho, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. MISA, with the assistance of ISLP, is currently leading a coalition of civil society organizations that are working with the Mozambican government to develop a local legal framework for cybersecurity and data protection. The webinar, which was developed specifically for civil society actors, brought together media law experts from different African countries and the US – including ISLP’s Media Law Working Group chair Richard Winfield and volunteer Greg Gonzalez of Wilkinson Barker Knauer – to share practical considerations of data protection and freedom of expression in the context of cybersecurity laws.
The session was reported on by VOA Africa and is available here. The ISLP segment begins at the 16:30 minute mark.