Amnesty warns of crackdown on free speech during pandemic
October 19, 2021
Amnesty said that many governments had used the pandemic as an opportunity to further restrict freedom of expression. It also cited the role of social media in the spread of misinformation.
Amnesty International warned that restrictions on free speech were likely to stay in force even after the pandemicImage: Britta Pedersen/dpa/picture alliance
The rights group's report, titled 'Silenced and misinformed: Freedom of expression in danger during Covid-19,' cited a slew of measures announced by governments around the world that placed "unprecedented" curbs on freedom of expression since 2020.
"Communication channels have been targeted, social media has been censored, and media outlets have been closed down," said Rajat Khosla, Amnesty International's senior director for research advocacy and policy.
Lives may also have been lost due to lack of proper information, he added.
"Governments that have long kept a tight control over what is shared in the public domain with overly restrictive legislation, have used the pandemic as another excuse to apply laws to censor and silence criticism, debate, and the sharing of information," Amnesty's report said.
"Other governments have used the widespread alarm and confusion generated by the pandemic to rush through new legislation and other emergency measures that are not only disproportionate but also ineffective to deal with issues such as misinformation."
Amnesty: China committing 'crimes against humanity'
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China, Russia further restrict freedoms
The report said that China, where the virus first emerged at the end of 2019, had opened criminal investigations into 5,511 people by February 2020.
These people had been charged with "fabricating and deliberately disseminating false and harmful information" about the nature and extent of the outbreak, according to Chinese authorities.
Russia expanded its anti-"fake news" legislation and introduced amendments that imposed criminal penalties for what it called "public dissemination of knowingly false information" in the context of emergencies, Amnesty said.
It also imposed administrative penalties for media outlets that publish such information, the report added.
The London-based group warned that these laws and penalties were likely to stay in force even after the pandemic.
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Social media and the 'onslaught of misinformation'
The report also took aim at the role of social media companies in "facilitating" the spread of misinformation.
It said the reason for this was that social media "platforms are designed to amplify attention-grabbing content to engage users and have not done enough due diligence to prevent the spread of false and misleading information."
"The onslaught of misinformation… is posing a serious threat to the rights to freedom of expression and to health," the 38-page report said.
"States and social media companies must ensure the public has unfettered access to accurate, evidence-based, and timely information," Khosla said.
"This is a crucial step to minimize vaccine hesitancy driven by misinformation."
60 years of Amnesty International
From defending political prisoners to lobbying against global arms trade control — here's how a lawyer's initiative grew into a leading network of human rights activists.
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Amnesty for forgotten prisoners
In 1961, Portugal's dictator imprisoned two students for raising a toast to freedom. Affected by the news, lawyer Peter Benenson wrote an article that made a global impact. He called for supporting people who are persecuted for no other reason than their convictions. It led to the creation of Amnesty International, a global network that campaigns against human rights violations.
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Campaigning to save lives
Amnesty International's initial focus on was defending nonviolent political prisoners. A long list of activists, including South Africa's Nelson Mandela and Russia's Alexei Navalny, have received Amnesty International's support as "prisoners of conscience." The organization soon expanded its focus to protest the use of torture and the death penalty.
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Crusade against torture
When the organization launched its first global campaign against torture in the 1970s, many armed forces around the world used it, often against political prisoners. The group's campaigns contributed to an awareness that helped push for the creation of United Nations resolutions against the use of torture, which have now been signed by more than 150 countries.
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Investigating in war zones
Amnesty International bases its campaigns on evidence gathered by its activists. In war zones, where civilians are most vulnerable to armies and militias, documentation of human rights abuse is required to hold war criminals accountable. The organization kept a public record alleging to show Russian, Syrian and the US-led coalition war crimes during Syria's war.
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Working against the flow of weapons
Amnesty International seeks to stop the flow of weapons to war zones, where they can potentially be used against civilians. Although an international treaty imposes rules designed to regulate the international arms trade, buying and selling weapons is still on the rise. Some of the largest arms exporters, like Russia and the US, have not ratified the treaty, and many others fail to comply with it.
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Campaigning for access to legal and safe abortion
Amnesty International's campaigns also encompass gender equality, children's rights, and support for the LGBT+ community. Governments and religious figures have slammed the group's advocacy for rights such as access to abortion. In this picture, Argentine activists place dozens of bouquets of parsley and other herbs used to induce abortions at the doors of the National Congress in Buenos Aires.
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A fully grown international network
Since the 1960s, Amnesty International has grown into a broad global network of activists who, in addition to participating in global solidarity campaigns, work to tackle local human rights abuses. With millions of members and supporters around the world, the organization has helped spare thousands of prisoners from death and detention.
