Nobel Prize Goes to Freedom of Expression
A win for journalists' human rights activism; UN Human Rights Council turns its back on Yemeni victims; Saudi Arabia "sportswashing" continues; Facebook censored abuses in Israel/Palestine; Afghanistan is spiraling into catastrophe; and Poland's confrontation with the EU escalates.
The Nobel Committee awarded the 2021 peace prize to journalists fighting for freedom of expression, democracy, and reporting on human rights abuses: Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia. Ressa has been the target of attacks and a politically motivated arrest in 2019 for her website's critical coverage of the Duterte administration and its murderous “war on drugs”. Muratov, the editor-in-chief of newspaper Novaya Gazeta, has spent his life defending free speech in Russia, work even more crucial now as authorities seek to eviscerate independent media.
Yesterday was a dark day for millions of Yemeni people as the UN Human Rights Council Members voted against a resolution to ensure international monitoring of the human rights crisis in Yemen. Independent investigators previously found potential war crimes committed by all sides in the conflict. This vote, following pressure by Saudi Arabia, a leading party to the conflict, signals to all sides that they can carry on with violations and extend the humanitarian crisis in the country. As the council's vote today on whether to extend the mandate of a Fact Finding Mission in Lybia should not follow the same path.
In its latest effort to distract from serious human rights abuses at home and abroad, Saudi Arabia bought Premier League football team Newcastle United. Hosting or owning sports events that celebrate human achievement is a strategy to hide the darker side of the Saudi government's widespread rights abuses.
During the May fighting in Israel and Palestine, Facebook censored content about human rights abuses committed in the region. This wrongful suppression restricts a critical platform for discussion as Israeli authorities are committing crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution, and Palestinians and Israelis have committed war crimes. Facebook should set up an independent investigation and shed light on the motivation, biases, and methods of moderation used here.
Afghanistan’s financial systems, basic economy, and health and education sectors are all collapsing. Money shortages and a humanitarian crisis, including acute hunger, are worsening the catastrophe of the Taliban's rule for Afghan people. While donors are understandably concerned by the Taliban’s cruelties and wary of enriching the Taliban or facilitating abuses, they should calculate how sanctions and other financial restrictions will impact the suffering for Afghan people.
The battle between Poland and the European Union escalated as the country's Constitutional Tribunal declared that the Court of Justice of EU was interfering with the Polish constitution, effectively ruling against the primacy of EU law. While the EU commission rapidly condemned the ruling, its failure to act on the previous Polish government's attacks against the rule of law played a role in enabling this situation. And beyond the implication for democracy in Poland, other member states could follow suit.