"This report is the product of an effort to understand the scale and scope of “transnational repression,” in which governments reach across national borders to silence dissent among their diaspora and exile communities. Freedom House assembled cases of transnational repression from public source
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s, including UN and government documents, human rights reports, and credible news outlets, in order to generate a detailed picture of this global phenomenon.
The project compiled a catalogue of 608 direct, physical cases of transnational repression since 2014. In each incident, the origin country’s authorities physically reached an individual living abroad, whether through detention, assault, physical intimidation, unlawful deportation, rendition, or suspected assassination. The list includes 31 origin states conducting physical transnational repression in 79 host countries. This total is certainly only partial; hundreds of other physical cases that lacked sufficient documentation, especially detentions and unlawful deportations, are not included in Freedom House’s count. Nevertheless, even this conservative enumeration shows that what often appear to be isolated incidents—an assassination here, a kidnapping there—in fact represent a pernicious and pervasive threat to human freedom and security.
Moreover, physical transnational repression is only the tip of the iceberg. The consequences of each physical attack ripple out into a larger community. And beyond the physical cases compiled for this report are the much more widespread tactics of “everyday” transnational repression: digital threats, spyware, and coercion by proxy, such as the imprisonment of exiles’ families. For millions of people around the world, transnational repression has become not an exceptional tool, but a common and institutionalized practice used by dozens of regimes to control people outside their borders." (Executive summary)
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"The EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU SDGN) project funded by the EU employed a ‘social media first’ approach to strengthen the political knowledge, understanding, discussion and efficacy of young (18-24 years) women and men across all 36 states and FCT in Nigeria. High-impact
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social media content in the form of infographics, short factual films, still photographs, short drama skits and Public Service Announcements were produced and posted under the EU SDGN project (and MI-VotE project) across our BBC Media Action Arewa (Hausa) and Naija (English) Facebook and Instagram platforms to share balanced information on electoral and political processes, role model political participation, and engage young Nigerians in social issues that matter to them. The project also strengthened the capacity of media organisations across Nigeria to provide more trusted, accurate and balanced social media content that meets audience needs." (Page 1)
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"Radio is hailed as Africa’s medium of choice in the global communication age. Introduced as a colonial tool of information, education and entertainment in the early 1930s, radio broadcasting was mainly in colonial languages as colonial administrators perceived local language broadcasting a threat
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to their empire building and ‘civilization’ agendas. The fortunes of local language broadcasting did not dramatically change in the independence era when broadcast media were in the firm control of the state. From the beginning of the twenty-first century, however, mostly resulting from a more liberalized media environment, local language broadcasting has undergone unprecedented growth. Drawing on written archival material, including internal communication among policy-makers, audience letters, key informant interviews and findings from a recent audience study, this article charts the progressive development of local language radio broadcasting in Ghana, and engages with the role played by early audiences and broadcasters in indigenizing broadcast content." (Abstract)
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"One of the greatest obstacles confronting the journalism profession in the discharge of their duties is the indiscriminate physical and digital threat being experienced by journalists all over the world, particularly within sub-Saharan Africa. The continuous attacks facing journalists in Africa, mo
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st especially during election times, violate their fundamental human rights. Journalists play a major role in the dissemination of information before, during and after an election. Unfortunately, elections in many African States are characterised by uncertainty, due to the possibility of election-related violence, which has led to the killing and disappearance of many journalists.
Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a qualitative research approach involving a descriptive survey design. A purposive sampling of 20 respondents is adopted across various media organisations in Nigeria.
Findings: The study explores the role and importance of journalists during an election. It also examines the consequences of electoral violence on journalists and the discharge of their duties. It further assesses the role of the state authority in the protection of life and the safety of journalists during the election period. Finally, the study posits that a guard against the threat against journalists such as killings, ill-treatment and other interferences during and after the election period is essential and should be taken as a collective responsibility of all the various stakeholders in the community and nations." (Abstract)
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"Le présent document de stratégie fournit, sur la base de l’analyse situationnelle, le cadre logique des interventions, délimite les domaines stratégiques, précise les objectifs tant généraux que spécifiques et les résultats attendus des différentes activités qui seront programmées. Il
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passe en revue les cibles, les comportements que l’on attend d’elles et les canaux qui vont être utilisés pour délivrer à chaque type de cibles des messages et des argumentaires spécifiques. La réussite de sa mise en oeuvre nécessite l’engagement de tous les acteurs." (Conclusion, page 110)
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"The report documents the threats to civil society in the digital age by examining the legislative and regulatory framework in four countries in Africa: Egypt, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia. These countries were selected from the four main geographic regions of Africa, in order to provide a sense
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of the state of civic engagement in the digital age across the continent. The case studies are clearly not representative of what is happening on the continent, but are illustrative of some prominent trends. The recommendations emanating from the research call for the states to revise and repeal identified restrictive laws and align them with international standards. Civil society organisations and human rights activists are also encouraged to enhance their individual and organizational digital knowledge and expertise to more robust counter disruptive state measures. This expertise should be enhanced through a human rights lens and should extend to other stakeholders including judicial officers, legislators, law enforcement and the general public through sustained multi-stakeholder engagement." (Executive summary, pages 7-8)
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