UNESCO - COVID-19: the role of judicial operators in the protection and promotion of the right to freedom of expression

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the institutional mechanisms that are at the very heart of the rule of law systems and their checks-and-balances systems have been strongly impacted. Several countries have also used the special circumstances associated with the pandemic in order to tighten up already existing restrictions to fundamental rights, to introduce new ones, and to increase the control of the activities of citizens. In particular, the exercise of freedom of expression, the situation and activity of journalists and the media, and citizens’ right of access to public information have been specially affected by this major crisis. Many emergency provisions as well as existing laws and regulations have been used to directly restrict the exercise of such rights and to introduce further controls using the rationale of the need to protect public health. In the coming months and years, judges and courts, both at national and regional levels, will be increasingly requested to review some of the decisions adopted in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, as well as hear cases about the interpretation of these decisions in regard to how they are actually being enforced by agents of the state. The purpose of this document is to support judicial operators in these processes. In particular, these guidelines promote the proper consideration and correct understanding of applicable international and regional standards, thus upholding the adequate and effective protection of the fundamental right of freedom of expression and freedom of information beyond the specificities of the respective national laws.