Whole-of-society approach needed to ensure women’s full enjoyment of freedom of opinion and expression – 2022 Joint Declaration of International Rapporteurs

On today’s World Press Freedom Day, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro launched the 2022 Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and Gender Justice, together with the freedom of expression mandate holders from the United Nations, the African Commission of Human Rights, and the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights.
“This year’s Joint Declaration addresses a precondition for the universal right to freedom of expression: the horizontal issue of gender justice,” says Ribeiro. “Women – and others who experience discrimination and marginalization – face structural barriers to the enjoyment of their rights, online and offline. Restricted access to information, gender-based harassment and abuse, the digital divide, as well as biased technologies or discriminatory deployment of technology limit women’s ability to exercise their right to freedom of expression. We see even greater free speech challenges for women in the public sphere or executing scrutiny, such as women journalists, as well as those with intersecting identities,” stresses Ribeiro. “We also see a clear link to authoritarian trends and the overall backsliding of human rights and civic space.”
The 2022 Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and Gender Justice highlights how gender equality and the right to freedom of opinion and expression are mutually reinforcing, indivisible and interdependent, and their link to the advancement of sustainable development, and the strengthening of democratic societies. The Joint Declaration provides recommendations to states, companies, in particular internet intermediaries and social media platforms, the media industry, and the general public. The recommendations provide guidance on eliminating discrimination and prejudice; ensuring access to information; averting gender-specific restrictions on expression; addressing online sexual and gender-based violence; and on human rights due diligence.
“We need a whole-of-society approach to ensure women’s full enjoyment of all human rights, including the right to freedom of opinion and expression. States, private companies, the media and all of society have to lead transformative change to remove systemic inequalities and discrimination in view of creating gender justice and an enabling environment for freedom of expression for all,” emphasises Ribeiro.
Joint Declarations by the free speech rapporteurs have been adopted annually since 1999, covering current universal challenges to freedom of expression.
The 2022 Joint Declaration can be found here: https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/517266
Teresa Ribeiro, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media
Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection and Promotion of Freedom of Opinion and Expression
Pedro Vaca Villarreal, Organization of American States, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression
Ourveena Geereesha Topsy-Sonoo, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information