Protecting Freedom of Expression through Comparative Global Case Law: Databases to Advance Rights
Sponsored by: Columbia GFoE and UNESCO
Hybrid Event: In-Person Registration Online Registration
Defenders of human rights need access to comparative law to identify common issues or trends and build their litigation strategies and advocacy campaigns. Comparative analysis can help to identify where there is backsliding; it also facilitates leveraging progressive precedents and even advancing novel legal theories. But locating and wading through legal developments and decisions can be tedious and time consuming. A range of organizations from the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Africa are already cooperating to do this work – they have identified emblematic freedom of expression cases, monitored trials, found and analyzed the court documents, and made the information free and easy to access online. Representatives from these organizations will present a series of case studies on a range of themes to demonstrate how comparative data can be used to identify problems, compare how courts in different jurisdictions have understood and applied legal principles and tests, and show how to use emerging international standards to support advocacy. Learn from experts how these resources can equip lawyers and human rights defenders to build strong arguments and advance rights.
- Catalina Botero, Consulting Director, Columbia Global Freedom of Expression
- Dr Hawley Johnson, Associate Director, Global Freedom of Expression
- Juan Manuel Ospina, Legal Researcher, Global Freedom of Expression [GFoE Case Law Database]
- Daniel Ospina Celis, Researcher, Dejusticia
- Nelly Chepngetich Rotich, Research Fellow, Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT), Strathmore University, Kenya [Cyrilla Database]
- Dr Natalie Alkiviadou, Research Fellow, Future of Free Speech [FFS Hate Speech Databases]
- Dr Alberto Godioli, Associate Professor, University of Groningen, Netherlands [ForHum Database]
- Laura Little, James G. Schmidt Professor of Law at Temple University Law School [ForHum Database]
- Raisa Carrillo, Coordinator of Protection and Legal Defense for Journalists, Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa [FLIP]
- Stephen Townley, Legal Director of the TrialWatch initiative at the Clooney Foundation for Justice [TrialWatch]
See the full agenda here and more information on World Press Freedom Day Side Events here.
