By WILLIAM HORSLEY, CJA Executive Committee member and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.
1/5/26
Ensuring that Parliaments uphold the principles of media freedom and expression help to promote good governance in the Commonwealth. It is vital that Parliamentarians take a stand. This blog explores recent developments and the role that MPs can play.
The international conference for 2026 World Press Freedom Day to be held in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, on 4 to 5 May 2026 is on the topic of ‘Shaping a Future at Peace’. The gathering will explore ways to strengthen protections for journalism and its role in preventing conflict, informing public debate, and safeguarding democratic governance.
How can Commonwealth Parliamentarians advance that goal to match international expectations? The need is urgent because of today’s destructive threats to the watchdog role of the media, but also to honour the public commitment made by political leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa in October 2024 to take effective steps to protect the role of journalists as the fourth estate.
Self-censorship
The latest UNESCO World Trends Report on Freedom of Expression and Media Development reveals a dramatic global contraction of media freedom and civic space. It finds a 48% increase in moves by power-holders to control or restrict the work of the media between 2012 and 2024 and a more than 60% increase in self-censorship by journalists, driven by “fear of reprisals, online harassment, judicial intimidation and economic pressures”. It highlights persistent levels of violence against journalists and the appalling statistic that as many as 85% of such killings routinely go unpunished.
The latest audit by Civicus of media freedom and civil rights in Commonwealth countries places half in the ‘Open’ or ‘Narrowed’ categories but the rest in the list of those described as ‘Closed’, ‘Repressed’ or ‘Obstructed’. Civicus deplores trends showing the habitual use of arbitrary detention and violence by police against journalists and activists, and spotlights the latest cases of states imposing “intense restrictions” around elections in Cameroon, Tanzania and Uganda, which saw unrestrained violence by security forces against journalists and others.
An eight-year campaign by six Commonwealth-wide professional associations* – including those representing journalists, lawyers, Parliamentarians, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICwS) – bore fruit at the 2024 CHOGM when heads of government adopted the Commonwealth Principles on freedom of expression and the role of the media in good governance. The 11-point ‘Media Principles’ are not legally binding, but the leaders’ Communique called on member states to take “concrete and meaningful steps to implement the Principles in their domestic frameworks”.
Among the most salient articles in these ‘Media Principles’ are those calling on member states
* to repeal or amend domestic laws which unduly restrict freedom of expression;
* to ensure that law-enforcement and other public officials respect international obligations to protect the safety and independence of journalists;
* and to take “decisive action” to end impunity by guaranteeing that journalists’ killings are thoroughly investigated and punished.
Crucially, the text affirms that Commonwealth Parliaments and legislators have a duty to hold governments to account to fulfil those international obligations.
To inform and promote reforms, in September 2025, three Commonwealth organisations (CHRI, CJA and CLA) published a comprehensive research report ‘Who Controls the Narrative? Legal Restrictions on Freedom of Expression in the Commonwealth’.
- The chief findings were that more than two-thirds of Commonwealth states still retain punitive criminal laws on defamation, sedition and blasphemy which should be amended to align with international standards;
- Journalists from across the Commonwealth testify to widespread patterns of targeted intimidation of journalists, covert state surveillance and prosecutions on trumped-up ‘fake news’, cybersecurity or terrorism charges.
Thousands of protestors held in Bangladesh
The analysis of each region of the Commonwealth finds that many governments slyly misuse the authority of would-be independent media regulators to exclude or curb critical voices.
The report also highlights positive developments such as the repeal of criminal defamation legislation in 15 Commonwealth jurisdictions since the 1990s.
February 2026’s peaceful elections in Bangladesh offer the chance of a new chapter of democratic government there. A welcome indication of that intent would be to release the thousands of innocent people, including prominent journalists, who have been detained on spurious charges since the mass protests and mob violence in 2024.
The CPA’s Journal, The Parliamentarian, examined the outcomes of the elections in Bangladesh in its recent issue Bangladesh click here https://issuu.com/theparliamentarian/docs/the_parliamentarian_2026_issue_one_-_india_pm_ad/19
The common thread in all the violations cited above is when state authorities overstep the proper limits of Executive power that define a functioning democracy. Ways in which Parliamentarians can secure effective protections include:
* Exerting parliamentary pressure on governments to prevent unlawful surveillance, online harassment of journalists, and misuses of law that penalise and deter public interest journalism.
* Reviews of domestic laws including those on defamation, national security and blasphemy, and amending them to comply with international legal obligations, as per UN Human Rights Council Resolution on the safety of journalists of 7 July 2025.
* Promoting initiatives to ensure free and fair elections in which the safety of journalists is assured, parties and candidates have equitable access to the media, and the public receives accurate and impartial information on which to decide how to vote.
Parliamentarians are the national authorities best placed to prevent violations of human rights and the rule of law; Commonwealth civil society voices its appeal for “Action this day”.
- The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA), Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA), Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICwS) led the initiative that led to the adoption by heads of government of the Commonwealth Media Principles in 2024. Click here to read the principles.
- This article first appeared in The Parliamentarian, the journal of Commonwealth parliaments.
