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The webinar, moderated by Yuria Saavedra, lawyer and expert in international criminal law, sought to examine the challenges posed to the upholding of international standards on freedom of expression and safety of journalists amid the current COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion, which gathered human rights experts and high-level judicial operators, also addressed the role of the judiciary and the rule of law in the context of the extraordinary measures that many states have adopted in response to the coronavirus outbreak (notably the declaration of a state of emergency). The measures have led in some cases to undue or excessive restrictions to fundamental human rights – particularly to the rights to freedom of expression and access to public information, and also impacted the safety of journalists.

“This pandemic is also a ‘’, which must be faced by a free, independent and plural press”, said Guilherme Canela, Chief of Section for Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists at UNESCO. Mr. Canela warned against the “perfect storm” created by the COVID-19 pandemic and ‘disinfodemic’, while stressing that a full exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and access to public information and the protection of journalists are key to overcoming the crisis.

Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, emphasized that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic must be based on the respect for human rights. Mr. Lanza insisted upon the lack of any real need or justification for any restrictions on freedom of expression and, more specifically, on the freedom of the press, as “[this] is a moment where the press is playing an even more important role than the one it traditionally plays in a democracy [under normal circumstances]”, contributing to more transparent public information.

Joan Barata, from the Center for Internet and Society and the Cyber Policy Center (Stanford University), highlighted the importance of soft law instruments amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Though “public health can, in principle, justify the restriction of the right to freedom of expression”, he said, governments must “look for the least restrictive measures possible – not only from the perspective of the exercise of freedom of expression, but also from their potential impact on other fundamental rights”. Mr. Barata also noted that the necessity for the adoption of restrictive emergency measures must be justified, by specifying which aspect of public health would be benefited by the adoption of such measures.

The participants also highlighted the role of judges in the context of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and warned on the limitations that the state of emergency declared in the countries affected by the disease could impose on the judiciary. “No state of emergency can justify blocking access to justice or [delivering] a justice that does not work”, said Ricardo Pérez Manrique, a judge at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, stressing that “neither the rule of law nor human rights are suspended or go into a state of latency” during that time. Judge Pérez Manrique called on judges to dismiss any restrictions on the right to freedom of expression that fail to comply with the triple test of legality, necessity and proportionality.

The webinar was organized as the first in a series of three webinars for judicial operators on legal challenges related to freedom of expression in relation with the COVID-19 pandemic, with the support of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the ECOWAS Court of Justice and Open Society Foundations. Indeed, judges and members of the judiciary can be important actors to guarantee the implementation of freedom of expression, privacy standards and safety of journalists.

To that effect, since 2013, in the framework on the , 91�鶹������Ʒ���� been developing a comprehensive programme to raise capacities of judges and judicial actors (prosecutors, lawyers) and civil society on international and regional standards on freedom of expression and safety of journalists. To date, more than 17,000 judicial operators and representatives of civil society from Latin America and Africa have been trained on these issues, notably through a , on-the-ground training and workshops, and the publications of a number of  and .