Want to know if it's okay to expose environmental hazards in your country, write a scathing critique on a government official, or set up a blog under a pseudonym, but don't know where to start? Check out ARTICLE 19's legal analyses to see at a glance the major developments in the law relating to free expression last year in four different regions: the Americas, Middle East and North Africa, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

ARTICLE 19's reports include reviews of new laws, bills, rules and Supreme Court decisions that help - and hinder - free expression.

Jesuit Father Jacob Srampickal passed away in Austria on April 14, 2011 aged 62. In the course of his career Fr Srampickal headed several media organizations and taught communications in India and abroad. In February 2012, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India appointed the Patna Jesuit priest director of its National Institute for Social Communication, Research and Training (NISCORT). He was expected to take charge in June 2012.

Fr Srampiackal was the inspiration behind the institute and was a co-founder along with Fr John Noronha, former director of Caritas India. He was the first dean of the institute based at Vaishali, a satellite town of Delhi in Uttar Pradesh state. He has served on the ecumenical jury at international film festivals and has served as one of the consultants to the Pontifical Commission for Social Communications.

Index believes that freedom of expression is the foundation of a free society and for over 40 years it has defined and defended this right. It uses the power and immediacy of writing to bring international attention to people who are prevented from speaking out. Its website and award-winning magazine are a forum for reports, analysis and discussion of the latest developments for freedom of expression.

The first Index on Censorship appeared in March 1972, published by  Writers and Scholars International. In that issue (1972 1: 11) Stephen Spender, one of its founders, wrote: "The role of WSI will be to study the situation of those who are silenced in their own countries and to make their circumstances known in the world community to which they spirtually belong."

The Memory of the World in the Digital Age is an international conference that will explore the main issues affecting the preservation of digital documentary heritage in order to develop strategies that will contribute to greater protection of digital assets and help to define an implementation methodology that is particularly appropriate for developing countries.

The conference takes place 26-28 September 2012 in Vancouver, Canada, and will bring together professionals from the heritage sectors, as well as a range of government, IT industry, rightsholders and other stakeholders to assess current policies in order to propose practical recommendations to ensure permanent access to digital documentary heritage.

American war correspondent Marie Colvin lost her life in February 2012 covering the conflict in Syria. Her death underlines the dangers facing professional women and men journalists. In some countries, Afghanistan, Russia and Mexico, for example, the profession seems doubly dangerous for women.

Marking International Women's Day, IFEX, the global network for free expression, has acknowledged this grave situation in an article reprinted here. WACC advocates the right to communicate and adds its own voice to this tribute.

Por Philip Lee, Sub-Director de Programas - WACC

La Asociación para la Comunicación Cristiana (WACC por sus siglas en inglés) ha rediseñado su logotipo para incluir el nuevo eslogan “Comunicación para todos”.

Este eslogan es la Declaración de Visión, que surgió del largo proceso cuyo resultado fue el Plan Estratégico 2010-2016 de la WACC. Cuando el Plan fue aprobado por la Junta de Directivos de la WACC en octubre 2011, un Grupo Especial de Trabajo de Misión y Visión fue creado para producir nuevos textos. Los criterios básicos fueron la fidelidad a los objetivos de la WACC, un lenguaje directo, concisión, y una relación clara a la tradición de la WACC y sus nuevas direcciones estratégicas.

WACC llama a sus miembros y socios a celebrar y apoyar al Día Mundial de la Radio 2012, el lunes 13 de febrero. 

Por Philip Lee, Vice-Director de Programas

Hoy en día, en la era de la alta tecnología de las plataformas de comunicación digital, la radio, especialmente la radio comunitaria, continua siendo vitalmente importante para muchas personas en todo el mundo. Tal expresión práctica del derecho a la comunicación e información, garantiza espacios para que las personas tengan una voz pública, y para que sean escuchadas por las instancias de toma de decisiones a nivel mundial, nacional y local. Los asociados de la WACC han dado seguimiento al derecho a la comunicación e información, luchando por cambiar legislaciones nacionales en relación con el acceso al espectro de la radio, y con las licencias para la radio comunitaria. La WACC misma ha apoyado a menudo la radio comunitaria dentro de sus programas de desarrollo de la comunicación. En estos momentos contrapartes de WACC están estableciendo o fortaleciendo las estaciones de radio comunitaria en Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, México, y Sierra Leona, con el apoyo de la WACC.

Por Philip Lee, Vice-Director de Programas

La Junta  Directiva de la WACC se reunió el 15 de Noviembre de 2011, para revisar y aprobar dos nuevas declaraciones sobre la misión y la visión de la organización. La Declaración de la Visión de la WACC es ahora “Comunicación para todos/as"

La Declaración de la Misión expresa: “La Organización Mundial para la Comunicación Cristiana (WACC por sus siglas en inglés) es una organización internacional que promueve la comunicación como un derecho humano básico y esencial para la dignidad de las personas y de la comunidad.  Enraizada en la fe cristiana, la WACC trabaja con todas s aquellas personas  a quienes se les niegan el derecho a la comunicación por su status, su identidad o su género. Defiende el pleno acceso a la información y la comunicación y promueve los medios de difusión abiertos y diversos. La WACC refuerza las redes de comunicadores para el avance de la paz, la comprensión y la justicia”.

Media Release: International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), 24 November 2011

Letter Ban Ki Moon 2011.pdf

In a letter addressed to UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon to mark International Day on the Elimination of violence against women and girls, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) points at the extreme levels of violence women journalists face while carrying out their professional duties. The IFJ denounces aggression, threats, political pressure, violence, rape and abuse that women journalists have to face due either to their gender or simply for doing their job. The situation is made much worse by the prevailing culture of impunity which protects and emboldens the perpetrators of these crimes.

Member States approve the reinforcement of UNESCO’s contribution to World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) goals

With only four years left until the 2015 target date for achieving the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) goals, 195 Member States expressed their overall satisfactions with the achievements and progress made by UNESCO and reconfirmed its important role in bridging the digital and knowledge divides. Since the outset of the WSIS process, UNESCO has been committed to implementing the WSIS outcomes.