Study: Brazil Experiences World’s Greatest Setback in Freedom of Expression

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil is experiencing the world’s sharpest decline in the assessment of freedom of expression and is now qualified within the group of countries where “restriction” to this right is present. The observation is from Article 19, an international organization that on Monday presented its global report.

The study shows that there are currently 3.9 billion people in the world living in a freedom of expression crisis. In practice, over half of the global population lives in a country where the condition of being free to express oneself is under a state of crisis. This is the worst result in 20 years.

The downturn has been driven by growing restrictions in countries with large populations such as China, India, Turkey, Russia, Bangladesh, and Iran, and by alarming setbacks and drops in countries like Brazil, the United States, Hungary, and Tanzania.

If in the 2009 ranking Brazil scored 89 points on a scale of zero to 100 with respect to the criteria on freedom of expression, in 2020 the country plummeted to only 46 points. It currently ranks 94th out of the 161 nations assessed.

As a result, Brazil is no longer on the list of countries classified as “open” in terms of freedom of expression.

The ranking is divided into five categories to demand the guarantee of freedom of expression. Countries scoring between 0 and 19 are classified as “in crisis”. Those with a rate between 20 and 39 points are defined as countries with “high restrictions”. The next segment is where Brazil stands: countries with restrictions on guaranteeing this right, with a score of between 40 and 59.

Brazil approaches Venezuela in freedom restrictions

The ranking also includes a category of “partially restricted” countries (between 60 and 79 points). Among the elite group are countries like Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, and Canada, which are considered “open”. In this group, there are also South American countries such as Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina, in addition to the USA.

Brazil’s 43-point drop was the most significant in the world, followed by India, Nicaragua, and Ukraine. According to the report, the deterioration had already begun to occur throughout the decade, but was “expedited with the arrival of Jair Bolsonaro to power in early 2019”.

According to the study, the country lost 18 points in only one year and is currently virtually tied with the Philippines, below Hungary or Haiti.

According to the study, Brazil is behind all South American countries except Venezuela.

“The 2020 pandemic has made Brazil an extreme instance of how authoritarian leaders and restrictions on freedom of expression, combined with misinformation, pose a high risk to public health,” the study notes.

Attacks on the press undermine access to information

According to the organization, countries with large populations and others with great influence – China, India, Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Bangladesh – are experiencing a “crisis of expression”. Brazil has not yet entered the crisis category, but it has been experiencing a sharp and rapid decline, while countries like the United States are faltering and creating increasingly hostile environments for journalists and activists.

In addition to the indicator and alert, the report provides recommendations to reverse this trend. “In Brazil and in the world, a safe working environment for journalists must be guaranteed, free from attacks on civil society organizations and where the population will not find obstacles to access public information and an internet free from human rights violations,” says Denise Dourado Dora, executive director of the NGO Article 19.

The attacks on freedom of expression in Brazil occur within a larger context and have reached other countries around the world. According to the organization, the abuse of excessive power and the shift towards autocracy begin by gaining control over civil society and the media.

These governments, in a first moment, gag the controlling bodies, dissolve into democratic institutions, and, ultimately, destroy the independence of elections. “Data in countries such as Hungary, Turkey, Poland, Serbia, Brazil, and India consistently show us this pattern,” she warns.

Brazilian government acts on restricting information and attacks journalists and activists

According to the study, the Bolsonaro government began to adopt two strategies. One of them is disinformation, suppressing accurate data, and reducing access to official information sources.

The second is attacks against independent voices, from journalists and bloggers to human rights activists and NGOs.

The same strategy includes the clear goal of criminalizing social movements. “In 2016, an anti-terrorism law was passed, consistently applied to criminalize social movements and protests. In 2019, 21 new draft laws were proposed, with the aim of increasing sentences and further restricting activities,” the report noted.

The criminalization of NGOs and activists is particularly serious in the area of environmental rights, as demonstrated during the 2019 Amazon fires. Groups of environmentalists and members of the Alter do Chão (PA) Fire Department were even arrested or indicted.

Last year, 24 human rights activists were murdered in Brazil, against 18 in Mexico and 14 in Honduras. The region currently kills more environmentalists than any other.

In 2019, 33 murders were committed in the Amazon region and almost 90 percent of the murders of activists and indigenous people in Brazil occurred in this sector of the country. One of them was Paulo Paulino Guajajara, 26 years old.

Source: UOL