Article 19 (stylized ARTICLE 19) is a British human rights organization with a specific mandate and focus on the defense and promotion of freedom of expression and freedom of information worldwide founded in 1987. The organization takes its name from Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:
Activities
Article 19 monitors threats to free expression around the globe; lobbies governments to adopt laws that conform to international standards of freedom of expression; and drafts legal standards that strengthen media, public broadcasting, free expression, and access to government-held information. The Law Programme also produces legal analysis and critiques of national laws, including media laws. In addition, Article 19 intervenes in cases of individuals or groups whose rights have been violated; and provides capacity-building support to non-governmental organizations, judges and lawyers, journalists, media owners, media lawyers, public officials and parliamentarians.
Article 19’s work is organised into five Regional Programmesâ€"Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle Eastâ€"a Law Program, and a Digital Program. It has over 100 staff and regional offices in Bangladesh, Brazil, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar, Senegal, and Tunisia. It works in partnership with nearly 100 organizations in more than 60 countries around the world.
Coalitions
Article 19 is a founding member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), a clearinghouse for a global network of non-governmental organizations that monitor free expression violations worldwide. It is also a member of the Tunisia Monitoring Group, a coalition of 21 free expression organizations that lobbied the Tunisian government to improve its human rights record. And it is the coordinator of the International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan (IPGA), a coalition of international organizations working to promote and protect freedom of expression in Azerbaijan.
Article 19 is a founding member of the Freedom of Information Advocates (FOIA) Network, a global forum that aims to support campaigning, advocacy and fundraising on access to information through the exchange of information, ideas and strategies. The FOIA Network also aims to facilitate the formation of regional or international coalitions to address access to information issues.
Description
Finances
Article 19 lists its regular financial contributors on its website:
- Swedish International Development Agenda (SIDA)
- UK Department for International Development (DFID)
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- The Ford Foundation
- Fritt Ord
- Open Society Institute (OSI)
- The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Annual Reports
2014 Annual Report
2015 Annual Report
2016 Annual Report
Leaders
Shortly before his death in 1984, J. Roderick MacArthur established a vision for Article 19 as a global human rights organization that would focus on censorship issues. His son Greg MacArthur, director of the J. Roderick MacArthur Foundation, set the wheels in motion for the creation of the organization inspired by an Article from the Universal Declaration of Human rights. Through Aryeh Neierâ€"a lawyer and human rights leader who was formerly the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (1970â€"1978) before founding Human Rights Watch in 1978 -- Martin Ennals was appointed to realize the idea. Ennals brought his experience from UNESCO, the National Council for Civil Liberties, and the Nobel Prize-winning Amnesty International, and started the Article 19 organization in 1986 with a budget around $1,500,000 and a staff of eight with its first executive director Kevin Boyle.
As executive director, Kevin Boyle oversaw the first report that would summarize the current state of censorship on a global scale in a report released in 1988. The Article 19 report "Information, Freedom and Censorship" established a benchmark from which to move forward. In the report, Article 19 was critical of the United Kingdom where the government could interfere in the British Broadcasting Company's editorial decisions. Other directors would also criticize the United Kingdom frequently even though the organization is based in London.
Under the leadership of Boyle, Article 19 also took up as its first campaign, the defence of one of its own. Among Article 19's first directors on its Board of Directors was South African journalist Zwelakhe Sisulu.
The Sisulu name was well known worldwide as both of his parents were activists against South Africa's Apartheid system. Sisulu himself had established his own reputation as the leader of a press strike by black journalists in 1980. For this activity, he was arrested and banned from journalism for 3 years. After his disappearance in 1986 and after his arrest was made official, Article 19 took up the case of its own human rights defender. Sisulu was released two years later.
Dr Frances D'Souza, a founder and former director of Relief and Development Institute focusing on famine monitoring and relief operations, became the organization's second executive director 4 July 1989. She brought with her years of experience as a human rights defender from the field. Among her signature campaigns was the defence of Salman Rushdie after Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwÄ, or religious ruling, 14 February 1989 based on the charge that the book The Satanic Verses (1988) was a work of blasphemy. The religious ruling was a death sentence. D'Souza became the chairwoman of the Salman Rushdie Defence Committee while also executive director of Article 19 and became the writer's main spokesperson.
D'Souza also participated in the drafting of the Johannesburg Principles in 1995.
Location
In June 2009, Article 19 moved to Farringdon Road in London to become part of the Free Word Centre promoting literature, literacy and free expression.
See also
- Freedom of information legislation
- Johannesburg Principles
References
External links
- Official website
- Article 19 Mexico
- Article 19 Brasil
- Free Word Centre
- International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan
- Charity Commission. Article 19, registered charity no. 327421.Â
