Elected and autocratic governments are increasingly responding to critics and media by adopting new laws or resurrecting old laws to criminalize speech. Particularly with the growing power and profile of civil society and new media in many countries, governments see the power of the written or spoken word as a threat to their hold on power. Laws on national security, state secrets, sedition, and criminal defamation are particularly popular tools to intimidate and muzzle critics. New cybercrime laws are being passed and considered in many countries, aimed at shutting down information outlets like Facebook, blogs, and online media.
During the 2016-17 academic year, the clinic partnered with Human Rights Watch Asia Division to combat government efforts to criminalize speech. Clinic students conducted research and prepared memoranda on domestic laws in several countries in Southeast Asia used to criminalize peaceful expression and analyzed these laws in light of international human rights standards. Students also contributed research to a Human Rights Watch report, “They Can Arrest You at Any Time:” The Criminalization of Peaceful Expression in Burma which addresses the legal restrictions and criminal prosecutions of political opponents who sought to exercise peaceful expression in the country.