In January this year, the Nigerian government came before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to report on how it had stood by its commitments under the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the previous 4 ½ years in a process called the

An excellent discussion indeed & a big thank you also to David Marr & all at ABC for bringing together such an excellent panel including Freemuse's own Sverre Pedersen. Great to have a full hour for thoughtful questions & excellent insights from you all on what is indeed a thorny

"No matter what happens, artists in Russia will steadfastly drift on a small floe, huddling closer together as the edges of the ice break away". Sasha Skochilenko: I just happened to be the winner of the ‘Hunger Games’: theartnewspaper.com/2024/09/04/sas…

abc.net.au/listen/program… Listen to this excellent discussion on ABC radio with pianist Jayson Gilham, head of the Adelaide Writers Week Louise Adler, actor Violette Ayad, & Freemuse ED Sverre Pedersen on the cancellation of Gillham's concerts after he spoke about the killing of

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), along with 33 other organizations, issued a statement on September 9 condemning the recent arrests and enforced disappearances of four Egyptian journalists – Ashraf Omar, Khaled Mamdouh, Ramadan Gouida, and Yasser Abu Al-Ela. Freemuse,

The report co-published by two legal U.S.-based advocacy groups focuses on Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance’s role in increasing suppression of artistic speech after the uprising. artnews.com/art-news/news/…

Congratulations to Rosana Paulino winner of the inaugural Munch Award for her "artistic practice to unpacking the violent histories and continuities of gender and race". theartnewspaper.com/2024/09/11/we-…

theartnewspaper.com/2024/09/11/in-… Four years on from the protests against election fraud in #Belarus PEN Belarus reports 163 cultural figures among the many 1000s still in prison often in appalling conditions. Freemuse supports PEN Belarus president Taciana Niadbaj's call for more needs

'The government wants to silence these voices': Peru’s new film funding law raises censorship fears for artists: theartnewspaper.com/2024/09/16/per…

Nada Mougheeth speaks movingly about about the detention of her husband, cartoonist and musician Ashraf Omar who was taken by the security services on 22 July. His arrest has triggered an outcry and his satirical cartoons have now gone viral. newarab.com/video/egyptian…

From our colleagues Unchained Vibes Africa a report on a stakeholders' meeting on artistic freedom in the Kano region #Nigeria where UVA Executive Director Ayodele Ganiu raised the challenges for artists there & the need for legal protections guardian.ng/news/group-wor…

Since 2022, Freemuse and its partners Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have organized the International Art Contest for Minority Artists, in partnership with the City of Geneva. The contest

2024 Awards Ceremony: Memory in the Present On 26th of November, the laureates of the third edition of the International Contest for Minority Artists which Freemuse har organized together with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Minority Rights

Keep Supporting Our Colleagues in Iran! New Travel Bans and No Retrials or Forgiveness for Iranian Filmmakers Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha & Navid Mihandoust a.o. The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) once again asks the international film industry’s

globalvoices.org/2024/09/27/ira… Johanna Bankston of the Artistic Freedom Initiative writes on their excellent report on the repression of artists in #Iran for Global Voices It documents cases of artists who were arbitrarily arrested and under the overbroad and vague laws mentioned above for their

The exhibition “Arts, Minorities and Human Rights” will take place at the Centre des Arts of the International School of Geneva from 6 November to 18 December 2024. More information about the exhibition is available online on this link: ecolint-cda.ch/en/our-events/…. Please feel free

#CAEMembersNews 📢Join the 3rd edition of the European Theatre Talks by European Theatre Convention (ETC) , under the theme ‘Free Culture: Resisting Political Interference’!, focusing on the topic of artistic freedom and democracy. 🗓️04/11 📍Liège, Belgium More info: ow.ly/STuu50TL84f

Great speech by Michael O'Flaherty Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights on the artist as "truth seeker, truth teller, guardian of hope, person of courage...preoccupied with upholding, respecting, demanding respect for human dignity". coe.int/en/web/commiss…

#Russia The release of a father sentenced to prison for a drawings by his young daughter is hugely welcomed but he should never have been detained in the first place. Read also his comments on the appalling conditions under which he was held. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

#Afghanistan Over 20,000 instruments reported destroyed by the Taliban in the past year. Many musicians have fled the repression, continuing to perform in exile. In Afghanistan, The Taliban Wages War On Music rferl.org/a/afghanistan-…