Bangladesh still 'in crisis' on freedom of expression index

Freedom of expression in Bangladesh is "in crisis", says Article 19, a British human rights organisation in its latest report.

The Global Expression Report 2022 ranked Bangladesh 131st out of 161 countries in terms of freedom of expression, whereas the rank was 133 in 2021.

Article 19 gave Bangladesh a score of 13 out of 100, upon evaluation across 25 indicators.

The organisation put Bangladesh in the "in crisis" category for eight years in a row. It is the worst of five categories in the report starting with the category "open".

Globally, 80% of all people (6 billion people in more than 80 countries) have less freedom of expression compared to a decade ago.

The Global Expression Score (the mean average of country scores) has seen a 6-point decline since 2012, but the Human Score (weighted by population) – which shows the real cost of that loss – has dropped 13 points in just 10 years.

The divergence between these scores is relatively new: Between 2000 and 2012, the Human Score held steady – more or less in line with the Global Expression Score – but declines began to accelerate after 2012.

There are more countries in which freedoms are in decline than countries seeing rises in expression. What's more, the countries in decline contain many more people than countries in advance, which tend to have much smaller populations. 95% of countries that advanced in the last decade had populations of under 50 million people, while only 74% of countries that declined over the same period had populations of that size, reads the report.

In Asia and the Pacific, autocratic regimes like Hong Kong continued to entrench their rule, contributing to a downward shift in the overall Regional Expression Score.

In Europe and Central Asia, the majority of countries were Open. However, this region has seen a shift in the last decade. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had a significant impact on human rights and freedoms, with Russian forces committing crimes against journalists and media workers.

In the Middle East and North Africa, no countries are categorised as Open, and the region confronts significant challenges in protecting and promoting the right to freedom of expression. In Iran's restrictive environment, people face threats, imprisonment, and even the death penalty.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, there are no Open countries, with states like Ethiopia going to extreme lengths to restrict information about the brutal conflict in the Amhara and Oromia regions. However, countries such as The Gambia, Angola, Malawi, and Zambia saw several score hikes, indicating some positive development.

In the Americas, the Regional Expression Score fell by 8 points, emphasising the serious impact of restrictions on large populations.

The Global Expression Report – which this year presents the data-driven study as an interactive set of maps and visualisations – unveils insights and trends from around the world, highlighting both advances and challenges to fundamental rights.

The number of people living in countries that restrict freedom of expression is at the highest point in two decades.