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Global Censorship Requires a Global Response

Global Censorship Requires a Global Response

Governments across the world are imposing and enforcing laws to silence free expression, and even free thought.

Increasingly, we are seeing not only the failure to protect free speech, but also the introduction of measures by the state to actively silence and sanction free expression.

Learn more about these cases to see how ADF International is standing against global censorship:

Breaking News

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Is silent prayer really a CRIME? 🇬🇧
Is silent prayer really a CRIME? 🇬🇧
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PATHWAYS clinical trial. This isn’t research – this is experimentation.
PATHWAYS clinical trial. This isn’t research – this is experimentation.
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The U.S. has officially designated 🇳🇬 Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern”
The U.S. has officially designated 🇳🇬 Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern”
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Päivi Räsänen Back in Court: Finnish Supreme Court Hearing for Oct 30th (Part one)
Päivi Räsänen Back in Court: Finnish Supreme Court Hearing for Oct 30th (Part one)
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🚨 Free Speech Under Threat
🚨 Free Speech Under Threat
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Nigeria: The Persecuted Christians You Need to Know About
Nigeria: The Persecuted Christians You Need to Know About
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Yahaya Sharif-Aminu — facing the death penalty for sharing song lyrics on WhatsApp
Yahaya Sharif-Aminu — facing the death penalty for sharing song lyrics on WhatsApp
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Landmark UN Report: Surrogacy is Violence Against Women and Girls
Landmark UN Report: Surrogacy is Violence Against Women and Girls
03:28
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Päivi Räsänen Back in Court: Finnish Supreme Court Sets Hearing for Oct 30
Päivi Räsänen Back in Court: Finnish Supreme Court Sets Hearing for Oct 30
02:15
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Prosecutor Backs Down in Case Against Scottish Grandmother in Major Free Speech Victory
Prosecutor Backs Down in Case Against Scottish Grandmother in Major Free Speech Victory
02:03

Governments should focus on protecting speech, not squashing it

Freedom of speech is a prerequisite for a free society, and a fundamental human right guaranteed by every major human rights treaty. Upholding this right is essential for the protection of all of our human rights. 

State-driven censorship fuels cancel culture and a climate of fear. Once the state starts censoring “unpopular” speech, there is no logical stopping point.

Without free speech, every human right is imperiled

While laws that punish speech often impose different punishments and occur in different contexts, the foundation is often very similar. For example, blasphemy laws and “hate speech” laws are both state-driven censorship grounded in the idea that some words are simply too offensive to be heard.

In a free society, ideas should be challenged with ideas, not censorship

As international human rights advocates with deep expertise in defending the right to free speech, ADF International is uniquely positioned to address the escalating censorship crisis in Brazil.

Our work focuses on the international institutions – including the Organization of American States – which were set up to ensure states respect their human rights commitments.

In Brazil, our work includes petitioning the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to intervene and protect the fundamental right to free speech in Brazil, holding the state to account for violating its international legal obligations.

Latest News

December 19, 2025

Glasgow Grandmother in court for offering chat in “buffer zone”

Christian grandmother Rose Docherty was arrested and criminally charged for holding a sign reading “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want” within 200m of a Glasgow hospital Prosecution back down on “disproportionate”
Read More

More Resources

CENSORED: How European "Hate Speech" Laws are Threatening Free Speech

Paul Coleman, ADF International Executive Director

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A Guide to Understanding

The Digital Services Act

ADF International on Global Censorship

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Adah

Adah had to flee her home after being threatened by her family for her conversion and obtained a protective order in another state.

Pastor Ezekiel

Pastor Ezekiel was captured and tortured by unidentified men for two weeks in February 2024, and then handed over to the police, who released him.

David

David was captured and tortured by unidentified men for two weeks in February 2024, and then handed over to the police, who charged him with kidnapping and obtained a conviction without a lawyer in 3 days. In July, the High Court in Northern Nigeria overturned his wrongful conviction. He is now free.

Naomi

Naomi had to flee her home after being threatened by her family for her conversion, and obtained a protective order in another state.

Rhoda Jatau

Nigerian Christian mother of 5, Rhoda Jatau, has been acquitted after being imprisoned for 19-months for allegedly sharing a video on WhatsApp.

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Yahaya Sharif-Aminu

In March 2020, a dangerous mob burned down his house and the Hisbah religious police, an official authority in charge of enforcing Sharia law, arrested Yahaya. Shortly after, the young man was convicted in a Sharia court for his alleged “blasphemy” and sentenced to death by hanging. His Supreme Court appeal has the potential to overturn Sharia-based blasphemy laws in Northern Nigeria.

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Statement of Faith

Based on our adherence to the inspired, infallible, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God in Scripture, we profess with the Christian Church throughout time and around the world the faith expressed in the Apostles’ Creed:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

Päivi Räsänen

Eine Abgeordnete des finnischen Parlaments, die wegen ‘Hassrede’ angeklagt wurde, nachdem sie öffentlich ihre christlichen Überzeugungen zu Ehe und Sexualität geäußert hatte.

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce

Die engagierte Lebensschützerin aus Großbritannien, die festgenommen wurde, als sie still in der Nähe einer Abtreibungsklinik auf einer öffentlichen Straße betete.

Rodrigo Iván Cortés

Ein ehemaliger Kongressabgeordnete aus Mexiko, der bestraft wurde, nachdem er die biologische Wahrheit der zwei Geschlechter verteidigt hatte.

Nada und Hamouda

Aus dem Sudan, deren Ehe von einem Scharia-Gericht aufgelöst wurde und die mit 100 Peitschenhieben und Lebensgefahr bedroht wurden, nur weil sie zum Christentum konvertierten.

Shagufta und Shafqat

Ein christliches Paar aus Pakistan, das 7 Jahre lang in der Todeszelle saß, weil sie angeblich eine blasphemische Textnachricht versendet hatten - obwohl beide weder lesen noch schreiben können.

Päivi Räsänen

Päivi Räsänen, a member of parliament and devoted grandmother from Finland, charged with 'hate speech' for voicing her deeply held beliefs on the Christian view of marriage and sexuality.

Stand with Päivi