Global Climate Legal Defense (CliDef) - Support Centres

Global Climate Legal Defense (CliDef) is a nonprofit initiative founded in November 2022 during COP27 by Equation Campaign. Its mission is to protect frontline climate defenders—activists, scientists, journalists, Indigenous leaders, parents, and students—who often face legal, financial, and political backlash for their work.

CliDef operates through a four-pronged strategy:

1. Providing legal advice and strategic planning to help individuals anticipate and respond to legal reprisals effectively;
2. Funding and supporting local lawyers and NGOs, since pro bono legal help is scarce in many regions; 
3. Coordinating legal support, matching defenders with the right attorneys and staying involved throughout cases;
4. Building a global legal network, expanding the pool of expertise—ranging from tax and defamation to criminal defense—to strengthen climate defenders worldwide.

CliDef ensures that those fighting for climate justice are not legally outgunned by fossil-fuel interests or government power, enabling them to continue their vital work.

What’s in a joke? Assessing humor in free speech jurisprudence - Reports

Primarily aimed at legal professionals, yet also valuable to policymakers or advocacy groups, this toolkit is conceived to provide orientation in assessing humour in the context of free speech adjudication, exploring the specific challenges it poses, the legal safeguards protecting humour and satire as well as the limitations of their exercise, to present concrete interpretative tools in free speech cases, while also considering the relevant intersections with intellectual property law

Poland: New president urged to commit to press freedom reforms - Article

Following the victory of Karol Nawrocki in Poland’s presidential election on 1 June, the undersigned media freedom organisations today call on the president elect to commit to building a cross-party consensus required to bolster press freedom and strengthen Polish democracy

Am I facing a SLAPP? - Reports

An interactive tool for self-assessment supplied by Index on Censorship launched on May 27th, “Am I facing a SLAPP?” was developed by leading anti-SLAPP experts in order to offer a first evaluating instrument to raise awareness and empower SLAPP targets to quickly assess their situation

Croatia: a country dossier ahead of the MFRR Media Freedom mission - Article

A dossier that highlights what is at stake in Croatia and for the journalists working in the country, ahead of the visit of the MFRR delegation to Zagreb.

Hungary: Foreign funding bill poses most serious threat to independent media in years - Article

OBCT joins MFRR partners in urging the EU to take action against Hungary’s proposed foreign funding bill, which poses a serious threat to freedom of expression and media freedom

France: MFRR and RSF renew calls to end police violence after new attacks on journalists at May Day protest - Article

OBCT joins freedom of expression organizations in condemning state security forces' violence against journalists covering the International Workers’ Day protest in Paris 

Croatia: Weekly Novosti faces drastic funding cuts amid political pressure - Article

MFRR partners condemn the drastic cuts in funding for the weekly magazine Novosti, the only print media for the Serb minority in Croatia

Europe at a crossroads: defending democracy depends on defending media freedom - Article

On World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners express solidarity with all journalists and media professionals who face threats, intimidation, and attacks for their work. In these challenging times of socio-political turmoil in Europe and beyond, public interest journalism is more crucial than ever, as journalists continue to work under increasing pressure. We call for decisive action by the European Union, its member states, and candidate countries to uphold and protect media freedom

Media Freedom Rapid Response Input regarding the EU Democracy Shield - Article

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) has submitted its official input to the EU Democracy Shield, emphasizing the need to uphold media resilience and journalist safety as essential pillars for safeguarding democracy in Europe