Asia Centre’s 7th International Conference will take place on August 24 to 26, 2022, in Bangkok, Thailand.
This conference will assess the state of freedom of expression in Asia in the aftermath of the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the back of rising autocracy, academic, press and internet freedoms have been severely affected. National governments, in trying to deal with the pandemic, securitized health responses and introduced fake news legislation or enacted emergency laws to manage information flow. However, those criticizing the responses to the mismanagement of dealing with COVID-19 infections and the roll out of national vaccination programmes, were silenced using these laws. As countries recover from the lost years of the international health crisis, it is critical to evaluate and understand the impact of freedom of expression, in particular academic, press and internet freedoms. This interdisciplinary and policy-oriented conference seeks to analyze these impacts and to explore practical solutions that can contribute to freedom of expression so that post-pandemic societal recovery can be placed on a strong democratic footing.
For more information, you may visit asiacentre.org/event/7th-international-conference_freedom-of-expression-in-asia/
If you are interested to partner with the Asia Centre for the conference, or to participate in the conference, click here.