THE Commonwealth likes to talk a big game when it comes to democratic values. Its leaders signed lofty “media principles” in Samoa last year, promising to defend free expression and protect journalists. Yet a new report by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, the Commonwealth Journalists Association and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association shows how far words and practice diverge. Across 41 member states defamation remains a criminal offence; 48 retain sedition laws; and 37 still enforce blasphemy provisions. These colonial leftovers are routinely wielded against reporters, activists and critics. The cost is not only paid in lives; it can also be counted in liberties lost. Between 2006 and 2023, 213 journalists were killed in Commonwealth countries, according to Unesco. In 96pc of cases, the perpetrators were never brought to justice. Such impunity is not just a stain on governments; it is an incentive for would-be assassins.

Pakistan is a prime example. Over 80 journalists have been killed in less than two decades, making it one of the deadliest Commonwealth countries for the profession. Few cases have been credibly prosecuted. The killings of Saleem Shahzad, an investigative reporter abducted and murdered in 2011; of Wali Khan Babar, gunned down the same year with several witnesses later eliminated; and of Arshad Sharif, shot by Kenyan police in 2022 after fleeing threats at home, remain either unsolved or only partly adjudicated. Bereaved families are left with questions and, in some cases, intimidation. Legal harassment compounds the danger. The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act has become a catch-all tool against inconvenient voices online. Blasphemy laws hang over not only minorities but journalists, creating self-censorship. Small wonder the country is in the bottom tier of the World Press Freedom Index. What is to be done? The report urges repeal of criminal defamation and sedition, independent investigations into attacks on journalists, and accountability mechanisms to end impunity. Pakistan, and the Commonwealth more broadly, will need more than pledges. Repealing archaic laws, reforming digital-era censorship statutes, and empowering independent prosecutors would be a start. Until then, declarations about media freedom will just be empty rhetoric. For all the talk of ‘shared values’, the Commonwealth has allowed its members to muzzle the very voices that make democracy meaningful. If the press is unsafe, so is the promise of accountability.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2025