Index on Censorship EU project

Index on Censorship is an international organisation that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression. The inspiration of poet Stephen Spender, Index was founded in 1972 to publish the untold stories of dissidents behind the Iron Curtain. Today, we fight for free speech around the world, challenging censorship whenever and wherever it occurs.

Index believes that free expression is the foundation of a free society and this website will enable journalists to report incidences of violations as soon as they happen. By mapping these reports online, the entire system will act as an advocacy, research and response tool, highlighting that violations on media freedom still occur in Europe.

Index on Censorship wanted to map freedom of speech in Europe and bring to light the many restrictions and threats faced by media professionals and citizen journalists today. They chose to use Ushahidi’s Solutions service, which, after consultation with Ushahidi, was deemed to be the most straightforward way to set up the project.

The Ushahidi Solutions team left Index on Censorship with enough free time and peace of mind to engage partners and spread the word about the platform. Ushahidi created a white label design to fit Index on Censorship’s brand, provided technical strategy consulting, and set up the servers and hosting.

The project launched in May 2014, and so far has mapped over 400 reports from 36 European countries.

Thanks to Ushahidi’s support, Index on Censorship was in the best possible position to contribute to the protection of media freedom and democracy in Europe. One of Ushahidi’s sayings is “Technology is only 10% of a successful deployment”; Ushahidi took care of that 10%, allowing Index on Censorship to focus all of their resources on the critical outreach, training, and verification required to make their project successful.