PEN joins open letter to European Commission regarding SLAPPs
Today, PEN International, Danish PEN, English PEN, German PEN, Norwegian PEN, Scottish PEN and Swedish PEN joined the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom and 18 other organisations in an open letter to the European Commission regarding the threat of vexatious litigation against journalists, activists and others.
Based on legal advice by Dr Justin Borg-Barthet from the Centre for Private International Law at the University of Aberdeen, we propose a number of short- to medium-term measures that will strengthen the protection of fundamental rights of citizens, journalists, activists, academics, trade unionists, media organisations and NGOs who are the target of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), and their ability to supplement and enable enforcement of the law of the European Union.