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Global Policy & Advocacy

Impact through research, investigation, reporting, policy engagement, and advocacy

about Global Policy & Advocacy

Global Policy & Advocacy (GPA) works to protect and strengthen artistic freedom around the world.

Grounded in a human rights approach and aligned with the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the program focuses on improving the laws, policies, and systems that shape artists’ lives and work.

GPA centers the experiences of artists and cultural workers who face censorship, persecution, displacement, or barriers to participation in cultural life. By combining careful research with active engagement in global policy spaces, the program helps ensure that artistic freedom is recognized as essential to open, democratic societies.

What We Do

Research & Reports

Together with AFI, ILA seeks to address the persistent underreporting of violations of artistic freedom through our joint research initiatives. We conduct in-depth, country-specific research on restrictions on creative expression, documenting global and regional trends to inform cultural policy at the national level and assess its alignment with international human rights standards in multilateral fora.

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Research & Reports

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Advocacy & Engagement

ILA engages with key international and regional multilateral bodies, including the United Nations Human Rights Council, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and European Union human rights mechanisms, to ensure that artistic freedom is recognized and protected as a core component of freedom of expression and cultural rights.

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Advocacy & Engagement

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Focus Areas

Our work addresses a set of interconnected issues that are critical to artistic freedom worldwide.

These focus areas reflect the real‑world challenges artists face and highlight where policy change can make a meaningful difference:

  • Freedom of Expression – Supporting strong protections so artists can create, share, and challenge ideas without fear of censorship or retaliation.
  • Artists’ Rights – Advancing recognition of artists as rights‑holders whose work, labor, and voices deserve protection.
  • Artist Mobility – Promoting policies that make it easier for artists to cross borders, collaborate internationally, and continue their work safely.
  • Asylum & Refugee Rights – Advocating for fair asylum systems that recognize threats to artistic expression as a legitimate basis for protection.
  • Cultural Rights & Heritage Preservation – Protecting cultural practices, heritage, and creative expression from erasure, destruction, or political misuse.
  • Independence of Cultural Institutions – Supporting cultural spaces and institutions that operate free from political pressure or interference.

 

Partnerships

Collaboration is central to ILA’s approach. We work alongside artists, cultural organizations, human rights groups, and policy partners to strengthen collective advocacy for artistic freedom. By sharing knowledge and building networks, the program helps amplify artists’ voices and advance more inclusive, protective policies worldwide.

Support ILA’s Work

As censorship rises and artists are targeted for speaking truth to power, protecting creative voices has never been more urgent. Since 2024, ILA has supported over 100 artists at risk. Your contribution ensures artists can keep creating, sharing, and inspiring change—protecting both their voices and the right to artistic freedom worldwide.

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