Al Jazeera World

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, among others, are platforms enabling free expression of information and ideas, but they are also increasingly used to spread fake news and hate speech - making serious public policy discussions more difficult and thereby undermining democracies.

What is the state of freedom of speech around the world? Is democracy under threat from all the misinformation and manipulation? And how do you police the internet without censorship and restricting freedom of expression?

David Kaye, the UN special rapporteur for freedom of expression, is an independent expert who is tasked by the UN Human Rights Council to report and monitor on the freedom of expression globally - including on the internet and social media.

"The problem that we see all around the world today is that governments are increasingly interfering with all sorts of human rights, but in terms of my mandate, they are interfering increasingly with everyone's right to freedom of expression and this is unfortunately a global phenomenon," he told Al Jazeera.

Since 2014, when Kaye started his role, he has seen the state of freedom of expression going backwards. "We have seen increasing efforts by political leaders, by governments to restrict the kind of robust debate that we expect in democratic societies. We see an increasing concentration of media controlled by the state, it's been deeply problematic over the last couple of years."

While the US has traditionally played a role in advocating for freedom of expression, US President Donald Trump may be sending a different message.

"When you have a president who attacks the media on a regular basis, where he calls the media 'the enemy of the people' which I think he does for strategic purposes to sow doubt in the people's opinion about media and in the truthfulness of traditional reporting, I think that's deeply problematic," Kaye said, adding, "the rhetoric gives some comfort to authoritarians."

While Kaye says some societies - like North Korea - are "closed", others may have journalists targeted for their words. The brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 2, 2018, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, has led to a demand for accountability and transparency.

US intelligence agencies have concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also referred to as MBS, ordered the murder of Khashoggi - a conclusion the Saudi kingdom denies.

Kaye says there is a broader issue of inaction in the face of Khashoggi's murder.

"There's been no effort in the UN system by states to seek to censure Saudi Arabia, except in one instance led by Iceland actually in the Human Rights Council. Except for that, in an informal way, there's been very little censure of Saudi Arabia for its role in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and I think that is frankly a travesty," he said.

"All of the threads lead back to the crown prince. He is responsible, I think that seems pretty clear. Whether it amounts to criminal culpability, I think is a question I would really like to see handled by the structures of the UN system."

The UN determined that the ability to use Facebook was one of the motivators for people to incite violence against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017.

"Facebook really did not do anything in the face of that incitement of violence even though that was inconsistent with its own rules for participating in the service," Kaye said.

Facebook acknowledged it wasn't doing enough to prevent the incitement of violence against the Rohingya community and created additional rules to address the issue, but Kaye noted in many instances it is a real question whether companies are consistently enforcing these rules.

"The major problem here is that we don't know because they are not transparent about their implementations of their rules."

Kaye said government regulation to ensure transparency may be a solution but the other issue is policing the internet without censorship.

According to Kaye, the internet itself has changed and it is no longer a place where you can discover a whole world of information without any restrictions.

"It was very difficult for governments to impose restrictions. But that internet is gone," he said. "The internet in the last 15 years has made censorship easier, rather than allow us to reach what we had expected at some level, which might have been a naive expectation of a nirvana of free speech online."

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Natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean is a highly-prized commodity.

In 1999, geological surveys revealed that there were natural gas fields off the coast of Gaza. But through a series of poor decisions, questionable leadership and regional geopolitics, the so-called Gaza Marine gas field has lain dormant for 20 years.

So why has Gaza's gas not been exploited for decades? And why has such a major story received relatively little media attention? While making this film, Al Jazeera obtained exclusive documents revealing correspondence between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and other bodies involved in the negotiations.

When mineral engineers first told Yasser Arafat about the potential gas resources off Gaza, he proclaimed it "a gift from God to the Palestinian people". The geological surveys suggested that this gas was good quality, of real value, and within easy reach of Gaza's coastline. It was seen by many as a way for Palestinians to achieve energy independence and perhaps a little sovereignty.

"If our gas and oil are produced properly, Palestine in general and Gaza, in particular, won't need international aid anymore," says Yousef al-Mansi, a former Palestinian minister.

But the PA seemed strangely hesitant right from the start.

Added to that, a non-competitive contract with British Gas in 1999 gave Palestinians a minor share of potential gas revenues. Later, Israel - an obvious market - blocked a deal with British Gas in 2003, while Egypt began selling gas to Israel, commandeering what would have been Gaza Marine's share of the market.

What's more, a veil of secrecy surrounds the deal-making.

"For 20 years, the PA continued to hide facts and refused to answer questions asked by several parties around the world," says economic analyst Rami Abdo.

No one at the PA would talk to Al Jazeera about the deal, while political divisions within the governing authority have weakened its ability to exploit a potentially life-changing resource.

"Look at the rest of the region," says Dania Akkad, a senior editor at Middle East Eye. "They’ve all discovered gas and they’re all now thinking they’re going to be the next wealthy rich-in-gas countries. Meanwhile, people in Gaza just sit with the gas out in the ocean."

"It's exactly as if you were somebody who didn’t have any food to eat and you had a feast put in front of you and you were told you were not able to eat this feast," she says.

As the blockade of Gaza continues, its people spend half their lives in darkness in a perpetual energy crisis, while the answer to many of their economic problems lies below the seabed a few kilometres away.

"The Palestinians in Gaza right now are energy dependent," Akkad says. "Meanwhile, off their coast, they have gas that could make them energy rich."

There are now at least eight gas fields which experts say international maritime law gives the Palestinians the right to exploit - if only they were allowed.

All this time, Israel's first gas field right next to Gaza Marine, called Leviathan, is due to come on stream later in 2019. The PA once contemplated buying Israeli gas from Leviathan. Although the deal was stopped, the irony of it sums up the PA’s two decades of failure to tap into Gaza Marine - while Israel's continued efforts ensure they may never succeed.

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Natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean is a highly-prized commodity.

In 1999, geological surveys revealed that there were natural gas fields off the coast of Gaza. But through a series of poor decisions, questionable leadership and regional geopolitics, the so-called Gaza Marine gas field has lain dormant for 20 years.

So why has Gaza's gas not been exploited for decades? And why has such a major story received relatively little media attention? While making this film, Al Jazeera obtained exclusive documents revealing correspondence between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and other bodies involved in the negotiations.

When mineral engineers first told Yasser Arafat about the potential gas resources off Gaza, he proclaimed it "a gift from God to the Palestinian people". The geological surveys suggested that this gas was good quality, of real value, and within easy reach of Gaza's coastline. It was seen by many as a way for Palestinians to achieve energy independence and perhaps a little sovereignty.

"If our gas and oil are produced properly, Palestine in general and Gaza, in particular, won't need international aid anymore," says Yousef al-Mansi, a former Palestinian minister.

But the PA seemed strangely hesitant right from the start.

Added to that, a non-competitive contract with British Gas in 1999 gave Palestinians a minor share of potential gas revenues. Later, Israel - an obvious market - blocked a deal with British Gas in 2003, while Egypt began selling gas to Israel, commandeering what would have been Gaza Marine's share of the market.

What's more, a veil of secrecy surrounds the deal-making.

"For 20 years, the PA continued to hide facts and refused to answer questions asked by several parties around the world," says economic analyst Rami Abdo.

No one at the PA would talk to Al Jazeera about the deal, while political divisions within the governing authority have weakened its ability to exploit a potentially life-changing resource.

"Look at the rest of the region," says Dania Akkad, a senior editor at Middle East Eye. "They’ve all discovered gas and they’re all now thinking they’re going to be the next wealthy rich-in-gas countries. Meanwhile, people in Gaza just sit with the gas out in the ocean."

"It's exactly as if you were somebody who didn’t have any food to eat and you had a feast put in front of you and you were told you were not able to eat this feast," she says.

As the blockade of Gaza continues, its people spend half their lives in darkness in a perpetual energy crisis, while the answer to many of their economic problems lies below the seabed a few kilometres away.

"The Palestinians in Gaza right now are energy dependent," Akkad says. "Meanwhile, off their coast, they have gas that could make them energy rich."

There are now at least eight gas fields which experts say international maritime law gives the Palestinians the right to exploit - if only they were allowed.

All this time, Israel's first gas field right next to Gaza Marine, called Leviathan, is due to come on stream later in 2019. The PA once contemplated buying Israeli gas from Leviathan. Although the deal was stopped, the irony of it sums up the PA’s two decades of failure to tap into Gaza Marine - while Israel's continued efforts ensure they may never succeed.

-

More from Al Jazeera World on:

YouTube - http://aje.io/aljazeeraworldYT

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Twitter - https://twitter.com/AlJazeera_World

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Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe

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- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

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- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean is a highly-prized commodity.

In 1999, geological surveys revealed that there were natural gas fields off the coast of Gaza. But through a series of poor decisions, questionable leadership and regional geopolitics, the so-called Gaza Marine gas field has lain dormant for 20 years.

So why has Gaza's gas not been exploited for decades? And why has such a major story received relatively little media attention? While making this film, Al Jazeera obtained exclusive documents revealing correspondence between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and other bodies involved in the negotiations.

When mineral engineers first told Yasser Arafat about the potential gas resources off Gaza, he proclaimed it "a gift from God to the Palestinian people". The geological surveys suggested that this gas was good quality, of real value, and within easy reach of Gaza's coastline. It was seen by many as a way for Palestinians to achieve energy independence and perhaps a little sovereignty.

"If our gas and oil are produced properly, Palestine in general and Gaza, in particular, won't need international aid anymore," says Yousef al-Mansi, a former Palestinian minister.

But the PA seemed strangely hesitant right from the start.

Added to that, a non-competitive contract with British Gas in 1999 gave Palestinians a minor share of potential gas revenues. Later, Israel - an obvious market - blocked a deal with British Gas in 2003, while Egypt began selling gas to Israel, commandeering what would have been Gaza Marine's share of the market.

What's more, a veil of secrecy surrounds the deal-making.

"For 20 years, the PA continued to hide facts and refused to answer questions asked by several parties around the world," says economic analyst Rami Abdo.

No one at the PA would talk to Al Jazeera about the deal, while political divisions within the governing authority have weakened its ability to exploit a potentially life-changing resource.

"Look at the rest of the region," says Dania Akkad, a senior editor at Middle East Eye. "They’ve all discovered gas and they’re all now thinking they’re going to be the next wealthy rich-in-gas countries. Meanwhile, people in Gaza just sit with the gas out in the ocean."

"It's exactly as if you were somebody who didn’t have any food to eat and you had a feast put in front of you and you were told you were not able to eat this feast," she says.

As the blockade of Gaza continues, its people spend half their lives in darkness in a perpetual energy crisis, while the answer to many of their economic problems lies below the seabed a few kilometres away.

"The Palestinians in Gaza right now are energy dependent," Akkad says. "Meanwhile, off their coast, they have gas that could make them energy rich."

There are now at least eight gas fields which experts say international maritime law gives the Palestinians the right to exploit - if only they were allowed.

All this time, Israel's first gas field right next to Gaza Marine, called Leviathan, is due to come on stream later in 2019. The PA once contemplated buying Israeli gas from Leviathan. Although the deal was stopped, the irony of it sums up the PA’s two decades of failure to tap into Gaza Marine - while Israel's continued efforts ensure they may never succeed.

-

More from Al Jazeera World on:

YouTube - http://aje.io/aljazeeraworldYT

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AlJazeeraWorld

Twitter - https://twitter.com/AlJazeera_World

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Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe

-

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For a group of alienated young Afghan refugees in Iran, football proves a powerful force that gives them a much-needed boost in pride, identity and self-worth.

They call their team 'Wahdat' meaning 'unity' and assemble a talented and determined squad. They overcome all the odds to form a team, obtain sponsorship and enter one of the Iranian futsal, five-a-side competitions played in evenings after iftar during Ramadan.

They not only make it through the early rounds but go on to win the final and lift the Ramadan Cup.

But this is about more than football. It's about young men trying to rise above their circumstances and their daily struggle to survive - and succeeding.

Afghans have been seeking refuge in Iran since the 1970s but they and their families are largely unregistered. Although they can go to school, they cannot attend university, or work as civil servants or in most white-collar jobs. So they're limited to manual work, often in construction.

"I want a better job but I'm still grateful for this one. There are many people without jobs," says Reza Ghaljayi, a Wahdat player working as a building labourer.

"Companies don't hire us ... We work for one day, then nothing for four days," says street trader and Wahdat team supervisor Dastagir Barik Zehi.

Many young Afghans do not feel welcome in shopping malls or places of entertainment and claim widespread discrimination.

"You get attached to the place where you're born. I was born, studied, married and grew up here. But, unfortunately, I don't have a residence permit or an ID," says another footballer, Mojtaba Haji Hosseini.

For many, football is their only social outlet and can be their salvation.

"Only football motivates us to live. If there was no football, I don't know what we'd do or where we'd go," says Reza.

The Wahdat team is strong. One of them once played for Afghanistan Under-20s. But the last time they took part in a Ramadan tournament two years ago, there was violence on and off the pitch, blacklisting them in their hometown.

It takes all captain Nasir Zouri's organisational powers to get them into a competition in another town - and find a sponsor prepared to back them. That would normally just involve funding, but here it also means having enough influence to ensure the players' welfare and safety during the tournament.

Afghan United is a touching and rarely-told story about a disadvantaged community, but with a positive, life-affirming outcome - in the footballing sense, at least.

-

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Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe

-

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For a group of alienated young Afghan refugees in Iran, football proves a powerful force that gives them a much-needed boost in pride, identity and self-worth.

They call their team 'Wahdat' meaning 'unity' and assemble a talented and determined squad. They overcome all the odds to form a team, obtain sponsorship and enter one of the Iranian futsal, five-a-side competitions played in evenings after iftar during Ramadan.

They not only make it through the early rounds but go on to win the final and lift the Ramadan Cup.

But this is about more than football. It's about young men trying to rise above their circumstances and their daily struggle to survive - and succeeding.

Afghans have been seeking refuge in Iran since the 1970s but they and their families are largely unregistered. Although they can go to school, they cannot attend university, or work as civil servants or in most white-collar jobs. So they're limited to manual work, often in construction.

"I want a better job but I'm still grateful for this one. There are many people without jobs," says Reza Ghaljayi, a Wahdat player working as a building labourer.

"Companies don't hire us ... We work for one day, then nothing for four days," says street trader and Wahdat team supervisor Dastagir Barik Zehi.

Many young Afghans do not feel welcome in shopping malls or places of entertainment and claim widespread discrimination.

"You get attached to the place where you're born. I was born, studied, married and grew up here. But, unfortunately, I don't have a residence permit or an ID," says another footballer, Mojtaba Haji Hosseini.

For many, football is their only social outlet and can be their salvation.

"Only football motivates us to live. If there was no football, I don't know what we'd do or where we'd go," says Reza.

The Wahdat team is strong. One of them once played for Afghanistan Under-20s. But the last time they took part in a Ramadan tournament two years ago, there was violence on and off the pitch, blacklisting them in their hometown.

It takes all captain Nasir Zouri's organisational powers to get them into a competition in another town - and find a sponsor prepared to back them. That would normally just involve funding, but here it also means having enough influence to ensure the players' welfare and safety during the tournament.

Afghan United is a touching and rarely-told story about a disadvantaged community, but with a positive, life-affirming outcome - in the footballing sense, at least.

-

More from Al Jazeera World on:

YouTube - http://aje.io/aljazeeraworldYT

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AlJazeeraWorld

Twitter - https://twitter.com/AlJazeera_World

Visit our website - http://www.aljazeera.com/aljazeeraworld

Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe

-

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

For a group of alienated young Afghan refugees in Iran, football proves a powerful force that gives them a much-needed boost in pride, identity and self-worth.

They call their team 'Wahdat' meaning 'unity' and assemble a talented and determined squad. They overcome all the odds to form a team, obtain sponsorship and enter one of the Iranian futsal, five-a-side competitions played in evenings after iftar during Ramadan.

They not only make it through the early rounds but go on to win the final and lift the Ramadan Cup.

But this is about more than football. It's about young men trying to rise above their circumstances and their daily struggle to survive - and succeeding.

Afghans have been seeking refuge in Iran since the 1970s but they and their families are largely unregistered. Although they can go to school, they cannot attend university, or work as civil servants or in most white-collar jobs. So they're limited to manual work, often in construction.

"I want a better job but I'm still grateful for this one. There are many people without jobs," says Reza Ghaljayi, a Wahdat player working as a building labourer.

"Companies don't hire us ... We work for one day, then nothing for four days," says street trader and Wahdat team supervisor Dastagir Barik Zehi.

Many young Afghans do not feel welcome in shopping malls or places of entertainment and claim widespread discrimination.

"You get attached to the place where you're born. I was born, studied, married and grew up here. But, unfortunately, I don't have a residence permit or an ID," says another footballer, Mojtaba Haji Hosseini.

For many, football is their only social outlet and can be their salvation.

"Only football motivates us to live. If there was no football, I don't know what we'd do or where we'd go," says Reza.

The Wahdat team is strong. One of them once played for Afghanistan Under-20s. But the last time they took part in a Ramadan tournament two years ago, there was violence on and off the pitch, blacklisting them in their hometown.

It takes all captain Nasir Zouri's organisational powers to get them into a competition in another town - and find a sponsor prepared to back them. That would normally just involve funding, but here it also means having enough influence to ensure the players' welfare and safety during the tournament.

Afghan United is a touching and rarely-told story about a disadvantaged community, but with a positive, life-affirming outcome - in the footballing sense, at least.

-

More from Al Jazeera World on:

YouTube - http://aje.io/aljazeeraworldYT

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AlJazeeraWorld

Twitter - https://twitter.com/AlJazeera_World

Visit our website - http://www.aljazeera.com/aljazeeraworld

Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe

-

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

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In Lebanon, there are thousands of stateless people like the Abu Eid tribe. They cannot access free public services like education and healthcare, have no freedom of movement, cannot own property, marry or work legally because of their lack of legal status. They can’t vote or run for public office.

One of Lebanon’s many political challenges is overdue reform of its citizenship laws, to address the problems faced by its many vulnerable communities. Not doing so might cause more problems than it solves.

In Lebanon, there are thousands of stateless people like the Abu Eid tribe. They cannot access free public services like education and healthcare, have no freedom of movement, cannot own property, marry or work legally because of their lack of legal status. They can’t vote or run for public office.

One of Lebanon’s many political challenges is overdue reform of its citizenship laws, to address the problems faced by its many vulnerable communities. Not doing so might cause more problems than it solves.

In Lebanon, there are thousands of stateless people like the Abu Eid tribe. They cannot access free public services like education and healthcare, have no freedom of movement, cannot own property, marry or work legally because of their lack of legal status. They can’t vote or run for public office.

One of Lebanon’s many political challenges is overdue reform of its citizenship laws, to address the problems faced by its many vulnerable communities. Not doing so might cause more problems than it solves.