Company number: 2097222 Charity number: 327421
**ARTICLE 19**
**Report and Financial Statements**
**31 December 2020**
## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Administrative details**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
|**Company**|2097222||
|---|---|---|
|**number**|||
|**Charity number**|327421||
|**Registered**|Sayer Vincent, Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, London EC1Y 0TL||
|**office and**|(from 16 July 2021)||
|**operational**|||
|**address**|Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA||
||(until 16 July 2021)||
|**Trustees**|Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during the year||
||and up to the date of this|report were as follows:|
||Paddy (John) Coulter|Chair|
||Galina Arapova|Vice Chair, Resigned 27 June 2020|
||Gayathry Venkiteswaran|Appointed Vice Chair from 27 June 2020|
|||Chair of the Governance Sub-Committee|
||Mark Salway|Treasurer, Chair of the Finance and General Purpose|
|||Committee|
||Jacob J Akol|Resigned 24 July 2020|
||Nadezda Azhgikhina|Appointed 27 June 2020|
||Arturo Franco||
||Abir Ghattas|Appointed 27 June 2020|
||David Kaye|Appointed 27 June 2020, effective 10 December 2020|
||Robert Latham||
||Frank Ledwidge|Resigned 31 July 2021|
||Catalina Botero Marino|Resigned 11 February 2020|
||Lesley Swarbrick||
||Aparna Ravi|Appointed 27 June 2020|
||David Viney|Appointed 10 December 2020|
||Charles Onyango-Obbo|Appointed 25 June 2021|
|**Secretary**|Thomas Hughes|Resigned 31 January 2020|
||Quinn McKew|Appointed 27 February 2020|
|**Principal staff**|Quinn McKew|Executive Director|
||Barbora Bukovska|Senior Director of Law and Policy|
||David Diaz-Jogeix|Senior Director of Programmes|
||Nicola Dodero|Director of Finance (From December 2020)|
||Andrew Gray|Director of Finance & Operations (Resigned April 2020)|
||Maxine Harrington|Director of Human Resources|
||Neil Smith|Chief Operating Officer (From January 2021)|
||Sara Wilbourne|Director of Communications & Information|
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Administrative details**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
**Bankers** Barclays Bank PLC, London **Solicitors** Bates Wells 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE **Auditor** Sayer Vincent LLP Chartered accountants and registered auditors Invicta House 108 – 114 Golden Lane London EC1Y 0TL
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
The Trustees, who act as the Directors of the Company for the purposes of the Companies Acts, and trustees for charity law purposes, submit their annual report and the financial statements of ARTICLE 19 for the year. The Trustees confirm that the annual report and financial statements of the Charity comply with current statutory requirements, the requirements of the Charity's governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.
## **Objectives and Activities**
ARTICLE 19’s objectives are to educate the public and protect freedom of expression, access to information and related rights, throughout the world, particularly as defined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in international and regional human rights law. It fights for all hostages of censorship, defends dissenting voices that have been muzzled, and educates against laws and practices that silence.
## **Strategic report**
## **Vision and Strategy**
ARTICLE 19’s vision is a world in which all people can speak freely, actively engage in public life, and express themselves without fear or discrimination.
Our current strategy, called the Expression Agenda, runs from 2015-2021 and works in the following five key areas, with a gender theme that crosscuts all of the themes.
- **Civic Space** - we help secure the right to participate in public life, to engage in debate, criticise, protest and dissent, in physical and online space.
- **Protection** – we continue to defend those on the front line, ensuring that violations are reported, and perpetrators held to account.
- **Digital** - we embed human rights principles into law and process, engaging governments, businesses and the technical community.
- **Transparency** – we work to ensure that communities and individuals can enjoy their right to information and hold those in power accountable for their actions.
- **Media** – we work to ensure that media pluralism, freedoms and the public interest are protected and promoted in a globalised, digitalised and converged landscape.
In 2020, ARTICLE 19 continued our commitment to the inclusion of a strong focus on gender and diversity via our MX Method strategy. Our work in this area had a particular focus in 2020 on combatting online violence against women and LGBTIQ+ persons, as well as researching media stigma against LGBTIQ+ individuals in Africa.
In 2020 we commissioned an external evaluation of the Expression Agenda from Organisational Development Support, a consultancy firm working with European and international non-profit organisations to achieve greater societal impact. The results of this will feed into the development of our new strategic framework in 2021.
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
The activities currently carried out for the public benefit by the charity and to make freedom of expression a reality all over the world can be broadly categorised as follows:
- Championing freedom of expression and information, as a fundamental human right that is also central to the protection of other rights.
- Monitor, researching, publishing, lobbying, campaigning, setting standards and litigating on behalf of freedom of expression wherever it is threatened.
- Providing expertise on international human rights standards and for legislation that protects the right to speak and right to know in countries emerging from conflict, war and genocide or repression.
- Working to safeguard media pluralism, independence and diversity of views.
- Providing legal and professional training and mentoring to national actors, including nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), judges and lawyers, journalists, media owners, public officials and parliamentarians.
- Promoting the right to know of poorer communities to ensure transparency and strengthen citizens' civic participation.
In setting ARTICLE 19’s programme each year, ARTICLE 19 has regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit. The Trustees review the programmes undertaken by ARTICLE 19 to ensure that they fall within the Charity’s charitable objects and aims.
ARTICLE 19 works to achieve its charitable objectives in two ways:
- (1) through direct delivery especially in relation to work in areas where it has its own staff; and (2) through working with partner organisations, including the provision of financial and capacity support.
## **Partnership**
Work carried out by partner organisations is especially useful in jurisdictions where ARTICLE 19 has no established infrastructure for managing staff and operations or where partners provide knowledge and skills that complement ARTICLE 19’s own international comparative perspective. Partnership also assists in maximising the number of beneficiaries reached. In turn, partnership has both defined and strengthened ARTICLE 19’s effectiveness and legitimacy.
ARTICLE 19 only works with trusted national counterparts with good financial monitoring systems in place. All partners sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ARTICLE 19 on financial procedures to be followed. ARTICLE 19 seeks to conduct a due diligence assessment prior to signing any MoU with implementing partners assessing their financial controls and anti-corruption measures. Any improvements identified are included in the MoUs and ARTICLE 19 aims to provide organisations with capacity building in those areas, as needed. ARTICLE 19 requires partners to be fully accountable to ARTICLE 19 for their income and expenditure transactions as part of their financial management.
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
## **Governing Document**
ARTICLE 19 is a charitable company limited by guarantee (no 2097222). It was set up by a Memorandum of Association on 5 February 1987. ARTICLE 19 was registered as a charity on 7 January 1987 (registered charity number 327421).
## **Structure of the Organisation**
ARTICLE 19’s International Office (based in London):
- i) hosts ARTICLE 19 international support teams (including Law and Policy; Communication and Campaigns; Human Resources; Projects; and Finance and Operations) and the Executive Director.
- ii) Hosts a Regional Team (Europe and Central Asia).
- iii) directly manages the Regional Team, for Southeast Asia
- iv) provides financial, operational and fundraising support to Regional Offices in Bangladesh, Brazil, Kenya, Mexico, the United States, Senegal and Tunisia.
## The Regional Offices are of two types:
- i) Subsidiaries: these have local governance boards and take independent management decisions from the International Office. They are treated as subsidiaries in the accounts. These include ARTICLE 19 Brazil and South America (ARTIGO 19 Brasil), ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America (ARTICULO 19 Campaña Global por la libertad de expression), ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa (based in Kenya).
- ii) Branches: these do not have local governance boards or report directly to the International Office. These consist of ARTICLE 19 Bangladesh and South Asia, ARTICLE 19 Senegal and West Africa, ARTICLE 19 Middle East and North Africa, ARTICLE 19 Inc. (USA) and Stichting ARTICLE 19.
Affiliate Members are those regional offices who have a governance or advisory board from which they appoint a representative to the International General Assembly (IGA). Affiliates are ARTIGO 19 Brasil, ARTICULO 19 Campaña Global por la libertad de expression, ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa, ARTICLE 19, Inc, and ARTICLE 19 Middle East and North Africa.
The International General Assembly also includes the trustees of the charity. Members of the International Board of Trustees are nominated from the International General Assembly.
## **Board of Trustees**
ARTICLE 19 is governed by an International Board of Trustees (‘Directors’ under company law). The International Board of Trustees meets twice a year to provide strategic direction for the organisation, and to monitor the work of the Executive Director and management team.
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
Our Finance and General Purposes Committee (FGPC) is chaired by the Treasurer, Mark Salway, and is responsible for overseeing financial, audit, human resources and operational matters; this meets at least four times a year, with additional meetings as required. The Governance Sub-Committee is chaired by the Vice Chair, Gayathry Venkiteswaran, and is charged with overseeing and measuring the overall effectiveness of the governance mechanisms of the organisation and recommending new Trustees for appointment to fill vacancies. The committee meets at least four times a year.
In 2020 three Trustees resigned or retired, with an additional resignation in July 2021. Five new trustees were appointed in 2020, and a further one was appointed in June 2021. Our Board at the time of signing in 2021 consisted of:
- Paddy Coulter (Chair), Director, Oxford Global Media
- Gayathry Venkiteswaran (Vice Chair), Associate Professor of Media & Law, University of Nottingham (Malaysia Branch)
- Mark Salway FCA (Treasurer), Managing Director , Moore Kingston Smith Nonprofit Advisory
- Nadezda Azhgikhina, journalist and human rights activist
- Arturo Franco, Economist
- Abir Ghattas, Technologist
- Prof. David Kaye, Professor of Law
- Robert Latham, Lawyer specialising in media and intellectual property law
- Aparna Ravi, Lawyer specializing in corporate finance and governance
- Lesley Swarbrick, Director Sydney George and Associates (special responsibility for human resources on the Board)
- David Viney, Technologist
- Charles Onyango-Obbo, author and journalist
## **Selection and appointment of Trustees**
There is a documented and structured process for the appointment of new Trustees. Nominations and recommendations are first made by existing members and from open recruitment. Their CVs are then circulated to the Governance sub-Committee of the Board, which arranges for potential candidates to be interviewed for their suitability. The Governance Committee then proposes selected candidates to the General Assembly, who in turn recommend them to the Trustees upon agreement. Trustees will then vote to appoint a new Trustee. New Trustees are confirmed at the Annual General Meeting of ARTICLE 19.
## **Induction and training of Trustees**
Newly appointed UK Trustees meet with the Chair, the Executive Director and staff members as part of a documented and structured induction programme; they receive key ARTICLE 19 organisational and programmatic documents. For non-UK based Trustees, the induction programme process is commenced virtually and completed in person at the time of the next Board meeting.
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
## **Setting Remuneration of Key Management Personnel**
The FGPC sets the pay of the Executive Director and reviews this on a periodic basis taking into account market conditions and pay in similar organisations. The pay of other key management personnel is determined by a salary scale that is updated annually in line with inflation and applied to all staff.
## **Achievements and Performance against specific objectives**
A full review of ARTICLE 19’s work in 2020 can be found in our Annual Report at https://www.article19.org/about-us/annual-report/
2020 fundamentally changed the world in ways we are still discovering. While the virus infected millions across 2020, lockdowns and other restrictive government measures have affected millions more.
Because what hasn’t changed is the inclination of governments to exploit crisis to entrench power and gain greater control over our lives.
In times of crisis where there is a threat to public health on this scale, governments are allowed, and often required, to take more restrictive measures than they would in normal times. However, such powers typically have limits by way of a shelf life and an expiry date.
Alarmingly, many governments have exploited the coronavirus outbreak to entrench repressive measures, and in doing so, have crossed the limits that are set by international human rights laws. Dramatic increases in surveillance (including the widespread increase of deeply intrusive biometric technologies), extended Internet shutdowns (that prevent people from accessing health information, medical care, earning a living or connecting with their families), and unreasonable limits on public participation (through the suppression of protest or dissent) are some of the major trends we’ve seen this past year.
Power holders know that control of information and the public narrative is crucial to maintaining their control over public life. Protection of the right to speak and the right to know is an essential bulwark against this creeping authoritarianism around the world. ARTICLE 19 rose to this challenge in 2020, working with our partners in civil society and government to shine a light on the erosion of freedom of expression and adopt innovative programmes to protect people’s freedoms and ensure their voices can be heard.
Internally, ARTICLE 19 has adapted its processes to prioritise well-being and flexibility, offering tailored support to teams around the world. While many have struggled with adverse circumstances, particularly our teams in Brazil and Bangladesh who have faced uniquely dark situations, without exception, all have risen to the challenges of the pandemic and continued to deliver.
From campaigns supporting indigenous people in the Amazon to television broadcasts in Bangladesh, and from disinformation trackers in Western Africa, to an award-winning health channel in Tunisia, the breadth of work as seen in this year’s report highlights the remarkable resilience and resolve demonstrated by teams across the organisation.
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
As we look ahead, 2021 will see ARTICLE 19 reflect on the way forward through the design of a new four -year strategy. As we look to reduce inequalities and tackle the climate crisis, two of the biggest challenges facing humanity ahead, we know that true innovation and sustainable solutions will only be possible if we can guarantee that all people everywhere are free to speak and know how to access the information they need to make decisions about their lives.
Under our current strategy, we organize our work around 16 global outcomes under five strategic themes: Civic Space, Protection, Digital, Media Freedom, and Transparency. Each year, we undergo a global review called the Annual Reflection Process to assess our progress against targets for each of these themes. Below is a summary of our achievements in 2020:
## **GOAL 1: CIVIC SPACE - PROGRESS TOWARDS SHORT-TERM OUTCOMES**
## **1.1 PROTEST: SOME PROGRESS**
A significant amount of advocacy undertaken over the past few years has paid off. The long awaited General Comment (GC) 37 on Article 21 (Freedom of Assembly) of the ICCPR was passed with significant contributions from ARTICLE 19. In a challenging year in terms of freedom of assembly law, the GC 37 was a welcome result. However, COVID-19 has encouraged many countries to introduce draconian emergency measures and there is a concern that many of these will become permanent.
Progress in regions has continued but also challenged by the restrictions imposed by COVID-19. Our East African office has continued with right to protest campaigns and advocacy. In Europe, our team conducted effective crisis response management in Belarus. Our South American office is also doing pioneering research on women and protest with specific work on feminist protest.
## **1.2 PARTICIPATION: SOME PROGRESS**
There has been some progress through our PROTECT programme that is helping to define our work on participation. However, overall it was a challenge to begin implementing this programme, which affected delivery of this outcome.
However, there has been training and engagement. Our Middle East and North Africa team has made good progress working with people with disabilities, and both our South and Central American teams have engaged indigenous communities. Our Europe team has also been busy using international standards to support local partners to counter growing authoritarianism in the region.
## **1.3 EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION: SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS**
We saw strong progress on this outcome this year. Our advocacy continues to be successful at the UN and our work has been reflected in the UN Secretary General’s Strategy and Plan of Action to Tackle Hate Speech. Most recently, our hate speech pyramid and other material from our toolkit were included in the Guidance note to UN field offices. Our work is also becoming increasingly influential with social media platforms. For instance, the Rabat plan of action’s six- part tests of hate speech is now being used by Facebook as part of their terms and conditions. We have also been increasing our influence in Counter Terrorism circles, and were invited to the UNGA’s retreat on the subject in 2020.
## **GOAL 2: PROTECTION - PROGRESS TOWARDS SHORT-TERM OUTCOME**
## **2.1 SELF-PROTECTION: SOME PROGRESS**
We have exceeded the stated outcome’s goals by providing more holistic protection support in most cases. This has included protection training and advisor coaching to individuals and organisations
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
in Mexico, Europe and Central Asia, Bangladesh and East Africa. Protection has also been working with our gender and sexuality team to reinforce the gender element in our capacity and training.
The Pandemic has led to several cancelled training actions under this objective, whilst others were put online. Non-face to face training is problematic, as some aspects cannot be taught remotely. Furthermore, several targeted groups cannot participate online due to lack of safe and secure internet access. The challenges from this year have shown that more research into remote protection training is needed.
## **2.2 MEDIA ENVIRONMENT: SOME PROGRESS**
Several regions are working to deliver on this outcome. The Europe and Central Asia team has provided training and grants in Turkey to lawyers who provide legal support to the media in the country. There has also been excellent engagement in East Africa, particularly on the issue of sexual harassment. Similarly, in Bangladesh, our regional team has worked with police and other stakeholders to tackle sexual harassment issues in media organisations.
## **2.3 STATE & INTERNATIONAL ACTORS: SIGNFICIANT PROGRESS**
This outcome has performed well this year both at the regional level and at the UN. All ARTICLE 19 offices have formed coalitions to protect communicators in a year where state actors have challenged Freedom of Expression. In terms of advancing international standards, there was a progressive resolution on the Safety of Journalists (SoJ) at the Human Rights Council.
At the international level, we are now part of six coalitions working on promoting necessary protection measures. At the regional level, we are seeing some excellent success stories. For instance, our Asia team has been activating networks during the crisis in Myanmar to raise awareness but also to engage with the special procedures mechanism at the HRC.
## **2.4 IMPUNITY: SOME PROGRESS**
Progress has been unequal globally. This outcome has seen excellent progress through the significant work conducted by our Mexico team through thorough work on cases and campaigns, most notably the landmark case of the Journalist Lydia Cacho.
Both our South American and Mexican teams are at the forefront of monitoring cases and awareness raising and our monitoring in Central Asia and Eastern Europe was also significant this year. Due to capacity issues, other teams have continued monitoring activities, but had limited scope to condemn or launch sustained pressure to launch investigations. At the international level, several teams continue to bring cases to the international level.
## **2.5 ENVIRONMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS (EHRDs): SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS**
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the regional “Escazu Agreement” has now been ratified by 11 countries and will go into force in 2021, providing for strong protections for EHRDs. In Europe, A19 has participated in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Aarhus Convention, where parties are discussing the creation of a new Rapid Response Mechanism, including possibly a special rapporteur, for 2022. A19 also participated in the Foreign Policy Centre report on the protection of investigative reporters. Globally, A19 engaged in United Nations Environment Programme and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights new report "Human rights, the environment and COVID-19” with key messages, including "Strengthen Environmental Rule Of Law And Protect Environmental Human Rights Defenders” which highlights problems that environmental human rights defenders are facing.
For protection of anti-corruption civil society organisations and activists, there has been increased recognition of the need to improve protections. The High Level Panel on International Financial
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda (FACTI Panel) interim report, to which A19 provided suggestions, was released in Sept 2020 included strong recommendations on protection of whistle-blowers for states to adopt and the need to support and protect civil society fighting corruption. The UN common position to address global corruption - towards UNGASS 2021 includes recognition of protection of whistle-blowers and journalists needed to fight corruption. _NB. This outcome was moved to PROTECTION as a result of the strategy review process in Q3/4 of 2019 with an effect from Jan 2020._
## **GOAL 3: DIGITAL - PROGRESS TOWARDS SHORT-TERM OUTCOMES 3.1 DIGITAL CONTENT REGULATION: SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS**
There was a burst of laws this year seeking to regulate platforms and the internet. Governments were following each other and there has been pressure to regulate content and challenge personal privacy online. Most of the legislation concerned digital platform regulation and cybercrime law. The significant rise in protests and unrest in 2020 (in turn catalysed by the pandemic) increased the number of legislative actions.
## **3.2 PRODUCTS & SERVICES: SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS**
We completed a Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) workshop with Public Interest Registry, who manage the .org domain, the largest internet registry to date. It was a really high impact deliverable and sets a precedent of normalising the HRIA’s into the mainstream internet industry.
The pandemic limited travel and made it harder to engage with actors. Companies have been less available to talk to us due to the crisis and generally, there has been less engagement and interaction without face-to-face meetings.
## **3.3 INTERNET GOVERNANCE, MANAGEMENT AND STANDARDS: SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS**
We increased our influence in 2020, and directly intervened in tech standardisation itself in a bid to embed human rights in policies and practices. In both the International Corporation for the Assignment of Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), we developed guidelines to integrate human rights into technical development. We also engaged through participating in working groups on key issues, such as domain name systems (DNS).
All internet standards meetings quickly moved online at the beginning of the Pandemic. This became problematic as a lot of our work happens in the corridors, where we can engage with companies and governments face to face. In addition, remote meetings led to challenging schedules as they were taking place in various time zones.
## **3.4 ACCESS: SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS**
This outcome was undeveloped in previous years. This changed in 2020, and we have increased engagement with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on spectrum management standards setting, the only NGO engaging on this issue at the organisation. The spectrum is an essential natural resource and has to be shared by several operators. Our big impact this year was to successfully curb attempts to reduce spectrum allocation for community networks.
There has been ongoing hostility to Civil Society Organisations at the ITU and limited ways for them to participate unless they are part of a state delegation. We have overcome this by engaging with states, and this year we developed a new relationship with the Brazil delegation.
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
## **GOAL 4: TRANSPARENCY PROGRESS - TOWARDS SHORT-TERM OUTCOMES**
## **4.1 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS**
We performed well at the regional level. The model transparency law produced by the Organisation of American States and the Tromso convention were both important breakthroughs with significant ARTICLE 19 engagement. The Escazu agreement is currently being ratified by states and is set to be implemented in 2021. Furthermore, Sustainable Development Goal 16 is set to be reviewed in 2021 after pushing for this to happen in 2020. This means issues around good governance will be raised at every UN General Assembly High Level Political Forum (HLPF) meeting.
Regionally, Kenya worked with the government to draft regulations on the new national Access To Information law and subsequently helped train national government officials in its use. In Mexico, The Proactive Transparency project underwent an internal review and a new strategy was developed in 2020. The new implementation methodology was first implemented in Chiapas, followed by Yucatán and Oaxaca.
However, we did not get any new commitments from the UN on transparency related issues. Furthermore, there was also no HLPF resolution in 2020, because COVID prevented negotiations from going forward. Furthermore, in what can be seen as a climb down in terms of commitments, it was agreed that the UN global pact on the environment was only going to be a declaration and not a binding treaty.
## **4.2 TRANSPARENCY FOR ACCOUNTABILITY: SOME PROGRESS**
The process of discussing, drafting and enacting comprehensive right to information laws and most related legislation has stalled due to the pandemic. However, the COVID-19 outbreak generated a renewed interest in transparency, health information and governance-related issues as many governments undertook responses that hinder the right to information. This has generated a lot of attention and we have been repeatedly asked about recommendations on how to face the emergency and which positive steps governments should take to ensure the public's right to know necessary to inform and respond to the pandemic according to international standards and best practices.
International bodies have highlighted access to information as crucial to fighting the pandemic. UN bodies such as the UN Secretary General and the World Health Assembly, the decision making body of the WHO, have all recognised its importance, as have bodies such as United Nations General Assembly Special Session and the Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity panel, both of whom were heavily engaged through both public lobbying with delegates and public advocacy.
## **GOAL 5: MEDIA - PROGRESS TOWARDS SHORT-TERM OUTCOMES**
## **5.1 REGULATION (incl. FREEDOMS): SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS**
We made good progress on our Social Media Council (SMC) initiative in 2020. The model is now part of debates in policy, advocacy, and academic circles. It has been cited in reports on content moderation and ARTICLE 19 receives invitations from various organisations to discuss the concept. It is also the inspiration of a new project we are doing with UNESCO. ARTICLE 19 is also turning the concept into reality in Ireland, where we are working with the government and other stakeholders to develop the first actual council. Despite the Pandemic limiting our engagement, we hope to get closer to a constitution finalised for the Irish SMC.
Another great success is the Tunisian Press Council, which is a culmination of years of work. It is the first independent press council in the Middle East and North Africa, and a significant milestone in Tunisia’s reform process following the 2011 revolution. In Mexico, our team is using our new
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
media literacy approach to deal with misinformation. Working with the media is a challenge in the country, so they are working directly with the public, including indigenous communities
## **5.2 PLURALISM (incl. PUBLIC INTEREST): SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS**
We have been progressing on our work on media literacy (MIL). We published a report and discussed implementation with regional teams. Our broad strategy is to engage the public to raise awareness of the media landscape and different media voices.
ARTICLE 19 has been generating knowledge of media diversity around media platforms, an area that is not widely acknowledged as an issue. Research is still trying to define this field, and we as an organisation with our in depth experience is in a unique position to explain the significance of the problem and why it needs to be addressed.
The continued implementation of our Expression Agenda work in 2021 remains focussed on the following Goals:
## **GOAL 1: CIVIC SPACE**
## **1.1 PROTEST**
In 2021, we are consolidating what we have done at international fora and will bring hard won standards back to the people in target countries. This is continuous work and the capacity of ARTICLE 19 Offices to respond to regional and local challenges continues to grow. Our upcoming global campaign on the right to protest will give us the opportunity to involve all ARTICLE 19 teams. Given developments in our regions, how we evolve and grow our protest work at the national level will continue to be critical going forward.
## **1.2 PARTICIPATION**
Going forward, ARTICLE 19 will continue to provide guidance on public participation. We will watch the implementation of the Escazu agreement closely (see TRA2), and engage with countries and partners on the next steps in the Americas. Furthermore, the pandemic has brought to the fore issues of the digital divide around participation online and how to participate if one has no access to online and offline spaces. This is something we will need to investigate further as we develop our new global strategic goals.
## **1.3 EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION**
In 2021, we will continue to engage on implementation of Resolution 16/18, Rabat Plan of Action, and Istanbul Process. We will update our ‘Hate Speech’ toolkit to reflect our position on intermediary liability, and ensure that it continues to be used in at least six target countries. In addition, we will develop training modules on hate speech tailored to specific groups (such as youth, Civil Society Organisations, LGBTQI+ people, migrants, religious and ethnic minorities, and women).
## **GOAL 2: PROTECTION**
## **2.1 SELF-PROTECTION**
Our plans for 2021 include systematising our existing methodologies at global and regional levels to develop our gender inclusive guidelines on protection training and its adaptation at the local level, at least in Bangladesh, Brazil, Kenya and Mexico. In addition, we will develop gender-inclusive guidelines on monitoring and documenting attacks and impunity, based on systematisation of existing ARTICLE 19 methodologies for documenting attacks on human rights defenders and journalists to ensure effective capacity building.
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## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
## **2.2 MEDIA ENVIRONMENT**
In 2021, we will work to raise awareness and advocate for the implementation of our policy recommendations on online harassment and abuse as defined on our resource guide developed in 2020. In addition, we will undertake further work to enhance our existing ‘Anatomy’ tool on violence against women and tailor it to the contexts of specific countries (for example, Brazil). We will develop a global Resource Hub on the safety of journalists and HRDs which will include international and regional standards, research, reports, manuals, guides, practical tools, etc. This tool will be made available to enable media houses and associations, media workers' unions and associations, lawyers, online communities, Civil Society Organisations etc.
## **2.3 STATE & INTERNATIONAL ACTORS**
In 2021, we will develop and implement a holistic international and regional advocacy strategy to be used at international and regional bodies and mechanisms, in particular special procedures and treaty bodies, to promote the protection of journalists and HRDs, with a focus on crosscutting themes, such as protest, elections, and judicial harassment. In addition, we will participate in the Media Freedom Coalition, the International Civil Society Organisations Safety of Journalists Coalition, Journalists in Distress Network, A Culture Of Safety Alliance and Rights in Development to promote the safety of journalists to leverage collective efforts and to increase impact.
## **2.4 IMPUNITY**
We will continue to advocate for the reinforcement of effective UN mechanisms to tackle impunity and will engage in tackling impunity on at least 20 emblematic cases. In order to do this, we aim to develop effective guidelines to identify emblematic cases to submit communications to the United Nations Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression.
## **2.5 ENVIRONMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS**
In 2021, we will continue our advocacy at regional and international levels within the UN system especially through the United Nations Human Rights Commission and UN General Assembly resolutions. We will also follow up on the implementation of the Escazú Agreement in the Central America Region.
## **GOAL 3: DIGITAL**
## **3.1 DIGITAL CONTENT REGULATION**
In 2021, the European Union Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act will be a major talking point as will the UK’s proposed Online Harms Act and Digital Markets Acts, which need scrutiny. The Biden administration has an agenda to regulate big tech firms in the US, a rising trend in multiple jurisdictions globally.
## **3.2 PRODUCTS & SERVICES**
The production and subsequent advocacy surrounding our emotional recognition report will be a major focus in 2021. We are also conducting research on smart cities in Myanmar, focusing on state surveillance in public spaces in particular.
## **3.3 INTERNET GOVERNANCE, MANAGEMENT AND STANDARDS**
In 2021, we will focus on several access and security issues related to the 5G rollout. Another major focus will be ‘internet of things’ and ‘smart cities’ standards, where there is growing interest from companies and governments. Encryption of domain name systems will also be another focus area, where we will lobby for privacy and censorship concerns to be taken into consideration.
13
## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
## **3.4 ACCESS**
The International Telecommunications Union will host the World Telecommunication Development Conference that's taking place in November 2021. This is a major agenda setting conference for spectrum management. It is anticipated there will be a conflict between more commercial operators, and Civil Society Organisations and governments who want to provide spaces for smaller community-based not for profit operators.
## **GOAL 4: TRANSPARENCY PROGRESS**
## **4.1 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT**
In 2021, we will continue with advocacy within the UN system through the Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development group and engaging with national governments in East Africa, South America & Middle East and North Africa.
## **4.2 TRANSPARENCY FOR ACCOUNTABILITY**
2021 will be a big year for ARTICLE 19’s corruption-related work. The United Nations Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity panel released its report in March, which highlighted the importance of access to information in protecting human rights, and countering corruption, and essentially covers many of ARTICLE 19’s recommendations. The UN General Assembly Special Session in June adopted a high level declaration calling for more access to information and protection of journalists, anti-corruption NGOs, and whistle-blowers. ARTICLE 19 organised a side event on anti-corruption and access to information with Open Government Partnership and UNESCO.
## **GOAL 5: MEDIA**
## **5.1 REGULATION (incl. FREEDOMS)**
In terms of next steps in 2021, we will elaborate and improve on our Social Media Council model. Disinformation will remain on the agenda in several of our regional offices as will our work on media literacy.
## **5.2 PLURALISM (incl. PUBLIC INTEREST)**
We aim to produce podcasts and episodes on media diversity in 2021 if funding allows.
## **Financial Review**
The financial results for the year ended 31 December 2020 are set out in the Statement of Financial Activities. ARTICLE 19’s overall income of £11.8m has reduced when compared with the previous year (2019: £13.1m).
This reduction is largely due to the impact of COVID-19 on our activities – while our teams have successfully adapted during the pandemic, there are a number of activates that have had to be postponed, scaled back or delivered differently which has slowed down our spending, particularly on restricted grants. This reduced expenditure has a corresponding impact on income as donors release income to us only once we have spent previous instalments. Overall, this has resulted in a reduction of restricted income to £7.5m (2019: £9.9m).
However, unrestricted income has actually increased to £4.4m (2019: £3.2m) – this is due to continued support and trust of our core donors, SIDA and NMFA. In particular, ARTICLE 19 is thankful to SIDA who awarded us an additional grant in 2020 to support us through the COVID 19 pandemic.
14
## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
In line with income, expenditure reduced due to the impact of COVID 19, with total spend of £10.2m (2019: £13.6m). This reduction has been on both restricted and unrestricted funds.
As ARTICLE 19 grows, we acknowledge that this needs to be supported by strong and effective systems and controls, in particular effective and responsive compliance with our grant obligations. This implementation will be supported by a programme of investment in our finance and project functions, to create a strong foundation for our future growth.
## **Designated Reserves**
We hold a designated reserve to match the net book value of fixed assets. At the end of 2020, this totalled £73k (2019: £68k). Remaining general funds of £717k (2019 (restated): £394k) are available to provide operational working capital and to address the financial risks surrounding projected income and expenditure. Prior year reserves have been restated in the 2020 accounts due to a misallocation of costs between restricted and unrestricted funds in 2019. Further detail of this is available in the notes to the accounts.
## **Reserves Policy**
The reserves policy is designed to protect the organisation against areas mentioned in our risk review along with unexpected falls in income, unplanned increases in expenditure, security risks and unexpected fluctuations in exchange rates. Our policy results in a target of £1,767k and in comparing this with the general funds figure of £717k there is a shortfall against our target of £1,050k. We are developing plans to increase our sources of unrestricted funds, but recognise that it may take time and may, in the short term, require some investment of our existing reserves. We will continue to monitor our funding position closely.
## **Changes in Group Structure**
There were no changes in our group structure.
## **Risk Review**
ARTICLE 19 reviews and updates its risk policy and risk register on a regular basis from which the following risks with the greatest overall potential impact on ARTICLE 19 as at the date of signing the Accounts identified:
1. **COVID-19: The COVID pandemic causes significant risk to staff health, wellbeing and ARTICLE 19 operational effectiveness.** In common with people and organisations across the globe we have had to radically change the way we work and deliver our programmes throughout 2020 to manage the unpredictable impacts of the pandemic. Our donors have continued to support us, showing understanding and flexibility in fast changing circumstances. This has been matched by exceptional adaptation and resilience in our staff who have continued to deliver our work in new and innovative ways despite many personal and contextual challenges. We remain concerned about the medium and long term adverse impacts of the pandemic on the wellbeing and health of our staff as well as the economic risks to ARTICLE 19. We continue to promote wellbeing measures to our staff and have taken appropriate financial actions to
15
## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
mitigate the in-year impact as well as taking longer term impacts into account as we develop our budgets and organisational strategies for the forthcoming years. The new threats to freedom of expression that have emerged directly related to the pandemic continued to demonstrate our relevance to civic society and our donors. Please see below for a fuller statement on our adaptations made due to COVID-19
2. **Lack of fully effective budget management & financial accounting systems, processes and reporting leads to core funding shortfall, organisational sustainability (overspend, underspend, incorrect allocation), poor quality compliance and decision making.** We continue to make slower than ideal progress in improving the take-up and effective application of the Access Dimensions accounting system. This has not been helped by the pandemic however there is greater usage of the system by our regional offices and better understanding of the benefits to strengthening of the accounting processes and easier communication and visibility of financial activity across the ARTICLE 19 family. We continue to review our financial processes across the organisation and the International Office finance team in the UK have increased their focus, and support to, the regional offices to strengthen internal control process and increase internal and external training on Access Dimensions to advance the implementation of the system.
3. **Political change in donor countries leading to loss of funding (including a hard Brexit leading to cancelled EC contracts). The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office materially change funding in the COVID pandemic.** The UK’s costs of handling the COVID pandemic were used to justify an average 50% reduction in programme funding as part of the UK’s diminished commitment to 0.7% of Gross Domestic Product being used for overseas aid. This was coupled with a significant reorganisation of the foreign aid and diplomatic services and both events were seen as a significant threat to ARTICLE 19’s funding. We made contingency plans during 2020 and these were utilised in 2021 to mitigate some of the impact of the funding cuts along with greater diversification in our donor base. The final effects of Brexit have also made it more difficult for us when competing for EC grants compared to NGOs in the remaining EU member states. However the benefits of ARTICLE 19’s registration in the Netherlands as Stichting ARTICLE 19 in 2019 continues to be developed to mitigate some of this risk and donor diversification continued to be a priority in 2020.
4. **Failure to comply with donor compliance or reporting terms leads to reputation damage and loss of funding.** ARTICLE 19 recognises the high levels of risk that this presents in a globally diversified organisation and alongside strengthening the financial reporting system we also direct considerable resources to support programme managers and staff in understanding and complying with the diverse requirements of our donors and sharing the learning from the multiple donor and statutory audits. The strengthening of compliance across ARTICLE 19 to minimize the risk of disallowances is a key Organisational development objective
5. **Loss of funds due to internal fraud, including partners.** This carries the same additional risks of damage to public and donor reputation and future funding flows that accompany the risk of poor donor compliance. ARTICLE 19 has heightened levels of awareness and sensitivity to this risk and the organisation has learnt much from the investigation, donor communication and management on the Kenyan fraud referred to earlier in the Accounts. Key prevention factors remain improved adherence to accounts timetable and balance sheet controls, increased quality & regularity of management accounts, increasing capacity in the International Office team with increased support, focus and stronger oversight of Regional Office. Review,
16
**Report of the trustees**
## **ARTICLE 19**
**For the year ended 31 December 2020**
development and well-communicated training in key minimum standards across ARTICLE 19 is also a key Organisational Development objective.
6. **IT failure or malicious cyber-attack leads to loss of data, including confidential information without effective business continuity planning and impairs A19 ability to operate and endangers safety of staff or partners** . This is being mitigated by internal and external reviews of IT threats, needs and sufficiency of business continuity planning to identify key risk areas then upgrading procedures and planning, carry out penetration tests and ensure sufficiency of firewalls. We want to move to mandating the use of 2 Factor Authentication, Virtual Private Networks and encryptions of all devices.
**Generally the nature of our work, and that of our partners generates very real risks to staff due to the politically sensitive nature of our work and continues to be a high organisation priority.** Thanks to significant improvements in our security management protocols and internal staff awareness and observance this is no longer one of the highest risk factors in ARTICLE 19. To counter this risk, ARTICLE 19 has developed location-specific security protocols in the highest-risk areas and requires staff to produce a safety and security plan when travelling to a higher-risk location. We continue to prioritise the safety and well-being of our staff in constantly changing political, digital and physical threat environments and seek to build awareness and skills through internal and external training to help staff counter the risks and the increase organisation’s ability and speed to respond to security incidents.
## **COVID-19 Workplan Adaptation- 2020/21**
The year 2020 brought the global pandemic (COVID-19), and with it, increasing threats not only to our health and wellbeing but also to human rights. Over the last 18 months, we have seen a number of restrictions introduced by governments at the national level, particularly in the realm of right to assembly, freedom of speech and right to information, requiring ARTICLE19’s monitoring and interventions. This had to have an impact on how we deliver our work and although we have stayed largely on track in terms of strategic outcomes and targets, the way we carried out the activities, particularly in as we moved most of our engagement and trainings online.
In light of these developments, ARTICLE 19’s work became even more crucial. In addition, we acted fast. In March 2020, we published a briefing on how states, the media, and social media companies could combat COVID-19 by committing to transparency, tackling misinformation, and promoting genuine health advice. Throughout the year, we challenged threats to freedom of expression around the world, monitoring and reporting on governments’ overreach and ensuring human rights did not become yet another victim of the virus.
Whilst we are seeing many activities across the portfolio having to be postponed, a new set of activities is emerging due to the crisis. Eg. Much of the legal analysis produced within the Digital theme evolves around the pandemic, and within the Transparency theme, a report on COVID transparency and other materials have been translated and publicized by the regional programmes and offices globally.
17
## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
The specific impact of COVID-19 to ARTICLE 19 includes:
- The delivery of the overall four-year strategy cycle for ARTICLE19 remains on track, at the present time. The number of global outcomes and international targets within the strategy remains the same, and there are no substantial changes to the content of outcomes and targets at the global level. However, what is being adapted across all five strategic themes, is the focus of the work, and the way we will carry out the activities, particularly in the most immediate period.
- We have noted a number of restrictions introduced by governments at the national level, particularly in the realm of right to assembly, freedom of speech and right to information, requiring ARTICLE19’s monitoring and interventions. Whilst many activities across the portfolio had to be postponed, a new set of activities have been emerging due to the crisis. Eg. In the past months, much of our legal analysis evolved around the pandemic; within the Transparency theme, a report on COVID transparency and other materials were translated and publicized by the regional programmes and offices. In Protection, we have increased our focus on journalists and HRDs affected by the pandemic (either through trainings or other forms of support). We also incorporated similar COVID response elements into our Civic Space programme (e.g. our flagship programme ‘PROTECT’), including the advocacy against restrictive laws or policies that curtail citizen’s access to information.
- Impacts of the pandemic on the delivery of our programming have been mitigated to some extent through a more active portfolio monitoring, and more support provided to teams on programmatic adaptation. Teams have approached the issue through phasing project activities, focusing on those that can be carried out regardless of the current situation, and looking for more innovative ways to deliver project objectives e.g. through ramping up or introducing research or communication elements to their project plans. Teams have been also actively encouraged to incorporate more Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning related activities into their projects to benefit current and future programming. This adaptation process is ongoing and is happening in close collaboration with partners and donors.
- Planned capacity building events for communities and partners have been affected across all themes, particularly within Civic Space and Protection, where we have a significant capacity building element. However, where possible, trainings and workshops have been and will continue to be repurposed or moved into online spaces.
- There have been some challenges to our advocacy work as several events at the national and international level were postponed. This inevitably slowed down some of the advocacy activities, but given the longer-term character of this work, majority of it has been planned for over the twoyear period covered by the current strategy. More recently, we have been able to engage in advocacy activities both nationally and internationally, and in some cases, we even noted more availability of key stakeholders due to the current situation (e.g. in ECA region).
18
## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
## **Fundraising policy**
We are aware of our obligations under the Charities Act to report our fundraising policy. We engage with statutory funders, trust and foundations in order to raise our income and do not engage in public fundraising.
## **Statement of trustees’ responsibilities**
The Trustees (who are also directors of ARTICLE 19 for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the report of the Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements the Trustees are required to:
- Select suitable accounting policies and applied them consistently;
- Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose, with reasonable accuracy at any time, the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the detection and prevention of fraud and other irregularities.
The Trustees of the company who held office at the date of the approval of the Financial Statements as set out above confirm, so far as they are aware, that:
- There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company's auditors are unaware; and
- They have taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as directors in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the company's auditors are aware of that information.
19
## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 December 2020**
The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
## **Auditors**
Sayer Vincent LLP were re-appointed as the charitable company's auditors during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.
We would like to thank everyone, and all organisations, who support our work – donors, staff and trustees. Our work would not be possible without you.
The Trustees delegated approval of the report and financial statements to the Finance and General Purposes Committee. This report and the financial statements were approved by the Committee on 29 November 2021 and are signed on their behalf by:
Paddy Coulter (Chair)
Mark Salway (Treasurer)
20
## **Independent auditor’s report**
## **to the members of**
**ARTICLE 19**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of ARTICLE 19 (the ‘parent charitable company’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 December 2020 which comprise the consolidated statement of financial activities, the group and parent charitable company balance sheets, the consolidated statement of cash flows and the notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 _The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland_ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
- Give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the parent charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2020 and of the group’s incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended
- Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice
- Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011
## **Basis for opinion**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the group financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group and parent charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on ARTICLE 19's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
21
**Independent auditor’s report**
## **to the members of**
## **ARTICLE 19**
## **Other Information**
The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report other than the group financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the group financial statements does not cover the other information, and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the group financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the group financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## **Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006**
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
- The information given in the trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements
- The trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report, has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the parent charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and Charities Act 2011 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- Adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent charitable company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
- The parent charitable company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- Certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## **Responsibilities of trustees**
As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, the trustees (who are also the directors of the parent charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied
22
## **Independent auditor’s report**
## **to the members of**
## **ARTICLE 19**
that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group’s and the parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the group or the parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
We have been appointed auditor under the Companies Act 2006 and section 151 of the Charites Act 2011 and report in accordance with those Acts.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud are set out below.
## **Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities**
In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:
- We enquired of management, which included obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, concerning the group’s policies and procedures relating to:
- Identifying, evaluating, and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
- Detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected, or alleged fraud;
- The internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations.
- We inspected the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.
- We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the group operates in, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a material effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the group from our professional and sector experience.
- We communicated applicable laws and regulations throughout the audit team and remained alert
23
## **Independent auditor’s report**
## **to the members of**
## **ARTICLE 19**
to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit.
- We reviewed any reports made to regulators.
- We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and tested these to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
- We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud.
- In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments, assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias and tested significant transactions that are unusual or those outside the normal course of business.
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charitable company's members as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and regulations made under section 154 of that Act. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Noelia Serrano (Senior statutory auditor) 2 December 2021 for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TL
Sayer Vincent LLP is eligible to act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006
24
ARTICLE 19
Consolidated statement of Financial Activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account)
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
|Unrestricted
£
4,350,911
-
-
-
-
-
-|Restricted
£
-
518,497
594,304
2,206,259
809,977
676,580
2,682,637|2020
Total
£
4,350,911
518,497
594,304
2,206,259
809,977
676,580
2,682,637|Unrestricted
(restated)
£
3,202,299
-
-
-
-
-
-|Restricted
(restated)
£
-
493,782
590,544
2,580,607
1,015,266
1,158,817
4,017,675|2019
Total
(restated)
£
3,202,299
493,782
590,544
2,580,607
1,015,266
1,158,817
4,017,675|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|4,350,911|7,488,254|11,839,165|3,202,299|9,856,691|13,058,990|
|168,545
544,220
496,101
1,013,045
402,733
407,188
202,716
787,943|2,329
483,642
448,971
1,668,467
183,050
1,169,197
421,090
1,815,215|170,874
1,027,862
945,072
2,681,512
585,783
1,576,385
623,806
2,603,158|164,017
529,228
391,630
811,557
210,884
293,027
177,061
812,116|-
1,245,657
346,023
2,149,806
438,946
1,059,950
914,593
4,092,557|164,017
1,774,885
737,653
2,961,363
649,830
1,352,977
1,091,654
4,904,673|
|4,022,491|6,191,961|10,214,452|3,389,520|10,247,532|13,637,052|
|328,420
-|1,296,293
-|1,624,713
-|(187,221)
(234,780)|(390,841)
234,780|(578,062)
-|
|328,420
461,363
-|1,296,293
2,396,568
-|1,624,713
2,857,931
-|(422,001)
1,429,834
(546,470)|(156,061)
2,006,159
546,470|(578,062)
3,435,993
-|
All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 21 to the financial statements.
25
ARTICLE 19
Company no. 02097222
## Balance sheets
## As at 31 December 2020
|Note
Fixed assets:
10
Current assets:
16
Liabilities:
17
21
Total unrestricted funds
Unrestricted income funds:
Designated funds
General funds
Net current assets
Total net assets
Restricted income funds
Funds:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Debtors
Cash at bank and in hand
Tangible assets
Total funds|2020
2019
(restated)
£
£
72,740
67,751
72,740
67,751
662,933
811,808
5,087,833
3,722,769
5,750,766
4,534,577
1,340,862
1,744,397
4,409,904
2,790,180
4,482,644
2,857,931
3,692,861
2,396,568
72,740
67,751
717,043
393,612
789,783
461,363
4,482,644
2,857,931
The group|2020
2019
(restated)
£
£
72,740
67,751
72,740
67,751
662,933
811,808
5,087,833
3,722,769
5,750,766
4,534,577
1,340,862
1,744,397
4,409,904
2,790,180
4,482,644
2,857,931
3,692,861
2,396,568
72,740
67,751
717,043
393,612
789,783
461,363
4,482,644
2,857,931
The group|2020
2019
(restated)
£
£
47,924
39,568
47,924
39,568
450,073
655,145
3,331,438
2,316,199
3,781,511
2,971,344
1,095,138
1,453,998
2,686,373
1,517,346
2,734,297
1,556,914
1,803,685
345,937
47,924
39,568
882,688
1,171,409
930,612
1,210,977
2,734,297
1,556,914
The charity|2020
2019
(restated)
£
£
47,924
39,568
47,924
39,568
450,073
655,145
3,331,438
2,316,199
3,781,511
2,971,344
1,095,138
1,453,998
2,686,373
1,517,346
2,734,297
1,556,914
1,803,685
345,937
47,924
39,568
882,688
1,171,409
930,612
1,210,977
2,734,297
1,556,914
The charity|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||72,740
662,933
5,087,833|67,751
811,808
3,722,769|47,924
450,073
3,331,438|39,568
655,145
2,316,199|
||5,750,766
1,340,862|4,534,577
1,744,397|3,781,511
1,095,138|2,971,344
1,453,998|
||4,409,904|2,790,180|2,686,373|1,517,346|
||4,482,644|2,857,931|2,734,297|1,556,914|
||3,692,861
72,740
717,043|2,396,568
67,751
393,612|1,803,685
47,924
882,688|345,937
39,568
1,171,409|
||789,783|461,363|930,612|1,210,977|
||4,482,644|2,857,931|2,734,297|1,556,914|
The Trustees delegated approval of the report and financial statements to the Finance and General Purposes Committee. This report and the financial statements were approved by the Committee on 29 November 2021 and are signed on their behalf by:
Paddy Coulter Chair
Mark Salway Treasurer
26
ARTICLE 19
## Statement of cash flows
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
|Note
£
£
22
1,430,636
(33,960)
(33,960)
1,396,676
3,722,769
(31,612)
23
5,087,833
2020
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Change in cash and cash equivalents due to other
movements
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cash (used in) investing activities
Net cash provided by operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of fixed assets|Note
£
£
22
1,430,636
(33,960)
(33,960)
1,396,676
3,722,769
(31,612)
23
5,087,833
2020
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Change in cash and cash equivalents due to other
movements
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cash (used in) investing activities
Net cash provided by operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of fixed assets|Note
£
£
22
1,430,636
(33,960)
(33,960)
1,396,676
3,722,769
(31,612)
23
5,087,833
2020
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Change in cash and cash equivalents due to other
movements
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cash (used in) investing activities
Net cash provided by operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of fixed assets|£
£
318,130
(40,616)
(40,616)
277,514
3,613,481
(168,226)
3,722,769
2019|£
£
318,130
(40,616)
(40,616)
277,514
3,613,481
(168,226)
3,722,769
2019|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||
|||1,396,676
3,722,769
(31,612)||277,514
3,613,481
(168,226)|
|||5,087,833||3,722,769|
27
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
- 1 Accounting policies
## a) Statutory information
- ARTICLE 19 is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in the United Kingdom. The registered office address is Sayer Vincent, Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, London, EC1Y 0TL.
## b) Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) - (Charities SORP FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.
Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.
These financial statements consolidate the results of the charity and its wholly-owned subsidiaries ARTICLE 19 Brazil and South America (ARTIGO 19 Brasil), ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America (ARTICULO 19, Campaña global por la libertad de expression), ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa (based in Kenya) on a line by line basis. Transactions and balances between the charity and its subsidiaries have been eliminated from the consolidated financial statements. Balances between the entities are disclosed in the notes of the charity's balance sheet. A separate statement of financial activities, or income and expenditure account, for the charity itself is not presented as a summary of the result for the year is disclosed in the notes to the accounts.
The SORP 2015 stipulates that where overseas offices are legally registered in their country of operations as separate legal entities, this is an indication that they should be treated as subsidiaries for accounting purposes. However, having reviewed the governance and management procedures in place, oversight from ARTICLE 19 in the UK is such that other overseas offices (USA, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Netherlands and Senegal) are in substance branches and so are included in the results and position of the charity.
## c) Public benefit entity
The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.
## d) Going concern
The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern.
The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.
## e) Income
Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably.
## f) Fund accounting
Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Income and expenditure that meets these criteria is charged to the fund. Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes. Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes.
28
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 1 Accounting policies (continued)
## g) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:
- Costs of raising funds relate to the costs incurred by the charitable company in inducing third parties to make voluntary contributions to it, as well as the cost of any activities with a fundraising purpose;
- Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs of training/workshops, grants to partners, events, campaigns and publications undertaken to further the purposes of the charity, and their associated support costs;
- Other expenditure represents those items not falling into any other heading.
Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.
## i) Allocation of support costs
Resources expended (note 3) are allocated to a particular activity where the cost relates directly to that project. The cost of overall direction and administration of each activity consists of salary and overhead costs for the central function. This is apportioned on the following basis which is an estimate based on staff time and the amount attributable to each activity.
||Cost of raising funds|2%|
|---|---|---|
||Africa projects|10%|
||Asia projects|7%|
||Latin America projects|23%|
||Law & policy|8%|
||Europe & Central Asia project|11%|
||Middle East & North Africa projects|8%|
||Global projects|31%|
## j) Operating leases
Rental charges are charged on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease.
## k) Fixed assets
Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £500. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.
Where fixed assets have been revalued, any excess between the revalued amount and the historic cost of the asset will be shown as a revaluation reserve in the balance sheet.
Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:
||Office equipment|4 years|
|---|---|---|
||Computer Equipment|3 years|
## l) Grants to partners
Grants payable are made to third parties in furtherance of the charity's objects. Single or multi-year grants are accounted for when either the recipient has a reasonable expectation that they will receive a grant and the trustees have agreed to pay the grant without condition, or the recipient has a reasonable expectation that they will receive a grant and that any condition attaching to the grant is outside of the control of the charity.
29
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 1 Accounting policies (continued)
## m) Debtors
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.
## n) Cash at bank and in hand
Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short-term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.
## o) Creditors and provisions
Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.
## p) Financial instruments
The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans, which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
## q) Pension Scheme
ARTICLE 19 operates a group pension scheme with Scottish Widows that pays an employer contribution of 8% for its employees in the UK. From November 2016, ARTICLE 19 joined the auto-enrolment scheme with the same pension provider.
## r) Foreign exchange policy
ARTICLE 19 hold funds in the currency in which those funds will be transferred to its Regional Offices and to its partners. Monetary assets and liabilities in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rates of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Transactions in foreign currencies are translated into Sterling at the average rate of exchange for the year. Exchange differences are taken into account in arriving at the net movement in funds for the year.
30
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 2a Donations and legacies
|2a
Donations and legacies|2a
Donations and legacies|2a
Donations and legacies|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Sub total of Official donors
Confidential donor
Other voluntary income
Sub total of other donors
Total
2b
Unrestricted
Restricted
£
£
Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
-
-
Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
-
-
Danish International Development Agency
-
55,316
European Commission
-
485,097
Global Affairs Canada
-
(56,462)
Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
-
424,598
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
-
126,630
UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
-
1,030,035
US Agency for International Development
-
312,773
US Department of State
-
1,357,921
Sub total of Official donors
-
3,735,908
Ford Foundation
-
611,941
Open Society Foundation
-
585,485
Other donors
-
500,283
Open Society Policy Centre
-
-
React
-
-
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
-
-
Sub total of Trust and foundations
-
1,697,709
Confidential donor
-
120,646
European Partnership for Democracy
-
207,934
Free Press Unlimited
-
288,081
Hivos
-
613,563
National Endowment for Democracy
-
239,671
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
-
-
Others
-
584,742
Sub total of other donors
-
2,054,637
Total
-
7,488,254
Other donors
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
Official donors
Other donors
Official donors
Income from charitable activities by donor
All donations and legacies income received in 2020 and 2019 were unrestricted.
Trust and foundations|||2020
Total
£
844,309
2,868,882|2019
Total
£
470,367
1,933,672|
||||3,713,191
190,433
447,287|2,404,039
205,507
592,753|
||||637,720|798,260|
||||4,350,911|3,202,299|
||||2020
Total
£
-
-
55,316
485,097
(56,462)
424,598
126,630
1,030,035
312,773
1,357,921|2019
Total
£
109,980
198,760
75,065
508,075
-
461,331
209,685
1,596,041
844,590
1,921,956|
||-
-
-
-
-
-
-|3,735,908
611,941
585,485
500,283
-
-
-|3,735,908
611,941
585,485
500,283
-
-
-|5,925,483
677,721
763,166
-
210,259
172,273
257,488|
||-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-|1,697,709
120,646
207,934
288,081
613,563
239,671
-
584,742|1,697,709
120,646
207,934
288,081
613,563
239,671
-
584,742|2,080,907
-
-
-
657,254
331,847
83,944
777,256|
||-|2,054,637|2,054,637|1,850,301|
||-|7,488,254|7,488,254|9,856,691|
All income from charitable activities received in 2019 and 2020 was restricted.
31
ARTICLE 19
## Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 3a Analysis of expenditure (current year)
|Staff costs (Note 5)
Grants to partners (Note 7)
Project expertise costs
Training, events & workshops
Media and publications
Project travel costs
Project support costs
Governance costs
Total Expenditure 2020
Support costs
Governance costs
Total expenditure 2020
Total expenditure 2019|Cost of
raising
funds
£
120,663
-
-
-
-
302
440
-|||Charitable activities|Charitable activities|Charitable activities|||Governance
costs
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
87,810|Head Office
support
costs
£
1,246,319
-
8,133
31,045
228,045
69,662
506,669
(4,200)|2020
Total
£
6,547,836
1,018,514
835,155
201,631
458,997
239,260
790,714
122,345|2019
Total
£
6,083,797
1,913,710
1,176,969
1,179,503
498,404
1,311,657
1,354,231
118,781|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Africa
projects
£
503,125
24,187
67,229
52,127
541
32,333
125,370
16,682|Asia
projects
£
382,431
63,745
98,931
27,540
8,375
23,578
178,101
5,585|Latin
America
projects
£
1,159,835
14,084
484,242
60,733
42,776
46,106
389,554
8,680|Law &
Policy
projects
£
404,503
-
800
1,418
10,357
872
1,997
-|Europe &
Central Asia
projects
£
603,229
425,500
30,360
7,694
14,546
16,523
231,225
-|Middle East &
North Africa
projects
£
443,227
27,850
56,423
16,125
85,947
8,342
(199,407)
3,588|Global
projects
£
1,684,504
463,148
89,037
4,949
68,410
41,542
(443,235)
4,200|||||
||121,405
47,470
1,999|821,594
197,935
8,333|788,286
150,452
6,334|2,206,010
456,291
19,211|419,947
159,136
6,700|1,329,077
237,317
9,991|442,095
174,370
7,341|1,912,555
662,702
27,901|87,810
-
(87,810)|2,085,673
(2,085,673)
-|10,214,452
-
-|13,637,052
-
-|
||170,874|1,027,862|945,072|2,681,512|585,783|1,576,385|623,806|2,603,158|-|-|10,214,452|13,637,052|
||164,017|1,774,885|737,653|2,961,363|649,830|1,352,977|1,091,654|4,904,673|-|-|13,637,052||
32
ARTICLE 19
## Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
- 3b Analysis of expenditure (prior year)
|Staff costs (Note 5)
Grants to partners (Note 7)
Project expertise costs
Training, events & workshops
Media and publications
Project travel costs
Project support costs
Governance costs
Total expenditure 2019
Support costs
Governance costs
Total expenditure 2019|Cost of
raising
funds
£
113,405
-
-
-
-
8,100
381
-|||Charitable activities|Charitable activities|Charitable activities|||Governance
costs
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
83,417|Head Office
support
costs
£
1,013,709
1,341
-
28,778
176,357
168,781
411,185
-|2019
Total
£
6,083,797
1,913,710
1,176,969
1,179,503
498,404
1,311,657
1,354,231
118,781|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Africa
projects
£
482,883
241,752
72,804
360,352
39,157
129,015
267,438
2,090|Asia
projects
£
315,918
79,365
42,801
54,310
3,200
59,391
60,664
4,638|Latin
America
projects
£
1,252,980
-
402,709
105,345
56,378
379,480
298,043
938|Law &
Policy
projects
£
453,305
-
-
3,433
6,038
16,619
2,030
-|Europe &
Central Asia
projects
£
449,820
562,564
3,852
65,582
3,006
68,441
18,009
14,592|Middle East &
North Africa
projects
£
359,652
133,494
107,667
170,534
59,769
79,880
37,945
9,100|Global
projects
£
1,642,125
895,194
547,136
391,169
154,499
401,950
258,536
4,006||||
||121,886
40,265
1,866|1,595,491
171,449
7,945|620,287
112,168
5,198|2,495,873
444,875
20,615|481,425
160,947
7,458|1,185,866
159,710
7,401|958,041
127,696
5,917|4,294,615
583,041
27,017|83,417
-
(83,417)|1,800,151
(1,800,151)
-|13,637,052
-
-|
||164,017|1,774,885|737,653|2,961,363|649,830|1,352,977|1,091,654|4,904,673|-|-|13,637,052|
33
ARTICLE 19
## Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
- 4 Net income for the year
This is stated after charging:
|This is stated after charging:|||
|---|---|---|
||2020|2019|
||£|£|
|Depreciation|28,971|17,179|
|Operating lease rentals:|||
|Property|191,678|450,886|
|Equipment|-|6,851|
|Auditor's remuneration (excluding VAT):|||
|Audit|30,000|35,371|
|Other services|17,100|23,982|
|Losses on foreign exchange|31,612|168,135|
5
Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key managemenet personnel
Staff costs were as follows:
|Staff costs were as follows:|||
|---|---|---|
|UK Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes
Termination costs
Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Other staffing costs
Regional staff costs|2020
£
2,345,715
266,275
188,861
2,390,561
-
1,356,424|2019
£
2,139,327
243,221
173,100
2,493,904
6,698
1,027,547|
||6,547,836|6,083,797|
The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding pension costs) during the year between:
||2020|2019|
|---|---|---|
||No.|No.|
|£60,000 - £69,999|8|6|
|£70,000 - £79,999|4|5|
|£80,000 - £89,999|1|2|
|£90,000 - £99,999|-|1|
|£100,000 - £109,999|-|1|
|£110,000 - £119,999|1|-|
Included within Other staffing costs are fess payable to Programme consultants of £619,107 (2019: £355,137) and Non-programme consultants of £326,001 (2019: £380,333).
Total employee benefits including pension contribution and employer's national insurance for key management personnel were £581,954 (2019: £604,164).
The charity trustees were not paid nor received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2019: £nil).
Trustees' expenses represents the reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs totalling £825 (2019: £24,149) relating to attendance at International Board meetings.
34
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 6 Staff numbers
The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was:
|Asociacion por los Derechos
Avivid AB
Expert Bureau for Media Law
HIVOS
International Centre for Not-for-Profit
Internews
Meedan
Grants to partners
Centre for Internet and Society
Fundraising
Derechos Digitales
PUNTO24
ROO Tsentr SOVA
NDI
The Support Centre for Civil Society
UNISHKA Research Service, Inc
Other grants
Africa projects
Asia projects
Latin America projects
Law & Policy projects
Europe & Central Asia projects
Middle East & North Africa projects
Global projects|2020
No.
2
23
22
60
8
8
16
27|2019
No.
2
19
22
53
7
7
11
46|
|---|---|---|
||166|167|
||2020
£
14,051
15,838
14,051
14,051
-
164,674
105,747
119,803
-
-
90,055
7,226
-
-
473,018|2019
£
28,148
47,845
31,676
28,009
80,503
136,738
223,891
113,882
209,134
97,648
221,190
32,754
143,190
67,472
451,630|
||1,018,514|1,913,710|
- 7 Grants to partners
Other grants include grants to new partners below £25,000 in the year and also those organisations which need to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of their work.
## 8 Related party transactions
Galina Arapova was a trustee of ARTICLE 19 until June 2020 and also a director of Mass Media Defence Centre (MMDC). MMDC is a lead partner organisation working with ARTICLE 19 on a European Commission funded project in Russia. Galina Arapova is not involved in the decision-making process for awarding grants to partners.
## 9 Taxation
The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and applied for charitable purposes.
35
ARTICLE 19
## Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
- 10 Fixed assets
|Fixed assets||||
|---|---|---|---|
|The charity
Tangible fixed assets
Cost or valuation
At the start of the year
Additions in the period
At the end of the year
Net book value
At the end of the year
Net book value at the start of the year
Depreciation
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
Charge for the period
At the end of the year
Net book value at the start of the year
At the end of the year
Tangible fixed assets
Cost or valuation
The group
Charge for the period
Depreciation
Net book value
At the start of the year
At the start of the year
Additions in the period
At the end of the year|Computer
equipment
£
149,729
29,852|Office
equipment
£
113,971
4,108|Total
£
263,700
33,960|
||179,581|118,079|297,660|
||114,776
24,302|81,173
4,669|195,949
28,971|
||139,078|85,842|224,920|
||40,503|32,237|72,740|
||34,953|32,798|67,751|
||Computer
equipment
£
111,419
16,923|Office
equipment
£
53,968
3,466|Total
£
165,387
20,389|
||128,342|57,434|185,776|
||89,772
8,659|36,046
3,375|125,818
12,034|
||98,431|39,421|137,852|
||29,911|18,013|47,924|
||21,647|17,921|39,568|
36
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 11 Subsidiary undertaking - ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America (Campaña Global por la libertad de expression)
A summary of the results of the subsidiary is shown below. These may differ from the statutory accounts of the subsidiary where balances have been adjusted to align with group accounting policies:
|Incoming resources
Funds
Total funds brought forward
Total incoming resources for the year
Turnover
Expenditure
The aggregate of the assets, liabilities and reserves was:
Funds held
Total incoming resources for the year
Assets
Liabilities
Income from ARTICLE 19
Total funds carried forward|2020
£
1,771,371
171,847
(1,451,475)|2019
£
1,633,520
36,416
(1,491,825)|
|---|---|---|
||491,743|178,111|
||833,205
491,743|655,094
178,111|
||1,324,948|833,205|
||1,405,171
(80,223)|924,687
(91,482)|
||1,324,948|833,205|
Amounts owed to the parent undertaking are shown in note 16.
## 12 Subsidiary undertaking - ARTICLE 19 Brazil and South America (ARTIGO 19 Brasil)
A summary of the results of the subsidiary is shown below. These may differ from the statutory accounts of the subsidiary where balances have been adjusted to align with group accounting policies:
|Income from ARTICLE 19
Incoming resources
Expenditure
Liabilities
Funds
Total funds carried forward
The aggregate of the assets, liabilities and reserves was:
Assets
Total incoming resources for the year
Turnover
Funds held
Total funds brought forward
Total incoming resources for the year|2020
£
435,938
123,856
(756,534)|2019
£
1,174,552
144,972
(1,008,809)|
|---|---|---|
||(196,740)|310,715|
||579,419
(196,740)|268,704
310,715|
||382,679|579,419|
||452,901
(70,222)|608,338
(28,919)|
||382,679|579,419|
Amounts owed to the parent undertaking are shown in note 16.
37
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 13 Subsidiary undertaking - ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa
A summary of the results of the subsidiary is shown below. These may differ from the statutory accounts of the subsidiary where balances have been adjusted to align with group accounting policies:
|Income from ARTICLE 19
The aggregate of the assets, liabilities and reserves was:
Funds held
Total funds brought forward
Total incoming resources for the year
Total funds carried forward
Expenditure
Total incoming resources for the year
Turnover
Incoming resources
Assets
Liabilities
Funds|2020
£
330,304
59,577
(262,776)|2019
£
425,345
236,448
(1,008,027)|
|---|---|---|
||127,105|(346,234)|
||(86,388)
127,105|259,846
(346,234)|
||40,717|(86,388)|
||135,994
(95,277)|57,953
(144,341)|
||40,717|(86,388)|
Amounts owed to the parent undertaking are shown in note 16.
## 14 Stichting ARTICLE 19
Since January 2020, ARTICLE 19 controls the Stichting ARTICLE 19 entity in the Netherlands. There was no activity in the entitiy in the year and no assets or liabilities were held at year end.
## 15 Parent charity
The parent charity's gross income and the results for the year are disclosed as follows:
||2020|2019|
|---|---|---|
||£|£|
|Gross income|8,946,270|9,407,737|
|Result for the year|1,202,603|(676,082)|
38
ARTICLE 19
## Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
|16
Trade debtors
17
Deferred income
Pension contributions due
Amounts due to parent undertaking
Accruals
Other creditors
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Other debtors
Debtors
Prepayments
Accrued income
Trade creditors
Taxation and social security|2020
2019
£
£
127,603
246,814
114,897
144,505
418,381
390,818
2,052
29,671
-
-
662,933
811,808
2020
2019
£
£
433,115
499,300
202,912
143,249
67,658
21,371
47,431
206,564
346,809
592,691
242,937
281,222
1,340,862
1,744,397
The group
The group|2020
2019
£
£
127,603
246,814
114,897
144,505
418,381
390,818
2,052
29,671
-
-
662,933
811,808
2020
2019
£
£
433,115
499,300
202,912
143,249
67,658
21,371
47,431
206,564
346,809
592,691
242,937
281,222
1,340,862
1,744,397
The group
The group|2020
2019
£
£
124,569
246,468
74,868
120,080
203,306
264,432
(157)
24,165
47,487
-
450,073
655,145
2020
2019
£
£
422,938
467,114
146,844
89,370
30,735
21,371
47,431
206,564
275,747
546,041
171,443
123,538
1,095,138
1,453,998
The charity
The charity|2020
2019
£
£
124,569
246,468
74,868
120,080
203,306
264,432
(157)
24,165
47,487
-
450,073
655,145
2020
2019
£
£
422,938
467,114
146,844
89,370
30,735
21,371
47,431
206,564
275,747
546,041
171,443
123,538
1,095,138
1,453,998
The charity
The charity|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||1,340,862|1,744,397|1,095,138|1,453,998|
## 18 Deferred income
Deferred income consists of funds received in 2020 from a grant to cover project activities in 2021.
|Balance at the beginning of the year
Income deferred in the year
Amount released to income in the year
Balance at the end of the year|2020
2019
£
£
206,564
-
47,431
206,564
(206,564)
-
47,431
206,564
The group|2020
2019
£
£
206,564
-
47,431
206,564
(206,564)
-
47,431
206,564
The group|2020
2019
£
£
206,564
-
47,431
206,564
(206,564)
-
47,431
206,564
The charity|2020
2019
£
£
206,564
-
47,431
206,564
(206,564)
-
47,431
206,564
The charity|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||47,431|206,564|47,431|206,564|
## 19 Pension scheme
The charity has a defined contribution pension scheme with Scottish Widows for UK employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund with Scottish Widows. The pension costs represents contributions payable by the charity to the fund in the year and amounted to £188,861 (2019: £228,589) (see note 5). Contributions totalling £20,113 (2019: £20,880) were payable to the fund at the balance sheet date and are included in creditors (see note 17).
39
ARTICLE 19
## Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 20a Analysis of group net assets between funds - current year
|20a
Analysis of group net assets between funds - current year|20a
Analysis of group net assets between funds - current year|t year||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|General
unrestricted
£
-
717,043
717,043
20b
General
unrestricted
£
-
393,612
393,612
21a
At 1 January
2020
(restated)
Income &
gains
£
£
(204,478)
518,497
233,713
594,304
1,391,005
2,206,259
(89,778)
-
(31,117)
809,977
198,708
676,580
898,515
2,682,637
Total restricted funds
2,396,568
7,488,254
67,660
33,960
393,703
4,316,951
461,363
4,350,911
2,857,931
11,839,165
Total funds
Analysis of group net assets between funds - prior year (restated)
Fixed assets
Net current assets
Designated funds: fixed asset fund
Net assets at the end of the year
Fixed assets
Net assets at the end of the year
Net current assets
Movements in group funds - current year
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Asia projects
Unrestricted funds:
Middle East & North Africa projects
Europe & Central Asia projects
Global Thematic projects
Latin America projects
Law & Policy projects
Restricted funds:
Africa projects||General
unrestricted
£
-
717,043|£
72,740
-
Designated|Restricted
£
-
3,692,861|Total funds
£
72,740
4,409,904|
|||717,043|72,740|3,692,861|4,482,644|
||||£
67,751
-
Designated|Restricted
£
-
2,396,568|Total funds
£
67,751
2,790,181|
|||393,612|67,751|2,396,568|2,857,932|
|||Income &
gains
£
518,497
594,304
2,206,259
-
809,977
676,580
2,682,637|Expenditure &
losses
£
(483,642)
(448,971)
(1,668,467)
(183,050)
(1,169,197)
(421,090)
(1,817,544)|Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-|At 31
December
2020
£
(169,623)
379,046
1,928,797
(272,828)
(390,337)
454,198
1,763,608|
||2,396,568|7,488,254|(6,191,961)|-|3,692,861|
||67,660
393,703|33,960
4,316,951|(28,971)
(3,993,520)|91
(91)|72,740
717,043|
||461,363|4,350,911|(4,022,491)|-|789,783|
||2,857,931|11,839,165|(10,214,452)|-|4,482,644|
40
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 21b Movements in group funds - prior year (restated)
|Total restricted funds
Latin America projects
Law & Policy projects
Europe & Central Asia projects
Total unrestricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds: fixed asset fund
Asia projects
Total funds
Restricted funds:
Africa projects
General funds
Middle East & North Africa projects
Global Thematic projects|At 1 January
2019
£
358,676
(23,994)
960,204
-
(12,609)
(56,545)
780,427|Income &
gains
£
493,782
590,544
2,580,607
-
1,015,266
1,158,817
4,017,675|Expenditure &
losses
£
(1,241,625)
(331,745)
(2,149,806)
(89,778)
(1,034,613)
(903,564)
(3,949,931)|Transfers
£
184,689
(1,092)
-
-
839
-
50,344|At 31
December
2019
£
(204,478)
233,713
1,391,005
(89,778)
(31,117)
198,708
898,515|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||2,006,159|9,856,691|(9,701,062)|234,780|2,396,568|
||44,223
1,385,611|40,616
3,161,683|(17,179)
(3,918,811)|-
(234,780)|67,660
393,703|
||1,429,834|3,202,299|(3,935,990)|(234,780)|461,363|
||3,435,993|13,058,990|(13,637,052)|-|2,857,931|
## Purposes of restricted funds
Africa projects - represents funds from donors to cover expenditure planned for the following financial year in Eastern and West Africa.
Asia projects - represents funds to cover expenditure planned for the following financial year in South East Asia and Asia Pacific.
Latin America projects - represents funds to cover expenditure planned for the following financial year in Latin America.
Law and Policy projects - represents funds to cover expenditure planned for the following financial year.
Europe and Central Asia projects - represents funds to cover expenditure planned for the following financial year.
Middle East and North Africa projects - represents funds to cover expenditure planned for the following financial year.
Global Thematic projects - represents funds to cover expenditure planned for the following financial year.
Restricted balances in 2020 are in deficit due to spending on grants where the income is not due from the donor until 2021, and income recognised under Global Thematic projects while expenditure is incurred across different teams.
## Purposes of designated funds
The designated fund is matched against the net book value of the fixed assets of the charity, which are not readily realisable.
41
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 21c Prior year adjustment
During preparation of the 2020 accounting information, it was identified that expenditure on an unrestricted fund was incorrectly treated as restricted expenditure. This led to an overstatement of unrestricted funds and an understatemnet of restricted funds in the 2019 accounts.
As this was material, the prior year balances have been restated to correct this error.
The impact of the restatement on movement in funds and year end reserves position is as follows:
|Unrestricted funds:
Europe & Central Asia projects
Middle East & North Africa projects
Global Thematic projects
Total restricted funds
Designated funds: fixed asset fund
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds
Reserves position
Restricted funds:
Asia projects
Latin America projects
Law & Policy projects
Africa projects
Net movement in funds as restated
Reclassification of grant funding
Movement in funds
Adjustments
Net movement in funds as previously reported|31 December 2019|31 December 2019|31 December 2019|
|---|---|---|---|
||Unrestricted
£
(422,001)
(546,470)|Restricted
£
(156,061)
546,470|Total
£
(578,062)
-|
||(968,471)|390,409|(578,062)|
||Funds as
previously
reported
(208,510)
219,435
1,391,005
(438,946)
(56,454)
187,679
755,889|Adjustment
4,032
14,278
-
349,168
25,337
11,029
142,626|Restated
funds
balance
(204,478)
233,713
1,391,005
(89,778)
(31,117)
198,708
898,515|
||1,850,098|546,470|2,396,568|
||67,660
940,173|-
(546,470)|67,660
393,703|
||1,007,833|(546,470)|461,363|
||2,857,931|-|2,857,931|
42
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 22 Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities
|Net income for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities)
Depreciation charges
Foreign exchange (gains)/losses
Decrease/(increase) in debtors
(Decrease)/increase in creditors
Net cash provided by operating activities|2020
£
1,624,713
28,971
31,612
148,875
(403,535)|2019
£
(578,062)
17,179
168,135
(447,255)
1,158,133|
|---|---|---|
||1,430,636|318,130|
## 23 Analysis of group cash and cash equivalents
|Cash in hand
Cash at bank
Total cash and cash equivalents|At 1 January
2020
£
6,726
3,716,493|Cash flows
£
(2,625)
1,367,239|Other
changes
£
-
-|At 31
December
2020
£
4,101
5,083,732|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||3,723,219|1,364,614|-|5,087,833|
## 24 Operating lease commitments
The charity's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows for each of the following periods:
|the following periods:|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|One to five years
Less than one year|2020
2019
£
£
114,649
166,043
77,029
345,814
191,678
511,857
Property||2020
2019
£
£
-
6,851
-
-
-
6,851
Equipment||
||191,678|511,857|-|6,851|
- 25 Legal status of the charity
The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1.
43
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
## 26a Income from UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office - current year
|Income from UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office - current year|||
|---|---|---|
|Project name
Project
identifier
Project code
GB-CHC-
1148404-GB-
CHC-327421-
DFID-
PROTECT
06622
GB-CHC-
327421-2019-
6696-PRIMED
06696
06641
Project name
Project
identifier
Project code
GB-CHC-
1148404-GB-
CHC-327421-
DFID-
PROTECT
06622
06641
Protecting Independent Media for Effective
Development (PRIMED)
(Consortium led by BBC Media Action)
Strong in Diversity, Bold in Inclusion (SIDBOI)
(Consoritum led by Hivos)
Protecting Rights, Openness and Transparency
Enhancing Civic Transformation (PROTECT)
Protecting Rights, Openness and Transparency
Enhancing Civic Transformation (PROTECT)
Income from UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office - prior year
Strong in Diversity, Bold in Inclusion (SIDBOI)
(Consoritum led by Hivos)|Income
recognised
2020
£
890,431
120,061
19,543|Cash
received
2020
£
890,431
120,061
19,543|
||1,030,035|1,030,035|
||Income
recognised
2019
£
1,389,318
206,723|Cash
received
2019
£
1,214,694
206,723|
||1,596,041|1,421,417|
26b Income from UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office - prior year
44
ARTICLE 19
Notes to the financial statements
## For the year ended 31 December 2020
27a Income from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency - current year
|27b
Income from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency - prior year
Income received in 2019
Income received in 2020|2020
Total
SEK
34,000,000|2020
Total
£
2,868,882|
|---|---|---|
||34,000,000|2,868,882|
||2019
Total
SEK
24,000,000|2019
Total
£
1,933,672|
||24,000,000|1,933,672|
45