A lengthy post on “Free Speech/Free Expresion” by Graham Smith on linkein caused me to pick up my copy of “Prohibiting incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence”, published by article 19 in December 2012 which reviews the conflicts between the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on civil and political rights. The former of which creates a comprehensive right to seek and receive information while the latter in its article 20(2) Requires signatory states to prohibit certain forms of speech which are intended to sow hatred.
Much formal and informal transatlantic conversations on the subject of free speech would seem to downplay the latter and with the rise of revenge porn and non-consensual privacy violations on the internet, it is necessary to consider other universal rights, such as the right to dignity (A1) and privacy (A12).
NB The United States is a signatory to the ICCPR; twitter/x and Facebook are not human beings and so may not claim human rights law protection and neither do bots nor AIs.
The Article 19 pamphlet explores the treaties’ provisions in some depth and sensitivity proposing that national laws should explicitly prohibit incitement; this would still leave breaches of Article 1 & 12 rights with limited recourse to remedy granted in Article 8.
- Graham’s Linkedin Post
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Prohibiting incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence by Article 19
Image Credit: BeenAroundAWhile at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons