3619 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "The independence of the [media regulatory] authorities and bodies referred to in the previous paragraph should be guaranteed by ensuring that they have open and transparent appointment and dismissal procedures; have adequate human and financial resources and autonomous budget allocation; function according to transparent procedures and decision making; are open to communication with the public; have the power to take autonomous, proportionate decisions and enforce them effectively and that their decisions are subject to appeal."
- "States should encourage social media, media, search and recommendation engines and other intermediaries which use algorithms, along with media actors, regulatory authorities, civil society, academia and other relevant stakeholders to engage in open, independent, transparent and participatory initiatives that: – improve the transparency of the processes of online distribution of media content, including automated processes."
- "States should encourage social media, media, search and recommendation engines and other intermediaries which use algorithms, along with media actors, regulatory authorities, civil society, academia and other relevant stakeholders to engage in open, independent, transparent and participatory initiatives that: (...) – implement the principle of privacy by design in respect of any automated data processing techniques and ensure that such techniques are fully compliant with the relevant privacy and data protection laws and standards."
- "States should make particular efforts, taking advantage of technological developments, to ensure that the broadest possible diversity of media content, including general interest content, is accessible to all groups in society, particularly those which may have specific needs or face disadvantage or obstacles when accessing media content, such as minority groups, refugees, children, the elderly and persons with cognitive or physical disabilities. This implies that such media content should be made available in different languages and in suitable formats and that it should be easy to find and use."
- "Diversity of media content can only be properly gauged when there are high levels of transparency about editorial and commercial content: media and other actors should adhere to the highest standards of transparency regarding the source of their content and always indicate clearly when content is provided by political sources or involves advertising or other forms of commercial communications, such as sponsoring and product placement. This also applies to hybrid forms of content, including branded content, native advertising, advertorials and infotainment."
- "States should adopt specific measures to protect the editorial independence and operational autonomy of public service media by limiting the influence of the State. The supervisory and management boards of public service media should be able to operate in a fully independent manner and the rules governing their composition and appointment procedures should be transparent and contain adequate checks and balances to ensure their independence."
- "States should also ensure stable, sustainable, transparent and adequate funding for public service media on a multiyear basis in order to guarantee their independence from governmental, political and market pressures and enable them to provide a broad range of pluralistic information and diverse content."
- "States are furthermore encouraged to ensure procedures to prevent media mergers or acquisitions that could adversely affect the pluralism of media ownership or diversity of media content."
- "States should promote a regime of transparency of media ownership that ensures the public availability and accessibility of accurate, up-to-date data concerning direct and beneficial ownership of the media, as well as other interests that influence the strategic decision making of the media in question or its editorial line."
- "High levels of transparency should also be ensured with regard to the sources of financing of media outlets in order to provide a comprehensive picture of the different sources of potential interference with the editorial and operational independence of the media and allow for effective monitoring and controlling of such risks."
- "States should introduce legislative provisions, or strengthen existing ones, that promote media literacy with a view to enabling individuals to access, understand, critically analyse, evaluate, use and create content through a range of legacy and digital (including social) media."
- "Temporary special measures must be discontinued when their desired results have been achieved and sustained for a period of time."
- "The term “measures” encompasses a wide variety of legislative, executive, administrative and other regulatory instruments, policies and practices, such as outreach or support programmes; allocation and/or reallocation of resources; preferential treatment; targeted recruitment, hiring and promotion; numerical goals connected with time frames; and quota systems. "
- "Transparency International recommends that governments make the following four commitments: Apply comprehensive disclosure regulations to the finances of parties and candidates and ensure that all information is regularly published via a single online portal."
- "Transparency International recommends that governments make the following four commitments: (...) Introduce limits on sources and amounts of donations to political parties and candidates, and encourage a broad base of donors, to strike a healthy balance between public and private funding."
- "An independent oversight agency must be free from political pressure. To achieve this, governments can make the agency directly accountable to parliament, create a competitive and meritocratic system of public appointments, and empower it to receive, investigate and report on complaints received from members of the public. To enforce compliance effectively, the agency needs the resources to operate at speed and scale."
- "Campaign funding should become public at least prior to the referendum."
- "The use of public resources by the authorities for campaigning purposes must be prohibited. Political parties and their representatives, including those who are elected representatives or hold a public office, are entitled to take actively part in the campaign. Particular duties of reserve may apply to the persons belonging to the public authority responsible for the organisation or supervision of the referendum."
- "An impartial body should control campaign financing."
- "Everyone enjoying electoral rights is entitled to sign a popular initiative or request for a referendum."
- "Everyone enjoying electoral rights must be entitled to collect signatures. This right may be extended to other categories of people."
- "The absolute minimum period between calling a referendum and polling day should be four weeks. A considerably longer period of preparation is desirable, however, particularly if the topic has not already been subject to widespread public discussion. The campaign period must not be shorter than for regular elections."
- "Everyone has the right of peaceful assembly: citizens and non-citizens alike. It may be exercised by, for example, foreign nationals, migrants (documented or undocumented), asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons."
- "Article 21 of the Covenant protects peaceful assemblies wherever they take place: outdoors, indoors and online; in public and private spaces; or a combination thereof. Such assemblies may take many forms, including demonstrations, protests, meetings, processions, rallies, sit-ins, candlelit vigils and flash mobs. They are protected under article 21 whether they are stationary, such as pickets, or mobile, such as processions or marches."
- "Although the exercise of the right of peaceful assembly is normally understood to pertain to the physical gathering of persons, article 21 protection also extends to remote participation in, and organization of, assemblies, for example online."
- "Peaceful assemblies are often organized in advance, allowing time for the organizers to notify the authorities to make the necessary preparations. However, spontaneous assemblies, which are typically direct responses to current events, whether coordinated or not, are equally protected under article 21."
- "Collective civil disobedience or direct action campaigns can be covered by article 21, provided that they are non-violent."
- "There is not always a clear dividing line between assemblies that are peaceful and those that are not, but there is a presumption in favour of considering assemblies to be peaceful. "
- "The conduct of specific participants in an assembly may be deemed violent if authorities can present credible evidence that, before or during the event, those participants are inciting others to use violence, and such actions are likely to cause violence; that the participants have violent intentions and plan to act on them; or that violence on their part is imminent. Isolated instances of such conduct will not suffice to taint an entire assembly as non-peaceful, but where it is manifestly widespread within the assembly, participation in the gathering as such is no longer protected under article 21."
- "Moreover, while the time, place and manner of assemblies may under some circumstances be the subject of legitimate restrictions under article 21, given the typically expressive nature of assemblies, participants must as far as possible be enabled to conduct assemblies within sight and sound of their target audience."
- "Where needed, States must also protect participants against possible abuse by non-state actors, such as interference or violence by other members of the public, counterdemonstrators and private security providers."
- "States must respect and ensure counterdemonstrations as assemblies in their own right, while preventing undue disruption of the assemblies to which they are opposed."
- "States parties must not, for example, block or hinder Internet connectivity in relation to peaceful assemblies. The same applies to geotargeted or technology-specific interference with connectivity or access to content. States should ensure that the activities of Internet service providers and intermediaries do not unduly restrict assemblies or the privacy of assembly participants."
- "Restrictions must not be discriminatory, impair the essence of the right, or be aimed at discouraging participation in assemblies or causing a chilling effect."
- "The prohibition of a specific assembly can be considered only as a measure of last resort. Where the imposition of restrictions on an assembly is deemed necessary, the authorities should first seek to apply the least intrusive measures."
- "Central to the realization of the right is the requirement that any restrictions, in principle, be content neutral, and thus not be related to the message conveyed by the assembly."
- "Peaceful assemblies should not be relegated to remote areas where they cannot effectively capture the attention of those who are being addressed, or the general public."
- "Requirements for participants or organizers either to arrange for or to contribute towards the costs of policing or security, medical assistance or cleaning, or other public services associated with peaceful assemblies are generally not compatible with article 21."
- "Having to apply for permission from the authorities undercuts the idea that peaceful assembly is a basic right."
- "Notification systems requiring that those who intend to organize a peaceful assembly must inform the authorities in advance and provide certain salient details are permissible to the extent necessary to assist the authorities in facilitating the smooth conduct of peaceful assemblies and protecting the rights of others. (...) Notification procedures should be transparent, not unduly bureaucratic, their demands on organizers must be proportionate to the potential public impact of the assembly concerned, and they should be free of charge."
- "Where authorization regimes persist in domestic law, they must in practice function as a system of notification, with authorization being granted as a matter of course, in the absence of compelling reasons to do otherwise. Notification regimes, for their part, must not in practice function as authorization systems."
- "Law enforcement officials involved in policing assemblies must respect and ensure the exercise of the fundamental rights of organizers and participants, while also protecting journalists, monitors and observers, medical personnel and other members of the public, as well as public and private property, from harm."
- "Any use of force must comply with the fundamental principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, precaution and non-discrimination applicable to articles 6 and 7 of the Covenant, and those using force must be accountable for each use of force."
- "States have an obligation to investigate effectively, impartially and in a timely manner any allegation or reasonable suspicion of unlawful use of force or other violations by law enforcement officials, including sexual or gender-based violence, in the context of assemblies. Both intentional and negligent action or inaction can amount to a violation of human rights. Individual officials responsible for violations must be held accountable under domestic and, where relevant, international law, and effective remedies must be available to victims."
- "The mandate holder has called upon States to ensure that everyone can access and use the Internet to exercise these rights, and that online associations and assemblies are facilitated in accordance with international human rights standards. The Human Rights Council has recognized that although an assembly has generally been understood as a physical gathering of people, human rights protections, including for freedom of assembly, may apply to analogous interactions taking place online."
- "Likewise, States should recognize the value of technology to facilitate people’s rights to public participation. The Special Rapporteur welcomes efforts by many governments to establish online platforms through which those interested can submit and collect signatures for petitions on government policies and legislative action."
- "No person should be held criminally, civilly or administratively liable for organizing, advocating, or participating in a peaceful protest or for establishing or operating an association for a lawful purpose. Dissent is a legitimate part of the exercise of peaceful assembly and association rights and should be protected, online and offline."
- "In general, the blocking of entire websites is an extreme, disproportionate measure that severely limits the ability to carry out these activities, and therefore undermines the exercise of freedom of assembly and association."
- "States should promote and facilitate access to digital technologies, and should not put restrictions on their use for the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Policies and practices should address equal access to the Internet and digital technologies, the affordability, and participation in the digital age for all, so as to bridge the digital divide. "
- "States should create an enabling legal framework for the right to peaceful assembly and association in the digital age, by: (…) (b) Repealing and amending any laws and policies that allow network disruptions and shutdowns, and refraining from adopting such laws and policies; (c) Revising and amending cybercrime, surveillance and antiterrorism laws and bringing them into compliance with international human rights norms and standards governing the right to privacy, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of association."