444 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "States should actively promote universal access to the Internet regardless of political, social, economic or cultural differences, including by respecting the principles of net neutrality and of the centrality of human rights to the development of the Internet."
- "To create enabling environments for freedom of expression, States should: a. Take immediate and meaningful action to protect the safety of journalists and others who are attacked for exercising their right to freedom of expression and to end impunity for such attacks."
- "Respect international human rights standards, including those of transparency, when seeking to regulate or influence expression on online media platforms."
- "Devote significantly greater attention and resources to media-, information- and digital literacy, over the short- and long-term, to address the particular literacy challenges of the modern digital communications environment."
- "Recognise the right to access and use the Internet as a human right as an essential condition for the exercise of the right to freedom of expression."
- "In order to protect against unaccountable private domination of the environment for freedom of expression, we urge the development of the following: (…) e. Human rights sensitive solutions to the challenges caused by disinformation, including the growing possibility of “deep fakes”, in publicly accountable and targeted ways, using approaches that meet the international law standards of legality, legitimacy of objective, and necessity and proportionality. "
- "The Human Rights Council, (…) 9. Urges States to do their utmost to prevent violence, intimidation, threats and attacks against journalists and media workers, including by: (a) Increasing and accelerating efforts to create and maintain, in law and in practice, a safe and enabling environment for journalists to perform their work independently and without undue interference."
- "The Human Rights Council, (…) 12. Also calls upon States to ensure that defamation and libel laws are not misused, in particular through excessive criminal sanctions, to illegitimately or arbitrarily censor journalists and interfere with their mission of informing the public, and where necessary to revise and repeal such laws, in compliance with States’ obligations under international human rights law."
- "State mandated blocking of entire websites, IP addresses, ports or network protocols is an extreme measure which can only be justified where it is provided by law and is necessary to protect a human right or other legitimate public interest, including in the sense of that it is proportionate, there are no less intrusive alternative measures which would protect the interest and it respects minimum due process guarantees."
- "General prohibitions on the dissemination of information based on vague and ambiguous ideas, including “false news” or “non-objective information”, are incompatible with international standards for restrictions on freedom of expression, as set out in paragraph 1(a), and should be abolished."
- "Criminal defamation laws are unduly restrictive and should be abolished. Civil law rules on liability for false and defamatory statements are legitimate only if defendants are given a full opportunity and fail to prove the truth of those statements and also benefit from other defences, such as fair comment."
- "States have a positive obligation to promote a free, independent and diverse communications environment, including media diversity, which is a key means of addressing disinformation and propaganda."
- "As part of the reviews of laws and practices, member States which have defamation laws should ensure that those laws include freedom of expression safeguards that conform to European and international human rights standards, including truth/public-interest/fair comment defences and safeguards against misuse and abuse, in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights and the principle of proportionality, as developed in the relevant judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. Furthermore, given the chilling effect that legislation criminalising particular types of expression has on freedom of expression and public debate, States should exercise restraint in applying such legislation, where it exists."
- "It is imperative that everyone involved in killings of, attacks on and ill-treatment of journalists and other media actors be brought to justice."
- "Moreover, some types of hate speech which incite violence or hatred fall under Article 17 of the Convention (prohibition of abuse of rights) and are therefore not afforded protection because their aim is to destroy some of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention."
- "Parties and their supporters shall be able to assemble freely and communicate the party views, and their opinions shall not be summarily blocked from receiving balanced media coverage, especially by state-run media."
- "It is of paramount importance that political parties and their members have the right to participate in political and public debate, regardless of whether the position taken by them is in line with government policy or advocates for legal or societal change or is unpopular or offensive to some groups."
- "Funding political parties through private contributions is also a form of political participation. Thus, legislation should attempt to achieve a balance between encouraging moderate contributions and limiting unduly large contributions."
- "Anonymous donations should be strictly regulated, including through a limit on the aggregate allowable amount of all anonymous donations."
- "In order to avoid the creation of loopholes through which unlimited funding can be channeled and financial transactions can be veiled, laws should set proportionate and reasonable limits to the amount that third parties can spend on promoting candidates or parties, ideally by applying existing ceilings for donations to political parties to these actors as well. "
- "Therefore, legislation may limit such contributions as part of the total spending limit during the campaign period or set reasonable caps for individual candidate’s contributions and require the disclosure of such contributions."
- "Donations from foreign sources to political parties may be prohibited by domestic legislation."
- "In principle, donations from citizens, regardless of their place of residence, should not be restricted if they are allowed to participate in elections at home."
- "The amount of public funding awarded to parties must be carefully designed to guarantee the utility of such funding, while at the same time ensuring that private contributions are not made superfluous or their impact nullified."
- "Third parties should be free to fundraise and express views on political issues as a means of free expression, and their activity should not be unconditionally prohibited. However, it is important that some forms of regulation, with comparable obligations and restrictions as apply to parties and party candidates, be extended to third parties that are involved in the campaign, to ensure transparency and accountability. Third parties should be subjected to similar rules on donations and spending as political parties to avoid situations where third parties can be used to circumvent campaign finance regulations."
- "In order to secure a diverse and pluralistic political process which is hospitable to candidates and parties from across the political spectrum, States should: (…) (c) Put in place measures to ensure that all political candidates and parties have direct access to State-owned broadcast media services for specific times on an equal basis, which access is determined either on the basis of the previous performance of a given party or candidate or through a ballot process, and that they are treated fairly and equitably by those services."
- "In order to secure a diverse and pluralistic political process which is hospitable to candidates and parties from across the political spectrum, States should: (…) (d) Permanently assess the impact of private financing of political communication in the promotion of a plural debate; and consider adopting ceilings for donations to political campaigns in order to prevent financial imbalances from destabilizing the playing field and disproportionately limiting the participation of certain parties or candidates in political campaigns."
- "The obligations to promote the enjoyment of the right to freedom of opinion and expression require that States guarantee the transparency of all aspects of political and electoral processes, and should particularly put in place measures to: (...) (b) Put in place measures to ensure that, in all circumstances, paid political advertising is identified as such and not disguised as news or editorial coverage, and that the origin of its financial backing is evident."
- "The obligations to promote the enjoyment of the right to freedom of opinion and expression require that States guarantee the transparency of all aspects of political and electoral processes, and should particularly put in place measures to: (...) (f) Ensure that there is sufficient transparency around the means and methodology of opinion polling; and consider prohibiting the dissemination of polling results 24 to 36 hours preceding voting."
- "In the context of promoting free expression during electoral processes, States should: (b) Guarantee the safety of journalists and media workers; legislative and policy measures must be adopted to prevent attacks against journalists and to eradicate impunity in relation to episodes of violence and intimidation."
- "States should repeal any law that criminalizes or unduly restricts expression, online or offline."
- "Smart regulation, not heavy-handed viewpoint-based regulation, should be the norm, focused on ensuring company transparency and remediation to enable the public to make choices about how and whether to engage in online forums."
- "Finding appropriate responses to disinformation is difficult, not least because the concept is undefined and open to abuse, and because the size and nature of the problem is contested in the absence of sufficient data and research. State responses have often been problematic and heavy handed and had a detrimental impact on human rights."
- "There is clear evidence that robust public information regimes and independent journalism are strong antidotes to disinformation."
- "The Human Rights Council has strongly condemned the use of Internet shutdowns that intentionally and arbitrarily prevent or disrupt access to information online. Shutting down the Internet is an inherently disproportionate response, given the blanket nature of the act, which blocks multiple other uses of the Internet. As such, it violates the requirement of necessity and proportionality set out in international human rights law."
- "States have resorted to disproportionate measures such as Internet shutdowns and vague and overly broad laws to criminalize, block, censor and chill online speech and shrink civic space. These measures are not only incompatible with international human rights law but also contribute to amplifying misperceptions, fostering fear and entrenching public mistrust of institutions."
- "Criminal libel laws are a legacy of the colonial past and have no place in modern democratic societies. They should be repealed."
- "Ensuring the safety of journalists online and offline and ending impunity for threats, intimidation, harassment, attacks and killings of journalists, including women journalists, bloggers, cartoonists and human rights defenders is key to restoring confidence in the public sphere as a safe place for democratic deliberations."
- "Media information and digital literacy empowers people and builds their resilience against disinformation and misinformation, as noted recently by the General Assembly."
- "Companies should adopt clear, narrowly defined content and advertising policies on disinformation and misinformation that are in line with international human rights law and after consultation with all relevant stakeholders. (...) They should ensure that all policies are easily accessible and understandable by users and are enforced consistently, taking into account the particular contexts in which they are applied."
- "In keeping with these foundations, and with reference to the rules outlined above, States should at a minimum do the following in addressing online hate speech: (a) Strictly define the terms in their laws that constitute prohibited content under article 20 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and resist criminalizing such speech except in the gravest situations, such as advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, and adopt the interpretations of human rights law contained in the Rabat Plan of Action."
- "In keeping with these foundations, and with reference to the rules outlined above, States should at a minimum do the following in addressing online hate speech: (...) (b) Review existing laws or develop legislation on hate speech to meet the requirements of legality, necessity and proportionality, and legitimacy, and subject such rule-making to robust public participation."
- "In addition to the principles adopted in earlier reports and in keeping with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, all companies in the ICT sector should: (…) (c) Define the category of content that they consider to be hate speech with reasoned explanations for users and the public and approaches that are consistent across jurisdictions."
- "In addition to the principles adopted in earlier reports and in keeping with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, all companies in the ICT sector should: (…) (f) As part of an overall effort to address hate speech, develop tools that promote individual autonomy, security and free expression, and involve de-amplification, de-monetization, education, counter-speech, reporting and training as alternatives, when appropriate, to the banning of accounts and the removal of content."