642 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "Broadcast regulators and governing bodies should be so constituted as to protect themselves against political and commercial interference."
- "Any regulatory mechanisms, whether for electronic or print media, should be independent of all political parties and function at an arms-length relationship to Government; access to technology, newsprint, printing facilities and distribution points should only be regulated by the supply and demand of the free market."
- "Member states should ensure that there is an effective and manifest separation between the exercise of control of media and decisions making as regards to media content and the exercise of political authority or influence."
- "Public service broadcasting, whether run by public organisations or privately-owned companies, differs from broadcasting for purely commercial or political reasons because of its specific remit, which is essentially to operate independently of those holding economic and political power."
- "International law provides that everyone is entitled to an effective remedy by a competent national tribunal for a violation of a fundamental right…There is good authority for the proposition that, where an administrative (as opposed to a judicial) remedy is the only remedy available, the agency that decides the complaint must be independent of the agency that is the subject of the complaint…The above precedents provide sound support for the contention that international law, bolstered by UN guidelines, requires establishment of a body to regulate election broadcasts that is independent of government as well as the media, and which is subject to judicial review."
- "The appointments process for members of a regulatory body should be open and transparent, involve the participation of civil society, and shall not be controlled by any particular political party."
- "Alerts member states to the risk of misuse of the power of media in a situation of strong concentration of the media and new communication services, and its potential consequences for political pluralism and for democratic processes and, in this context; 2. draws attention to the necessity of having regulatory measures in place with a view to guaranteeing full transparency of media ownership and adopting regulatory measures, if appropriate."
- "Invites broadcasting regulatory authorities to: be conscious of their particular role in a democratic society and their importance in creating a diverse and pluralist broadcasting landscape; ensure the independent and transparent allocation of broadcasting licenses and monitoring of broadcasters in the public interest; contribute to the entrenchment of a 'culture of independence' and, in this context, develop and respect guidelines that guarantee their own independence and that of their members; make a commitment to transparency, effectiveness and accountability."
- "Whatever the model chosen, the supervisory body should act in an impartial, independent, transparent and consistent manner in order to fulfil its mandate and ensure compliance of the media to relevant regulations."
- "The right to an effective remedy includes: (iii) access to the factual information concerning the violations."
- "The obligation to respect, ensure respect for and enforce international human rights and humanitarian law includes, inter alia, a State’s duty to: (b) Investigate violations and, where appropriate, take action against the violator in accordance with domestic and international law."
- "States Parties adopt legislative, judicial, administrative, educative and other appropriate measures in order to fulfill their legal obligations."
- "Member states should ensure that administrative authorities implement judicial decisions within a reasonable period of time. In order to give full effect to these decisions, they should take all necessary measures in accordance with the law. b. In cases of non-implementation by an administrative authority of a judicial decision, an appropriate procedure should be provided to seek execution of that decision, in particular through an injunction or a coercive fine."
- "States should ensure that violations of human rights and complaints relating to the electoral process are determined promptly within the timeframe of the electoral process and effectively by an independent and impartial authority, such as an electoral commission or the courts."
- "The courts should be strengthened in terms of both human and financial resources to enable them adequately deal with election petitions and offences and to ensure a level playing field and free and fair elections."
- "Where the investigations referred to in paragraph 15 reveal violations of certain Covenant rights, States Parties must ensure that those responsible are brought to justice. As with failure to investigate, failure the bring to justice perpetrators of such violations could in an of itself give rise to a separate breach of the Covenant."
- "The state must punish any kind of electoral fraud."
- "State Parties to the present Charter shall have the duty to guarantee the independence of the Courts and shall allow the establishment and improvement of appropriate national institutions entrusted with the promotion and protection of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the present Charter."
- "The independence of judges and the impartial operation of the public judicial service will be ensured."
- "The independence of the judiciary shall be guaranteed by the State and enshrined in the Constitution or the law of the country. It is the duty of all governmental and other institutions to respect and observe the independence of the judiciary."
- "The executive and legislative powers should ensure that judges are independent and that steps are not taken which could endanger the independence of judges."
- "In the decision-making process judges should be independent and be able to act without any restriction, improper influence, inducements, pressures, threats or interferences, direct or indirect, from any quarter or for any reason. The law should provide for sanctions against persons seeking to influence judges in any such manner."
- "It is necessary to guarantee a judiciary that is totally unconstrained by any partisan influence or control. The following are some of the basic principles of the independence of the judiciary….States are required to provide adequate resource to enable proper functioning of the judiciary."
- "States must ensure, through adoption of national legislation, that in regard to human rights violations, which are matters of public concern, any individual, group of individuals or non-governmental organization is entitled to bring an issue before judicial bodies for determination."
- "Urges States parties to ensure that their public service is aligned with the principles outlined in the Convention, including, inter alia, efficiency, transparency and objective criteria in recruitment, the promotion of integrity, honesty and responsibility and adherence to codes of conduct for public officials."
- "Calls upon States parties to put effective processes in place to promote transparency, competition and objective decision-making in public procurement systems, in line with article 9 of the Convention, and to take into consideration the anti-corruption-related recommendations contained in the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law on Public Procurement."
- " Member states should guarantee the right of everyone to have access, on request, to official documents held by public authorities. This principle should apply without discrimination on any ground, including that of national origin. "
- "States should foster citizen participation in the electoral process by] safeguarding the right to vote of vulnerable groups (people with disabilities, people who are illiterate, etc.) by adapting polling stations and voting material to their needs. "
- "The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to guarantee that the rights enunciated in the present Covenant will be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. "
- "[States should] ensure transparency of the electoral process, particularly in: 8.2.1. the organisation of elections: they should be organised by independent and impartial bodies, which should lead to the general introduction of central electoral commissions, ensuring that adequate resources are made available for the effective registration of voters and efficient organisation of the ballot. "
- "Observation of elections b. Observation must not be confined to election day itself, but must include the registration period of candidates and, if necessary, of electors, as well as the electoral campaign. It must make it possible to determine whether irregularities occurred before, during or after the elections. It must always be possible during vote counting. "
- " Member states should guarantee the right of everyone to have access, on request, to official documents held by public authorities. This principle should apply without discrimination on any ground, including that of national origin. "
- "The Committee recommends that States parties: Ensure that new constitutions provide for temporary special measures, apply to citizens and non-citizens, and guarantee that women’s human rights are not subject to derogation in states of emergency. "
- "Public bodies and relevant private bodies must proactively publish information. "
- "Racism, Zionism, occupation and foreign control constitute a challenge to human dignity and are a fundamental obstacle to the human rights of peoples. It is a duty to condemn all such practices and to work towards their abolishment."
- "Each State party to the present Charter undertakes to ensure that every individual located within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction, shall have the right to enjoy all the rights and freedoms recognised in this [Charter], without distinction on the basis of race, colour sex, language, religion, political opinion, national or social origin, wealth, birth or other status, and without any discrimination between men and women."
- "Each public body and relevant private body must publish the following information produced by or in relation to that body within 30 days of the information being generated or received by that body: manuals, policies, procedures or rules or similar instruments which have been prepared for, or are used by, officers of the body in discharging that body’s functions, exercising powers and handling complaints, making decisions or recommendations or providing advice to persons outside the body with respect to rights, privileges or benefits, or to obligations, penalties or other detriments, to or for which persons may be entitled. "
- "Oversight of any rules relating to the media and elections should be vested in an independent administrative body which should address any complaints promptly. The decisions of this body should be subject to judicial review. "
- "The Commission considers that the act of ratifying the American Convention presupposes acceptance of the obligation of not only respecting the observance of rights and freedoms recognized in it, but also guaranteeing their existence and the exercise of all of them. It is these elements of political rights presented in item 5 of this document that the State commits itself not only to respect but “guarantee their full and free exercise,” according to Article 1.1 of the Convention. It must be pointed out that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in its Decision of July 29, 1988, in the case of Velásquez Rodríguez, has stated that Article 1.1 of the Convention: Article 1 (1) is essential in determining whether a violation of the human rights recognized by the Convention can be imputed to a State Party. In effect, that article charges the States Parties with the fundamental duty to respect and guarantee the rights recognized in the Convention. Any impairment of those rights which can be attributed under the rules of international law to the action or omission of any public authority constitutes an act imputable to the State, which assumes responsibility in the terms provided by the Convention. "
- "According to the Court, “this obligation implies the duty of the State party to organize all the state apparatus and, in general, all the structures through which the exercise of public power is manifested, in such a manner that they are able to legally insure the free and full exercise of human rights.” That is the basis of the obligation stipulated in Article 2 of the Convention for the adoption of measures of internal law to make those rights and liberties effective. Therefore, this carries with it the obligation of the state party to adapt its internal legislation when it suffers defects that prevent or hinder the full observance of the rights recognized by the Convention and, in this specific case, the rights protected by Article 23. "
- "The State’s general obligation to adapt its domestic laws to the provisions of the Convention in order to guarantee the rights it embodies, which is established in Article 2, includes issuing norms and developing practices that lead to the effective observance of the rights and freedoms embodied in the Convention, as well as adopting measures to eliminate norms and practices of any nature that entail a violation of the guarantees established therein. "
- "To comply with its Convention-based obligation to establish within their domestic laws an effective recourse in the terms of the Convention, the States must provide accessible recourses to all persons to protect their rights. If a specific judicial action is the recourse destined by the law to obtain the restitution of the right that is considered violated, any person who holds title to that right must be genuinely able to file it. "
- "The Court has stated on many occasions that each State Party to the Convention “must adopt all necessary measures to ensure that the provisions of the Convention are effectively complied with in its domestic legal order, as required by Article 2 of the Convention.” It has also indicated that the States “must adopt positive measures, avoid taking initiatives that limit or infringe a fundamental right and eliminate the measures and practices that restrict or violate a fundamental right.” The obligation contained in Article 2 of the Convention acknowledges a customary norm which provides that, when a State has ratified an international convention, it must introduce into its domestic law the necessary modifications to ensure the execution of the international obligations it has assumed. "
- "Political rights are human rights of fundamental importance within the inter-American system and they are closely related to other rights embodied in the American Convention, such as freedom of expression, and freedom of association and assembly; together, they make democracy possible. The Court underscores the importance of political rights and recalls that Article 27 of the American Convention prohibits their suspension and establishes the judicial guarantees essential for their protection. "
- "The Court considers that the effective exercise of political rights constitutes an end in itself and also a fundamental means that democratic societies possess to guarantee the other human rights established in the Convention. "
- "Article 23 contains various norms that refer to the rights of the individual as a citizen; that is, as titleholder of the decision-making process in public matters, in his capacity as a voter by means of his vote, or as a public servant; in other words, to be elected by the people or by appointment or designation to occupy a public office. In addition to possessing the particularity of dealing with rights recognized to the citizen, as distinct from almost all the other rights established in the Convention that are recognized to every person, Article 23 of the Convention not only establishes that its titleholders must enjoy rights, but adds the word “opportunities.” The latter implies the obligation to guarantee with positive measures that every person who is formally the titleholder of political rights has the real opportunity to exercise them. As the Court has previously indicated, it is essential that the State create optimum conditions and mechanisms to ensure that political rights can be exercised effectively, respecting the principle of equality and non-discrimination. "
- "Consequently, the State not only has the general obligation established in Article 1 to ensure the enjoyment of the rights, but has specific guidelines to comply with its obligation. The electoral system that the States establish in accordance with the American Convention should make it possible to hold genuine periodic elections, by universal and equal suffrage, and by secret ballot that guarantee the free expression of the will of the voters. Hence, this gives the State a specific mandate in relation to the mechanisms that it should choose to comply with its general obligation “to ensure” the enjoyment of the rights established in Article 1 of the Convention, compliance that, as Article 1(1) states in general, should not be discriminatory. "
- "In the sphere of political rights the guarantee obligation is especially relevant and is implemented, among other mechanisms, by the establishment of the organizational and institutional aspects of the electoral processes, and by the enactment of norms and the adoption of different types of measures to implement the rights and opportunities recognized in Article 23 of the Convention. In the absence of this action by the State, the right to vote and to be elected could simply not be exercised. The political and other rights established in the Convention, such as the right to judicial protection, are rights that “cannot be merely by virtue of the provisions that embody them, because they are, by their very nature, ineffectual without a detailed normative regulation, and even without a complex institutional, economic and human apparatus that endows them with the effectiveness they claim, as rights under the Convention[…]; if there were no electoral codes or law, electors’ lists, political parties, propaganda media and mobilization, polling stations, electoral boards, dates and times for exercising the vote, the right could simply not be exercised, due to its very nature; similarly, the right to judicial protection cannot be exercised unless there are courts that grant this right, and procedural norms that discipline it and make it possible. "
- "With the exception of some rights that cannot be restricted in any circumstance, such as the right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, human rights are not absolute. As the Court has established previously, the establishment and application of requirements to exercise political rights is not, per se, an undue restriction of political rights. However, the power of the States to regulate or restrict rights is not discretional, but is limited by international law, which requires compliance with certain obligations that, if they are not respected, make the restriction unlawful and contrary to the American Convention. As established in Article 29(a) in fine of this instrument, no provision of the Convention shall be interpreted as restricting them to a greater extent than is provided for therein. "
- "The Court has stated that it cannot be considered that every difference in treatment, in itself, violates human dignity. The Court has also distinguished between distinctions and discriminations, so that the former are differences that are compatible with the American Convention because they are reasonable, proportionate and objective, while the latter are arbitrary differences that lead to the detriment of human rights. "