3619 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "The right to freedom of expression, which applies regardless of frontiers, protects the Internet, as it does other forms of communication."
- "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."
- "Ensure that regulatory bodies for the media are independent, operate transparently and are accountable to the public, and respect the principle of limited scope of regulation, and provide appropriate oversight of private actors."
- "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."
- "The Human Rights Council, (…) 13. Further calls upon States to protect in law and in practice the confidentiality of journalists’ sources, including whistle-blowers, in acknowledgement of the essential role of journalists and those who provide them with information in fostering government accountability and an inclusive and peaceful society, subject only to limited and clearly defined exceptions provided for in national legal frameworks, including judicial authorization, in compliance with States’ obligations under international human rights law."
- "The Security Council, (...) 3. Encourages Member States to increase their funding on women, peace and security including through more aid in conflict and post-conflict situations for programmes that further gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as through support to civil society, and to support countries in armed conflict and post-conflict situations, including through capacity-building, in their implementation of women, peace and security resolutions (...)."
- "The General Assembly, (…) 8. Calls upon all States to enhance the political participation of women, accelerate the achievement of equality between men and women and, in all situations, promote and protect the human rights of women with respect to voting in elections and public referendums and being eligible for election to publicly elected bodies on equal terms with men."
- "The General Assembly, (…) 17. Reiterates the role of civil society and the importance of its active engagement in the promotion of democratization, and invites Member States to facilitate the full participation of civil society in electoral processes."
- "(b) Refrain from engaging in violence against women and exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons."
- "By Governments: (a) Commit themselves to establishing the goal of gender balance in governmental bodies and committees, as well as in public administrative entities, and in the judiciary, including, inter alia, setting specific targets and implementing measures to substantially increase the number of women with a view to achieving equal representation of women and men, if necessary through positive action, in all governmental and public administration positions."
- "By Governments: (…) (b) Take measures, including, where appropriate, in electoral systems that encourage political parties to integrate women in elective and nonelective public positions in the same proportion and at the same levels as men; (c) Protect and promote the equal rights of women and men to engage in political activities and to freedom of association, including membership in political parties and trade unions."
- "By Governments: (…) (d) Review the differential impact of electoral systems on the political representation of women in elected bodies and consider, where appropriate, the adjustment or reform of those systems."
- "By Governments: (…) (e) Monitor and evaluate progress in the representation of women through the regular collection, analysis and dissemination of quantitative and qualitative data on women and men at all levels in various decision-making positions in the public and private sectors, and disseminate data on the number of women and men employed at various levels in governments on a yearly basis (...). "
- "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."
- "Intermediaries should take effective measures to ensure that their users can both easily access and understand any policies and practices, including terms of service, they have in place for actions covered by paragraph 4(a), including detailed information about how they are enforced, where relevant by making available clear, concise and easy to understand summaries of or explanatory guides to those policies and practices."
- "Female journalists and other female media actors face specific gender-related dangers, including sexist, misogynist and degrading abuse; threats; intimidation; harassment and sexual aggression and violence. These violations are increasingly taking place online. There is a need for urgent, resolute and systemic responses."
- "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."
- "Media pluralism and diversity of media content are essential for the functioning of a democratic society and are the corollaries of the fundamental right to freedom of expression and information as guaranteed by Article 10 of the Convention. States have a positive obligation to guarantee pluralism in the media sector, which entails ensuring that a diversity of voices, including critical ones, can be heard."
- "The adoption and effective implementation of mediaownership regulation also plays an important role in this respect. Such regulation should ensure transparency in media ownership and prevent its concentration where this is detrimental to pluralism. It should address issues such as indirect and cross-media ownership, and appropriate restrictions on media ownership by persons holding public office."
- "Online harassment, threats, abuse and violations of digital security tend to target female journalists and other female media actors in particular, which calls for gender-specific responses."
- "Political parties must be protected as an integral expression of the right of individuals and groups to freely form associations. But, given the unique and vital role of political parties in the electoral process and democratic governance, it is commonly accepted for states to regulate their functioning insofar as is necessary to ensure effective, representative and fair democratic governance."
- "So, on the one hand, some kind of state regulation of the inner workings of political parties may be acceptable; on the other hand, state interference may suffice with formulating some “requirements for parties to be transparent in their decision-making and to seek input from their membership when determining party constitutions and candidates”."
- "Although there are limitations to the right of association, such limitations must be construed strictly, and only convincing and compelling reasons can justify limitations on freedom of association. Limits must be prescribed by law, necessary in a democratic society, and proportional in measure."
- "Only convincing and compelling reasons can justify limitations on the freedom of association of political parties, and such limitations must be construed strictly. Any such limitations must be prescribed by law, pursue a legitimate aim recognized by international standards, necessary in a democratic society, and proportionate in measure and duration."
- "The state shall not only (passively) respect the exercise of the freedom of association, but shall also actively protect and facilitate this exercise. The state shall protect political parties and individuals in their freedom of association from interference by non-state actors, inter alia by legislative means. "
- "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."
- "Political pluralism is critical to ensuring effective democratic governance and providing citizens with a genuine opportunity to choose how they will be governed. Legislation regarding political parties should promote pluralism as a means of guaranteeing participation by all persons and groups, including minorities, in public life, which should also allow for the expression of opposition viewpoints and for democratic transitions of power."
- "Particularly in the case of political parties, given their fundamental role in the democratic process, prohibitive measures shall be narrowly applied and shall never completely extinguish the right or encroach on its essence. For instance, prohibiting the establishment of a political party or dissolving a political party are sanctions of last resort and shall only be imposed in exceptional cases under strict conditions."
- "However, the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR take the view that, given the importance of political parties as vital instruments of the freedom of association and fundamental for the democratic process and the important consequences that the restrictions imposed on political parties may have, any restriction on political party freedoms must be capable of being submitted to review by an independent and impartial court, at least in the final instance. Moreover, the prohibition/dissolution of a political party must always be decided by an independent court."
- "All individuals and groups that seek to establish a political party must be able to do so on the basis of equal treatment before the law."
- "The implementation of legislation, policies and practices relevant to political parties shall be undertaken by competent state authorities, including government bodies and courts, that act in an impartial manner and are free from partisan influence, both in law and in practice. Such authorities shall also ensure that political parties, as well as the public at large, have relevant information as to their procedures and functioning, which shall be easy to understand and comply with."
- "Grounds for denying party registration must be clearly stated in law and based on objective criteria. Where parties can be denied registration for administrative reasons, such as the failure to meet a deadline, such administrative requirements must be reasonable and well known to parties. Moreover, in case of technical omissions or minor infringements of registration requirements, the political party should be given reasonable time in which to rectify the failure."
- "Deadlines for deciding registration applications should be reasonably short, to ensure the effective realization of the right of individuals to associate. "
- "The payment of reasonable registration fees for the establishment of a political party is an acceptable requirement."
- "Although requirements based on minimum support established through the collection of signatures are legitimate, the state must ensure that they are reasonable and democratically justifiable and not so burdensome as to restrict the political activities of small parties or to discriminate against parties representing minorities."
- "Once party registration is approved, requirements for retaining it should be minimal. However, the requirements for continuing to receive certain benefits from the state, such as public financing or ballot access in elections, may be higher than requirements for maintaining registration as a political party."
- "Provisions regarding the limitation of political parties purely on the grounds that they represent a limited geographic area should generally be removed from relevant legislation."
- "Dissolution of political parties which is merely based on the incidental activities of party members as individuals is incompatible with the protection awarded to parties as associations. This incompatibility extends to individual actions of party leadership, except where these persons can be proven to act as representatives of the party as a whole."