‘Hate Speech’ Explained: A Toolkit

“In this toolkit, ARTICLE 19 provides a guide to identifying ‘hate speech’ and how to effectively counter it, while protecting the rights to freedom of expression and equality. It responds to a growing demand for clear guidance on identifying “hate speech,” and for responding to the challenges ‘hate speech’ poses within a human rights framework. [In particular] it addresses three key questions: 1) how do we identify ‘hate speech’ that can be restricted, and distinguish it from protected speech? 2) what positive measures can States and others take to counter ‘hate speech’? 3) which types of ‘hate speech’ should be prohibited by States, and under which circumstances? The toolkit is guided by the principle that coordinated and focused action taken to promote the rights to freedom of expression and equality is essential for fostering a tolerant, pluralistic and diverse democratic society in which all human rights can be realised for all people. It is informed by, and builds upon, ARTICLE 19’s existing policy work in this field.” The toolkit is structured so as to cover the absence of a uniform definition for ‘hate speech’ under International Human Rights Law, a typology for distinguishing between types of ‘hate speech’ as guided by States’ obligations, guidance on policy measures to be taken by State and non-State actors to enable a conducive environment for free speech and equality, the exceptional circumstances in which States are obligated to prohibit severest forms of ‘hate speech’, and the tests against which such prohibitions must be measured.