In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, Frank La Rue talks about Access to information, freedom of expression and UN Sustainable Development Goals.

This segment is part of Module 4 of the MOOC: The right of access to information in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and African standards.

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, Pansy Tlakula talks about the adoption of the Model Law on Access to Information in Africa.

This segment is part of Module 4 of the MOOC: The right of access to information in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and African standards.

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, professor Guy Berger talks about the internet and access to information.

This segment is part of Module 4 of the MOOC: The right of access to information in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and African standards.

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, professor Frans Viljoen explains the right to access information in the African system.

This segment is part of Module 4 of the MOOC: The right of access to information in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and African standards.

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, professor Guy Berger talks about safety in the digital world.

This segment is part of Module 3 of the MOOC: The safety of journalists and the issue of impunity.

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, Frank La Rue explains international standards on safety of journalists (specifically, prevention, protection and procurement of justice).   

This segment is part of Module 3 of the MOOC: The safety of journalists and the issue of impunity.

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, Pansy Tlakula explains standards on protections of sources and whistleblowers.

This segment is part of Module 3 of the MOOC: The safety of journalists and the issue of impunity.

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, Justice Ben Kioko explains the landmark case Beneficiaries of the Late Norbert Zongo and others v. Burkina Faso Justice rendered by the African Court of Human and People’s rights.

This segment is part of Module 3 of the MOOC: The safety of journalists and the issue of impunity.

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, professor Frans Viljoen explains the particular provisions in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights that deals with freedom of expression (article 9). Viljoen also references some seminal case law.

This segment is part of Module 2 of the MOOC: Legitimate restrictions on the right to freedom of expression.

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, Justice Ben Kioko explains the landmark case Lohé Issa Konaté v. The Republic of Burkina Faso rendered by the African Court of Human and People’s rights.

This segment is part of Module 2 of the MOOC: Legitimate restrictions on the right to freedom of expression.

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, Pansy Tlakula explains the right to freedom of expression under the African Charter and international law.

This segment is part of Module 2 of the MOOC: Legitimate restrictions on the right to freedom of expression.

"This Study, produced by Toby Mendel, Executive Director of [Centre for Law and Democracy] in 2006 for the UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide provides an in-depth analysis of the different international law rules on incitement to genocide and racial hatred, comparing the different rules and probing the way that the concept of incitement has been treated under both of them."

"This paper is a contribution to a book published in Macedonia called the Black Book of Shame, which focuses on attempts by the powerful to silence the media and others using legal tools in the post-communist period. The paper outlines international standards regarding hate speech, with a particular focus on the constitutive elements of a crime of hate speech which is compatible with freedom of expression guarantees."

"This paper, which was prepared as a background document for meetings by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, provides a comprehensive analysis of the scope and nature of restrictions on freedom of expression under international law, posing questions for further thought. It analyses, among others, the scope of the right, including positive obligations, what constitutes an interference with freedom of expression, the three-part test for restrictions on this right, and positive obligations to restrict freedom of expression (such as hate speech rules)."

"It is legitimate for states to exempt information whose release would be prejudicial to national security from their disclosure laws. But in order to insure that this exemption is not abused it is important to develop an acceptably narrow definition of what constitutes national security. To this end, the Centre for Law and Democracy has produced a paper examining how national security should be defined in the context of information disclosure. The paper was produced as a contribution to the “Principles on National Security and the Right to Information” currently being developed by the Open Society Initiative."

"Almost 90 countries around the world have enacted access to information (ATI) legislation, and in many of these countries, reforms and amendments are either being considered or have been passed. However, even minor adjustments to the legal framework around ATI laws can have substantial impact on how the law is implemented and used. In order to address the challenges of access to information reform, the World Bank Institute has recently published this working paper by Toby Mendel, Executive Director of Centre for Law and Democracy. The paper looks at the main substantive issues ATI reform attempts have targeted and what legal forms they may take. It also examines the role different actors—civil society, the media, oversight bodies, parliaments, and political leaders—can play in helping support the adoption of reforms that promote openness and defeat those that erect barriers."

This book on Freedom of Information by Toby Mendel helps to answer some of the questions faced by “those tasked with drafting and/or promoting legislation guaranteeing the right to know in accordance with the principle of maximum disclosure”. The book describes “the international standards which have been established in this area and some of the key features of effective freedom of information legislation. Importantly, it illustrates the way in which ten countries and two international organisations have dealt with these difficult issues.”

"States all over the world are enacting new laws that criminalize insults, and using existing insult laws with renewed vigour. In this article, we examine state practice, treaty provisions, and case law on insulting speech. We conclude that insulting speech is currently insufficiently protected under international law and regulated by confused case law and commentary. We explain that the three principal international treaties that regulate speech provide conflicting guidance on the right to insult in international law, and the treaty provisions have been interpreted in inconsistent ways by international courts and United Nations bodies. We conclude by recommending that international law should recognize a "right to insult" and, drawing on US practice under the First Amendment, we propose eight recommendations to guide consideration of insulting speech in international law. These recommendations would promote coherence in international legal standards and offer greater protection to freedom of speech."

"Government officials in various parts of the world use defamation to silence critics, but defamation liability may curtail freedom of expression on topics of public interest and undermine human rights generally. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees freedom of expression unless a state can show need to protect individual reputation and acts proportionally. In its adjudication of complaints for violations of Article 19, and in its General Comment 34, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has crafted the principle that defamation liability may not be imposed if an erroneous statement about a public official was made in “error but without malice.” Although soft law, General Comment 34 represents the committee's most compelling articulation of the values animating freedom of expression in international human rights law, and chief among the values is the role played by free expression to promote realization of all human rights."

"Free Expression and Democracy takes on the assumption that limits on free expression will lead to authoritarianism or at least a weakening of democracy. That hypothesis is tested by an examination of issues involving expression and their treatment in countries included on The Economist's list of fully functioning democracies. Generally speaking, other countries allow prohibitions on hate speech, limits on third-party spending on elections, and the protection of children from media influences seen as harmful. Many ban Holocaust denial and the desecration of national symbols. Yet, these other countries all remain democratic, and most of those considered rank more highly than the United States on the democracy index. This book argues that while there may be other cultural values that call for more expansive protection of expression, that protection need not reach the level present in the United States in order to protect the democratic nature of a country."

"Reporting from Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, and Mexico, among other hotspots, [Joel] Simon finds journalists under threat from all sides. The result is a growing crisis in information—a shortage of the news we need to make sense of our globalized world and fight human rights abuses, manage conflict, and promote accountability. Drawing on his experience defending journalists on the front lines, he calls on "global citizens," U.S. policy makers, international law advocates, and human rights groups to create a global freedom-of-expression agenda tied to trade, climate, and other major negotiations. He proposes ten key priorities, including combating the murder of journalists, ending censorship, and developing a global free-expression charter to challenge the criminal and corrupt forces that seek to manipulate the world's news."

"The Internet brings opportunity and peril for media freedom and freedom of expression. It enables new forms of publication and extends the reach of traditional publishers, but its power increases the potential damage of harmful speech and invites state regulation and censorship as well as manipulation by private and commercial interests. In jurisdictions around the world, courts, lawmakers and regulators grapple with these contradictions and challenges in different ways with different goals in mind. The media law reforms they are adopting or considering contain crucial lessons for those forming their own responses or who seek to understand how technology is driving such rapid change in how information and opinion are distributed or restricted.

In this book, many of the world's leading authorities examine the emerging landscape of reform in nations with variable political and legal contexts. They analyse developments particularly through the prisms of defamation and media regulation, but also explore the impact of technology on privacy law and national security. Whether as jurists, lawmakers, legal practitioners or scholars, they are at the front lines of a story of epic change in how and why the Internet is changing the nature and raising the stakes of 21st century communication and expression."

This guide, created by leading experts across a wide range of open government fields, compiles "the state of the art in transparency, accountability and citizen participation across 16 areas of governance, ranging from broad categories such as access to information, service delivery and budgeting to more specific sectors such as forestry, procurement and climate finance. Each expert’s contribution is organized according to three tiers of potential commitments around open government for any given sector—minimal steps for countries starting from a relatively low baseline, more substantial steps for countries that have already made moderate progress, and most ambitious steps for countries that are advanced performers on open government." This guide was published by the Transparency and Accountability Initiative with the aim of helping governments that are participating in the Open Government Partnership to understand international best practice for promoting transparency and accountability.

The Centre for Law and Democracy "published a comparative report on international and comparative constitutional guarantees of the right to information. The report, Entrenching RTI: An Analysis of Constitutional Protections of the Right to Information, is part of CLD’s ongoing work to support right to information reform in Egypt. At the same time, the standards outlined in the report are relevant to any country undergoing constitutional reform in this area. The report outlines in some detail international standards recognising as a human right the right to access information held by public authorities, as well as the specific standards for this right which have been developed in international law. It also describes the main features found in most constitutional guarantees of the right to information, along with some of the more cutting edge features found in some recent constitutions."

"This article will present the profound and real changes that took place in Africa, specifically in the areas of press freedom and free speech, particularly in the 1990s, but will argue that there remain much unfinished business and many unfulfilled promises, including stalled legal reform, limited media pluralism, and a lack of political will to move from the rhetoric of transparency to its reality. It is in this context that a global human rights recession has struck. This article will show that the observed global human rights setback applies with equal force to Africa. The setback has not necessarily been greater in Africa than elsewhere, but neither has it been less visible or less marked. In fact, in an environment characterized by weak political institutions and a nascent, and thus fragile democratization process, it is probable that this setback will take longer to reverse."

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, Mr. Frank la Rue, presents a  general Introduction to the International and Regional Framework on Freedom of Expression.

This segment is part of Module 1 of the MOOC: General Introduction to the International and Regional Framework on Freedom of Expression

In the first segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, professor Frans Viljoen gives a general introduction to Human Rights. Viljoen explains the different State obligations, the international sources from which these obligations are derived, and the monitoring mechanisms available in the universal system and in the Africa system in particular. Finally, Viljoen explains the link between freedom of expression and democracy.

This segment is part of Module 1 of the MOOC: General Introduction to the International and Regional Framework on Freedom of Expression

This short course 'Human Rights: The Right to Freedom of Expression' created by Amnesty International "will equip you with the knowledge to understand and claim your right to freedom of expression, and the skills and confidence to take action to defend it. Learn from the experts at Amnesty International how to claim and defend your rights in this human rights course. You will be challenged to think critically and devise effective actions to defend the human rights of others. You will be able to adapt the human rights of freedom of expression, association and assembly to real life situations and come face-to-face with human rights activists on the front line of human rights defense." "The course ran from 17 November to 8 December 2015 and remains online for you to browse or refresh your knowledge in archive mode."

Article 19. Self-regulation and ‘hate speech’ on social media platforms. London: Article 19, 2018.

"In this analysis, ARTICLE 19 reviews the compatibility of YouTube’s Community Guidelines with international standards on freedom of expression. Our analysis is based on the YouTube Community Guidelines as accessed in August 2018."

"This report examines the situation for people in Russia to obtain government held information, the rights they have under international and national law to access such information and the obstacles they face in exercising those rights. It provides recommendations that can be taken by the Russian government as well as other actors, including civil society to improve the exercise of their rights, which can in turn be leveraged to empower citizens in the fulfilment of all their rights."

"Freedom of expression and opinion online is increasingly criminalised with the aid of penal and internet-specific legislation. With this report, we hope to bring to light the problematic trends in the use of laws against freedom of expression in online spaces in Asia. In this special edition of GISWatch, APC brings together analysis on the criminalisation of online expression from six Asian states: Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Thailand. The report also includes an overview of the methodology adapted for the purposes of the country research, as well as an identification of the international standards on online freedom of expression and the regional trends to be found across the six states that are part of the study. This is followed by the country reports, which expound on the state of online freedom of expression in their respective states."

"A study of legal provisions and practices related to freedom of expression, the free flow of information and media pluralism on the Internet in OSCE participating States"

"The Internet rights are human rights is a series of training modules concerned with the relationship between human rights, ICTs and the internet. These modules are intended to help those who work on human rights and/or ICTs, and others with an interest in the issues, to understand ways in which the internet is affecting the enjoyment and protection of rights – now and in the future – and explore how these affect their work." The modules are: Introduction to Human rights, ICTs and the internet; Freedom of association and freedom of assembly; Freedom of expression and freedom of information;The right to privacy.

In 2011 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights organized expert workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. This document is Zonke Majodina's contribution to the expert meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya.

In 2011 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights organized expert workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. This document is the contribution from Florence Jaoko, Chairperson of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, to the workshop held in Nairobi. The paper "examines the legal framework, (international, regional, constitutional and legislative) that address these issues and the standards used to ensure a proper balance we will also examine other institutional frameworks such as policy and mechanisms for redress including judicial interventions. The background information has dealt with various regional mechanisms and other country specific situations; [Then it] deal[s] with the Kenyan Situation in light of international and regional conventions and decisions."

"Systematic monitoring of compliance by governments with commitments made in respect of protection of fundamental rights is an important part of ensuring that the necessary protections are indeed provided.  This paper discusses some issues related to monitoring in the context of an Africa regional workshop convened by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).  The workshop seeks to examine links between article 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) with regard to freedom of expression and incitement to hatred.  The objective is to improve the effectiveness of prohibitions of incitement to national, racial and religious hatred without derogating from the equally important right of freedom of expression."

In 2011 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights organized expert workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. This document is Tad Stahnke's contribution to the expert meeting held in Santiago, Chile.

In 2011 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights organized expert workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. This document is Paula Martins' contribution to the expert meeting held in Santiago, Chile.

In 2011 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights organized expert workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. This document is Ricardo Lombana's contribution to the expert meeting held in Santiago, Chile.

In 2011 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights organized expert workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. This document is Toby Mendel's contribution to the expert meeting held in Santiago, Chile.

In 2011 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights organized expert workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. This document is Nazila Ghanea's contribution to the workshop, it focuses on the Nature and means of effective remedies.

In 2011 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights organized expert workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. This paper, prepared by  Barbora Bukovska, Agnes Callamard and Sejal Parrmer for the workshop, "offers a brief comparative approach to forms of expression that are considered to be “incitement” under national law and by regional human rights systems, notably the European human rights system. This paper will then propose a threshold for expression that meets the criteria of Article 20 of the ICCPR."

In 2011 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights organized expert workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. This document is Ambassador Ömür Orhun's contribution and speaking notes for the event. 

In 2011 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights organized expert workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. The Special Rapporteurs on freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, and the Special Rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, presented a joint submission. In this written submission, the Special Rapporteurs "first explore some legislative and judicial practices in the region of the workshop, i.e. in Europe, as well as policies conducive to effectively prohibit and prevent advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence (chapter II). [The Special Rapporteurs] then provide some concluding remarks concerning the protection of individuals against incitement to national, racial or religious hatred (chapter III).

"These case studies are part of a globally coordinated, independent academic research project by the Global Network of Interdisciplinary Internet & Society Research Centers (NoC). Facilitated by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, the project is the first output of a larger policy-oriented research initiative that examines the rapidly changing landscape of online intermediary governance at the intersection of law, technology, norms, and markets. In concert with other research projects, it seeks to develop criteria, comparative methods, and a shared data repository, and to compile insights and lessons learned across diverse communities of knowledge aimed at informing and improving Internet policy-making globally."

"This collection of essays includes perspectives on and approaches to harmful speech online from a wide range of voices within the Berkman Klein Center community. Recognizing that harmful speech online is an increasingly prevalent issue within society, we intend for the collection to highlight diverse views and strands of thought and to make them available to a wide range of audiences."

"This report investigates how adversarial relationships between states in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) translate into Internet censorship practices. Based on analysis of Internet censorship data collected from 16 countries, the study finds that it is becoming increasingly common for governments in the MENA region to block content that originates from or is affiliated with rival states in the region."

"This study, conducted by the Internet Monitor project at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, analyzes the sharing of information on Twitter among different political groups related to the ongoing conflict in Yemen. The study finds that the networks on Twitter are organized around and segregate along political lines. The networks cite web content, including censored websites, that reflects and informs their collective framing of the politically sensitive issues. Each of the factions relies almost entirely on their own sources of information.

The study also tests for the availability of this open web content shared on Twitter in the countries most engaged in the public debate over the conflict and find that national filtering policies also seek to shape the narrative by blocking views and perspectives that diverge from government positions on the conflict. While selective exposure to web content is often associated with polarization, the paper shows that social media—in this case Twitter—is used to propagate censored content from the open web, making it more visible to users behind open-web filtering regimes. The evidence shows that government attempts to corral social media users into government-friendly media bubbles does not work, although government filters make it more difficult to access some content. Instead, social media users coalesce into self-defined media spheres aligned around social and political affinities."

"This research bulletin analyzes the aftermath of the Telegram ban in Iran and presents detailed data on the performance of Psiphon, one of the most widely used circumvention tools among Iranians. The bulletin concludes by reviewing the overarching Internet policies in Iran behind the Telegram ban. In addition, it presents the challenges that arise from the implementation of these policies, both to users and circumvention tool providers, especially as increasingly aggressive network interference becomes the norm."

"The new edition [2014] of the Safety of journalists Guidebook chronicles events undertaken by international organizations, governments and nongovernmental organizations to create a safer environment for members of the media since the original Guidebook was published in 2011."

"Diverse societies require space for inclusive and pluralistic interaction and debate. Media and information technologies can offer such spaces to allow different groups to interact with each other, explore their identities, and voice diverse perspectives without fear. This fosters dialogue and mutual understanding, strengthens societal integration and resilience, and reduces tensions. The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities offers guidance on how to create, nurture, and develop the role of the media and information technologies for conflict prevention."

Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member States on media pluralism and transparency of media ownership.

"Although the term, hate speech, is widely used in legal, policy-making and academic circles, there is often disagreement about its scope and about how it can best be countered. This paper will commence by briefly unravelling the term, hate speech, and explaining why differentiated strategies are required to effectively combat hate speech. The introduction will also briefly situate hate speech within international human rights treaty law. Section I will provide a general overview of the Council of Europe’s strategies against hate speech, which include treaty-based approaches, monitoring systems, political and policy-making measures, educational, informational and cultural initiatives, etc. This overview does not purport to be comprehensive, much less exhaustive. Rather, it will sketch, in an indicative manner, the broad lines of the Council of Europe’s strategies against hate speech. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) will be examined in greater detail than the other treaties because of its central position in the Council’s legal arsenal and its consequent referential value for all of the Council’s other treaties and instruments. Particular attention will be paid to the tensions between freedom of political expression and the permissibility of hate speech as the challenge of resolving those tensions represents a real stress test for the ECHR’s commitment to the right to freedom of expression. Section II of the paper will explore new dimensions to hate speech that have emerged – and continue to emerge – in the online environment. It will then provide by an assessment of the Council of Europe’s specific responses to these new dimensions. It will conclude by putting forward a number of recommendations for policy making and future lines of action by various Council of Europe bodies in order to tackle online hate speech."

"This study examines the voluminous case law of the European Court of Human Rights (“The Court”) relating to freedom of expression and defamation. It starts by clarifying the concept of defamation and positioning it in relation to freedom of expression and public debate. It explains how defamation laws that are overly protective of reputational interests and that provide for far-reaching remedies or sanctions can have a chilling effect on freedom of expression and public debate. The principle of proportionality in respect of defamation laws and their application is therefore very important when it comes to preventing such a chilling effect."

"The paper will begin by setting out the international law backdrop to the UN Plan of Action. It will explain how the interplay of international treaty-based standards and other institutional and political dynamics have ensured powerful traction for the UN Plan of Action. The paper will then proceed with a more detailed focus on how relevant bodies of the Council of Europe engage with the problems and issues addressed by the UN Plan of Action. Particular attention will be paid to the protection afforded to (the freedom of expression of) journalists and other media actors by the European Convention on Human Rights (hereafter: ECHR) and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. The translation of the ECHR’s principles of protection into other standard-setting work by the Council of Europe will constitute another important focus. The section devoted to the Council of Europe will explore three main themes: roles and forms of journalism and public debate in democratic society; revisiting rights, duties and responsibilities in the digital age, and new regulatory and policy challenges and directions."

The authors of this book "reflect on the concept of “favourable environment for the participation of all in public debate”, in particular of journalists, and the “pre-eminent role in a State governed by the rule of law” that the [European Court of Human Rights] acknowledges as belonging to them. Each author took a closer look at one of the aspects of such an environment and highlighted not only the pressing problems, but also the standards and principles prevailing in the European and even international landscape, as well as the gaps and the potential of the existing protection mechanisms."

Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member States on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors.

"The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom with the support of Council of the Europe (CoE) organised the conference “Promoting dialogue between the European Court of Human Rights and the media freedom community. Freedom of expression and the role and case law of the European Court of Human Rights: developments and challenges”. The three key themes of this conference were: (1) defamation, privacy and the processing of personal data, (2) investigative journalism in relation to newsgathering, access to official documents and the importance of the protection of sources and whistleblowers, as well as (3) the right to protest and the role of the media during protests. The conference resulted in fruitful discussions of the ECtHR’s recent case law relating to freedom of expression, media and journalism. The keynote speakers, the moderators, the speakers and participants played a crucial role on the productive dialogue between judges and civil society. These discussions have been collected and presented in this conference e-book in form of conclusions. In addition, unedited speeches and presentations of the speakers are incorporated in this publication. The conference was broadcast live and video links to all speakers’ presentations are included as well. Lastly, a summary of social media coverage is also integrated."

"This revised edition contains summaries of over 270 judgments or decisions by the Court and provides hyperlinks to the full text of each of the summarised judgments or decisions (via HUDOC, the Court’s online case-law database). It can be read in various ways: for initial orientation in the steadily growing Article 10 case-law; for refreshing one’s knowledge of that case-law; for quick reference and checking, as well as for substantive research."

This is a a handbook for legal practitioners on protecting the right to freedom of erxpression under the European Convention on Human Rights. The chapters  are: 1: General consideration on Article 10; 2: Duties under Article 10; 3 Unprotected speech-hate, speech, incitement to violence; 4: The system of restrictions within the exercise of the right to freedom of expression; 5: Limitations due to "public" reasons; 6: Freedom of expression and reputation; 7: Rights of others; 8: Freedom of expression and the media; 9: Freedom of expression and new technologies.

This toolkit for judicial officials in Africa on international and regional standards on freedom of expression "encompasses a broad variety of issues, which should be considered by judi-cial actors in the course of their work to protect human rights. It covers legal standards of freedom of expression according to international and regional instruments and core texts and surveys pertinent jurisprudence on freedom of expression from regional and sub-regional courts or quasi-judicial bodies that deal with human rights issues.

The toolkit explicates conditions under which speech can be legitimately restricted, while also giving prominence to the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity, the latter representing one of the main obstacles to guaranteeing freedom of expression and freedom of information. Finally, the toolkit also addresses recent challenges to freedom of expression on the internet, including on social media, which have become vital means for sharing information and expressing views. The question of gender representation in media content and careers, and gender-specific threats for women journalists, are also addressed.The protection of freedom of expression requires the active efforts of a great variety of actors. While this toolkit has been conceived primarily for judges, prosecutors, trainers of judges, lawyers and other legal experts, it is my hope that civil society actors, members of security forces and media professionals will also find its contents of great value to their work. Given the importance of freedom of expression as a foundational value of free societies, I believe the toolkit’s material and messages will be of relevance to all concerned stakeholders — that is to say, to all individuals everywhere."

"This article will present the profound and real changes that took place in Africa, specifically in the areas of press freedom and free speech, particularly in the 1990s, but will argue that there remain much unfinished business and many unfulfilled promises, including stalled legal reform, limited media pluralism, and a lack of political will to move from the rhetoric of transparency to its reality. It is in this context that a global human rights recession has struck. This article will show that the observed global human rights setback applies with equal force to Africa. The setback has not necessarily been greater in Africa than elsewhere, but neither has it been less visible or less marked. In fact, in an environment characterized by weak political institutions and a nascent, and thus fragile democratization process, it is probable that this setback will take longer to reverse."

"This study, conducted by the Internet Monitor project at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, documents the practice of Internet censorship around the world through empirical testing in 45 countries of the availability of 2,046 of the world’s most-trafficked and influential websites, plus additional country-specific websites. The study finds evidence of filtering in 26 countries across four broad content themes: political, social, topics related to conflict and security, and Internet tools (a term that includes censorship circumvention tools as well as social media platforms). The majority of countries that censor content do so across all four themes, although the depth of the filtering varies."

"This paper offers thoughts on the evolving nature and scope of Internet governance in the context of the development of the right to be forgotten. It summarises traditional frameworks for: (a) defining and operationalizing principles of Internet governance; and (b) distinguishing the types of issues that raise transnational governance concerns from the types of issues that are commonly considered the domain of local laws and norms.

If an issue falls within the ambit of Internet governance, it may lend itself to a certain set of solutions (with input from a broad cross-section of global public and private stakeholders). Issues outside that domain tend to be subjects of local regulatory mechanisms, in accordance with notions of national sovereignty. Categorizing a set of legal, policy, or technical considerations as one or the other, thus, has consequences in terms of the types of approaches to governance that may best be deployed to address them.

The paper provides examples of how recent technical and legal developments have put pressure on narrow conceptions of Internet governance as concerned primarily with Internet architecture and infrastructure. It posits that Internet governance models may be relevant to more and more conduct that occurs above the level of Internet’s metaphorical pipes, including developments that occur at what is traditionally conceived of as the content layer. The paper suggests that various global implementations of the right to be forgotten —and, in particular, implementations that are directed at the activities of search engines— offer a useful case study in examining and assessing this transformation."

These materials are part of the Multimedia Training Kit (MMTK). Here you will find links to a) Module Handout; b) Module Trainers' notes; c) Module Questions and case studies; d) Module Power Point Slides. "The MMTK provides an integrated set of multimedia training materials and resources to support community media, community multimedia centres, telecentres, and other initiatives using information and communications technologies (ICTs) to empower communities and support development work. [...] This module explores the relationship between human rights, as understood in the Inter-American Human Rights System, and ICTs such as the internet. As well as this handout, it includes a set of presentation slides, exercises and case studies, and a list of additional readings. It raises the following general questions which should be considered by participants: 1. How has the internet changed people’s lives? What rights have been affected positively or negatively due to access to the internet? 2. Should online and offline human rights be understood differently? 3. What should the role of the state be regarding the exercise of human rights online? 4. What are the implications of the global nature of the internet for national human rights laws and international human rights instruments?" 

"The idea of an “Internet Bill of Rights” is by no means a new one: in fact, serious efforts to draft such a document can be traced at least as far back as the mid-1990s. Though the form, function and scope of such initiatives has evolved, the concept has had remarkable staying power, and now — two full decades later — principles which were once radically aspirational have begun to crystallize into law. In this paper, we propose a unified term to describe these efforts using the umbrella of “digital constitutionalism” and conduct an analysis of thirty initiatives spanning from 1999 to 2015. These initiatives have great differences, and range from advocacy statements to official positions of intergovernmental organizations to proposed legislation. However, in their own way, they are each engaged in the same conversation, seeking to advance a relatively comprehensive set of rights, principles, and governance norms for the Internet, and are usefully understood as part of a broader proto-constitutional discourse. While this paper does not attempt to capture every facet of this complex political behavior, we hope to offer a preliminary map of the landscape, provide a comparative examination of these diverse efforts toward digital constitutionalism, and — most importantly — provoke new questions for further research and study. The paper proceeds in four parts, beginning with a preliminary definition for the concept of digital constitutionalism and a summary of our research methodology. Second, we present our core observations related to the full range of substantive rights, principles and themes proposed by these initiatives. Third, we build on that analysis to explore their perceived targets, the key actors and deliberative processes which have informed their character, and the changes in their substantive content over time. Finally, we look forward, identifying future directions for research in this rapidly changing policy arena and for the broader Internet governance community."

"For many  years  now, an apparent  conundrum  has lurked just  beneath the  surface among European jurisdictions.  In  the Common Law countries – namely  the United Kingdom and  Ireland – full court decisions, including  the names of  the parties, are generally accessible  to  the public.  In  the  rest of Europe, governed by  the civil law, however, such decisions are normally published only with the names of the parties redacted. The apparent rationale for the former is the idea of open justice, while in the latter group of countries the idea of personal data protection reigns supreme."

“The report aims to translate in a concise and clear manner more than 70 years of international jurisprudence on freedom of expression, and outline a road map for judicial operators so that they can make decisions that are in line with international standards.” Available only in Spanish.

"The MLDI Training Manual on Digital Rights and Freedom of Expression Online is designed to assist lawyers represent web-based journalists, bloggers and other online media. It comprises a comprehensive overview of international and comparative law on access to the internet, digital privacy and online data protection as well as specific types of speech-related offences online."

"This manual has been produced as a resource material for training workshops on media and freedom of expression law. It contains resources and background material to help trainers prepare and participants to understand the issues being discussed [...] The manual and training presentations are aimed at an audience of lawyers, with experience of litigation, but not necessarily of media, freedom of expression or human rights law. It covers international and comparative law only, and should be supplemented with relevant national law standards for the country in which they are being used.” 

 Syllabus for ‘World Communication: Principles, Politics and Law’ (Spring 2010)

The toolkit “is organized in six thematic modules that offer up to date information on the protection and promotion of freedom of expression, access to public information and safety of journalists in Judicial Systems in Ibero America. It also provides a range of learning activities, assessment tools, and didactic resources, with the aim of becoming a dynamic component of basic and advance training in Judicial Schools”. Available only in Spanish.

This lesson is part of an International Human Rights free online course created by the MOOC Chile project. The lesson answer the questions: What is freedom of expression? And why it is an important right? "In this class [they] first refer to the sources of freedom of speech in international human rights law as well as to which aspects are covered by it. [They] will also explain which types of discourse are protected and which not. Then [they] will summarize the main justifications given for protecting speech freedom. After that, [they] will deal with the main restrictions to which the freedom of expression may be subjected." 

"This article is based on the premise that whistleblowers can play a valuable role in modern society. The UK Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA 1998), which only applies to workers and requires that disclosures are made in “good faith”, makes no mention of the law of defamation. This article considers the impact of the law relating to libel and slander on actual and potential whistleblowers. It is observed that those who are not covered by PIDA 1998 are particularly exposed – if they cannot prove the truth of their allegations their motives may be examined in an action for defamation. The author concludes that it would be consistent with the principle of freedom of expression if statutory privileges were introduced and if Parliament removed the requirement of “good faith” for a disclosure to be protected under PIDA 1998."

This manual describes the historical evolution of Sedition laws and the recent developments in this field. It also provides a comparative study of sedition laws across different countries. It deals with how sedition laws have been dealt with in contemporary India, and brings together various arguments to make the case for the repeal of these laws.

The New Zealand’s Law Commission Report reviews the law of sedition in New Zealand, and traces its history in common law. It has concluded that the width of the seditious offences under the law means they are an unjustifiable breach of the right of freedom of expression. Considering that defaming the Government is right of every citizen, the Law Commission recommended the repeal of the sedition laws in the country.

This book is an analysis of the draconian provisions in the Sedition Act 1948 of Malaysia,its history and how it affects the citizen’s constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as enshrined in the Constitution. It provides some understanding of, and reasons why, the Sedition Act as enacted and adopted in 1948 by the British colonial government must be abolished, or alternatively, reformed to reflect the changes in national and global political dimensions, particularly the threat of terrorism.

This article provides a review of the history, structure and form of the law of sedition, focusing on the new provisions inserted into the Criminal Code Act 1995 in 2005 as part of a wider counter-terrorism package. A short historical review of sedition in Australia is followed by a critical analysis of the new offences, which explores the constitutional and human rights implications of these new offences. It concludes that the law does not achieve the proposed balance between national security and human rights.

This article examines the new phenomenon of sedition laws being used to counteract speech considered offensive to racial and religious groups in Singapore. It investigates the manner in which these laws have been employed and jurisprudentially developed to restrain speech on race and/or religion in Singapore. The article argues that the current state of the law is highlyproblematic for its adverse impact on free speech as well as for its conceptual confusions with alternative bases for restraining speech.

“This article reviews the application of laws against sedition in China and, in particular, recently publicised applications of these laws against two leading political dissidents in China. This analysis is placed within the context of a preliminary review of the development of laws against sedition principally in the United States. It concludes that it is not the abuse of China’s anti-sedition laws, as laws, which we need to be most concerned about. The more crucial problem relates to the political context, influenced often by international factors, which shapes decisions to use these laws.”

This article analyses sedition and related laws in the United States of America and the United Kingdom to determine the circumstances under which the interests of the State are secured and the opportunism of terrorist organizations avoided. It argues that the changes in the American or British law that were touted to protect free speech, are more restrictive than is widely understood. The article concludes that the national security exceptions are too broad, and has led to the use of counter-terrorism measures against non-violent opposition.

This article considers the law of sedition, tracing its history through the origins and evolution of such laws in England. It discusses the philosophy behind freedom of expression, identifying the four commonly held justifications for the principle. It contemplates the tradition of free speech in the United States and the relationship between First Amendment free speech, defamation, and sedition, as illustrated in the case New York Times v Sullivan. It argues that sedition (in the form of defamation against the government) strikes at the very heart of democracy and that political freedom ends when government can use its powers and its courts to silence its critics.

This article debates the question of whether the First Amendment repudiated seditious libel at the time of its adoption. It discusses the widely criticized Sedition Act of 1798 and concludes that even though the modern consensus is that the 1798 Act violated the First Amendment guarantees of right to freedom of speech and press, the proposition that the First Amendment at its adoption repudiated the common law crime of seditious libel remains doubtful.

The article examines fragments of the history of sedition and like prosecutions in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America in the twentieth century. It argues that, as long as the various sedition offences remain, governments will inevitably be tempted to use them improperly, especially when highly unpopular opinions are expressed, that the law of sedition is anachronistic and an unjustified interference with freedom of expression, and that abolition of sedition offences at both Commonwealth and State level is therefore to be preferred to any attempt to “modernise” the crime of sedition.

This article, by looking back through almost the last 100 years of American history, shows that the current laws on sedition and free speech in the post-9/11 era parallel those adopted from two other time periods in American history, i.e. World War One and the Cold War. It also argues that changes in current sedition laws are not needed to fight the war on terrorism five years after the attacks on September 11, 2001.

This report reviews the laws and practices in nations relating to protection of journalists’ sources around the world. The first section discusses by topic the areas of relevance relating to protection of sources and how they are reflected in legislation, starting with international standards and concluding with domestic practices and issues of special concern such as national security, surveillance and defamation. The second section examines by region the situation and the challenges that journalists face. Several examples and cases are presented to illustrate the current situation in the different regions. Finally, based on the collected information, guidelines based on the best laws and practices are included. These can be used when considering new laws and re-examining and amending existing legislation in countries on the protection of sources.

This article is a comprehensive take on the entire issue pertaining to whistleblowers. It compares the text of laws pertaining to whistleblowing across several jurisdictions including USA, UK, Japan and South Africa. The article concludes that countries such as South Africa, Japan and the UK are more comprehensive in their scope, coverage, and types of protection for whistleblowers, with clearly outlined definitions.

This article discusses the various elements of a definition of whistleblowing and brings out the notion of whistleblowing as an element of free speech and the right of individuals to express dissent. It then goes on to discuss the utility of whistleblowing and the barriers to the same. In order to analyze the international position on whistleblower protection, the article discusses the various international conventions that relate to it, including the UN Convention against Corruption and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression. The article also analyzes the national laws on whistleblowing from USA, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

"Thee inter- American system of human rights (IASHR) is one of the three regional human rights systems, together with the European and the African systems. This contribution aims to offer a general overview of its structure and functions in order to understand the tools that have been used by the system to contribute toward its transformative role in the region. The IASHR has both a legal and an institutional dimension, in addition to a systemic one, and the sections of this contribution respect this tripartite division."

"Judicial globalization, by contrast, describes a much more diverse and messy process of judicial interaction across, above and below borders, exchanging ideas and cooperating in cases involving national as much as international law. This essay sets forth five different categories of judicial interaction: relations between national courts and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the European Union (EU); interactions between the European Court of Human Rights and national courts; the emergence of "judicial comity" in transnational litigation; constitutional crossfertilization; and face-to-face meetings among judges around the world. The contexts are very different, involving both "vertical" relations between national and international tribunals and "horizontal" relations across national borders. The factors driving these forms of interaction also vary widely, including a structural provision in an international treaty, the globalization of commerce, and the need for judicial training in many fledgling democracies."

“The inquiry in this essay thus begins not with classical international law, but with the dominant positive analytical framework shared by both international lawyers and political scientists - Realism. Part I outlines the basic tenets of Realism and introduces the principal alternative to Realism in international relations scholarship — Liberalism. […] The project here, consistent with an overall commitment to a new generation of interdisciplinary scholarship, is to reimagine international law based on an acceptance of this distinction and an extrapolation of its potential implications. Part II distills various factors that political scientists have correlated with the 'liberal peace', factors that can be translated into assumptions about political and economic relations among liberal States. Part III introduces the concept of a world of liberal States, acknowledging the distance between such a world and the present international system but arguing that the hypothesis may nevertheless describe an important dimension of the current system. Part IV constructs a model of international law based on a hypothetical world of liberal States, integrating assumptions about relations among such States with the broader assumptions of Liberal international relations theory.”

"Part II of this article sets a background for the possibilities of regional international criminal law enforcement by exploring regionalization of other substantive areas of international law enforcement. Part III argues that regionalization of international criminal law could be a normatively positive development as it might better balance the benefits and drawbacks of national and supranational enforcement. Part IV applies political science and international relations methods, particularly from a neo-functionalist perspective, to develop a theory of regionalization of international criminal law, arguing that states are highly likely to support regionalization. Part V explores various pathways to regionalization including the creation of regional criminal courts as well as a variety of softer forms of regionalism. Part VI considers two possible impacts of regionalization on  substantive international law and suggests the likely development of procedural differentiation within a universal system."

"This symposium has sought to examine the fragmentation of the international legal system.  Such a task presupposes that international law is, in fact, undergoing some form of fragmentation. A range of recent scholarship has described this so-called fragmentation in various ways and generally considered it a negative development, a threat to the legal system as we know it.  This commentary challenges both these assumptions by suggesting that international law is not fragmenting, but rather is being transformed into a pluralist system. Instead of being undermined by fragmentation, the rules, the institutions, and practices of the international legal order can be strengthened by the emergence of an international legal pluralism."

"The dynamics by which norms emerge and spread in international society have been the subject of strikingly little study. This article focuses on norms that prohibit, both in international law and in the domestic criminal laws of states, the involvement of state and nonstate actors in activities such as piracy, slavery, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, the hijacking of aircraft, and the killing of endangered animal species. It analyzes the manner in which these norms have evolved into and been institutionalized by global prohibition regimes and argues that there are two principal inducements to the formation and promotion of such regimes. The first is the inadequacy of unilateral and bilateral law enforcement measures in the face of criminal activities that transcend national borders. The second is the role of moral and emotional factors related to neither political nor economic advantage but instead involving religious beliefs, humanitarian sentiments, fears, prejudices, paternalism, faith in universalism, the individual conscience, and the compulsion to proselytize. The ultimate success or failure of an international regime in effectively suppressing a particular activity depends, however, not only on the degree of commitment to its norms or the extent of resources devoted to carrying out its goals but also on the vulnerability of the activity to its enforcement measures."

“The power of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) to shape government behavior varies greatly from country to country. All states subject to the Court’s jurisdiction accept its authority to adjudicate disputes, and all take at least some meaningful steps toward judgment compliance. […] But in some states the Court’s judgments play a far greater role: they are untethered from the particular dispute that gives rise to them and take on a life as law-like rules that guide the subsequent behavior of public actors and the outcomes of disputes that never reach the Court. In some states the Court’s judgments even come to shape policymaking and public debates, constraining the range of options that are put on the table […] This article demonstrates that variation of the Inter-American Court’s authority across states can be explained in great part by the practice of constitutional law in each state. This is not to say that differences in constitutional texts explain the variation. Rather, the article suggests that for the Court’s authority to expand beyond mere judgment compliance, two factors other than the black-letter law must be in place. The first factor is the presence of lawyers—be they scholars, judges, public-interest lawyers, or other practitioners—who adhere to and promote a particular vision of constitutional law as containing within it international human rights law. […] The second factor explaining this variation is that those who advance these ideas must have political impact at the national level: they must be able to forge alliances with legislative and executive reformers who adopt the movement’s vision of law and advance it as part of their own project of political reform.”

"Some portion of the political left in the United States has called for the restriction of pornography and hate speech. Those who advocate such censorship do so on the ground that pornography and hate speech cause harm to disadvantaged "outsider" groups in society. For this reason, the leftist censorship advocates do not accept traditional First Amendment doctrines that protect much pornography and hate speech. In calling for censorship, the author argues, leftists endanger a great deal of activist speech, particularly in the form of artwork, that in fact seeks to undermine the very pornography and hate speech the censorship advocates target. Because much postmodern art appropriates the language and images of hate speech and pornography in order to deconstruct or otherwise subvert them, leftist attempts at censorship carry a grave danger of silencing leftist activists. Furthermore, the author maintains, leftist advocates of censorship have not, and ultimately cannot, develop theories of interpretation capable of protecting activist expression while still restricting or banning pornography and hate speech. Because of the indeterminacy of language, censorship advocates must choose whether to sacrifice vital voices of protest and criticism from within the left or whether to suppress pornography and hate speech."

"International regimes are defined as principles, norms, rules, and decision making procedures around which actor expectations converge in a given issue-area. As a starting point, regimes have been conceptualized as intervening variables, standing between basic causal factors and related outcomes and behavior. There are three views about the importance of regimes: conventional structural orientations dismiss regimes as being at best ineffectual; Grotian orientations view regimes as an intimate component of the international system; and modified structural perspectives see regimes as significant only under certain constrained conditions. For Grotian and modified structuralist arguments, which endorse the view that regimes can influence outcomes and behavior, regime development is seen as a function of five basic causal variables: egoistic self-interest, political power, diffuse norms and principles, custom and usage, and knowledge."