HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS DRAFT GENERAL COMMENT ON THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

The Human Rights Committee this morning continued its first reading – begun in an open meeting on Friday, 23 October – of a draft General Comment on States parties' obligations under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, setting out the rights to hold an opinion without interference and to freedom of expression.

Michael O'Flaherty, the Committee Expert serving as rapporteur for the draft General Comment, introduced the text of the draft, which contained a preliminary set of general remarks and sections on freedom of opinion; the scope of the right of freedom of expression; freedom of expression and the media; access to information; freedom of expression and political rights; limitations on freedom of expression; restrictions on political expression; restrictions on expression by the media and related information gathering/disseminating actors; restrictions related to counter-terrorism measures; restrictions and defamation laws; restrictions and blasphemy laws; restrictions and "memory laws"; and the relationship between articles 19 and 20 (prohibition of war propaganda or advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence).

In general observations on the draft General Comment, Committee Experts stressed both their allegiance to the right of freedom of expression, which humankind had demonstrated its will to protect at great cost, as well as staunch criticism of the expression of views that had inflamed passions and resulted in the outbreak of violence. That was a new modern scourge and the Committee’s guidance on this subject urgently needed to be updated, an Expert stressed.

The Committee then began reviewing the document on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis, examining general remarks and beginning consideration of the section on freedom of opinion. In general remarks, the document sets out that freedom opinion and expression are indispensable conditions for the free development of the person and are cornerstones in any free and democratic society. Also mentioned in this section are the many overlaps between article 19 rights and the rights set out other articles of the Covenant, and that a general reservation to rights set out in article 19 (2) would be incompatible with the object and purposes of the Covenant. An Expert was concerned that, either in the general remarks or elsewhere, the text should underline that the practice of including political or religious affiliation on national identification papers was clearly prohibited under the Covenant.

In a section on freedom of opinion, Mr. O'Flaherty noted that there was very little jurisprudence on freedom of opinion, as opposed to freedom of expression. The section set out what freedom of opinion constituted, including the right to change one's opinion, the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of one's opinion, and a prohibition against a coerced effort to shape opinion, such as offering improved prison conditions with a view to influencing political opinions.

The Committee will continue its consideration of the draft general comment at its next session, to be held in March 2010 in New York.

The Committee publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions, known as General Comments, on thematic issues or its methods of work. To date, it has issued 33 General Comments. The general comments of all human rights treaty bodies are compiled annually, and those for 2008 can be found in the document HRI/GEN/1/Rev.9 (Vol.I).

The Committee will next meet in public at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon, when it is scheduled to continue its consideration of draft revised reporting guidelines for States party reports.


For use of information media; not an official record

CT09020E