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

The Human Rights Committee this afternoon continued its first reading, begun in October 2009, 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 a revised draft text which took into account comments made by Committee members during the July 2010 session, as well as revisions that were made and approved at that session. He noted two specific changes which had been agreed on, but had not been reflected in the text of the revised version before the Committee.

The Committee reviewed the document on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis, beginning from paragraph 38, which was where it had ended during its July 2010 discussions, reviewing sections on the scope of political expression and that of the media and related information gathering/dissemination actors.

Experts commented and proposed changes to the draft General Comment, recommending, among other things, that anything that was a requirement must be summarised as a constricting factor, and should include the requirement of proportionality. An Expert pointed out that a person in the public eye must be particularly careful in their private life in order to be able to fulfil that public role effectively. The Rapporteur pointed out the need to cover all forms of new media, including Facebook and Twitter, as well as the Internet more generally. Other Experts urged the retention of the old division between print and broadcast media, whilst pointing out the new convergence between the two. Other Experts pointed out the need to maintain the independence of the media, even when State-controlled, so that it could self-regulate.

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 the latest version can be found under the following link: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/comments.htm.

The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. this afternoon when it is scheduled to consider the fifth periodic report of Hungary (CCPR/C/HUN/5). The Committee will next take up its work on the draft General Comment at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 20 October.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CT10/021E