HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONTINUES CONSIDERATION OF DRAFT GENERAL COMMENT ON THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
 
21 July 2010
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The Human Rights Committee this afternoon continued its first reading, begun in an open meeting 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, began the proceedings by updating the Committee on his finding that the phrase “margin of appreciation” had been used by the Committee in previous documents and thus could be used in this draft General Comment to emphasize the role of the Committee regarding the determination of the principle of necessity. Mr. O’Flaherty said that he felt it was important to keep this language as it was one of the things that distinguished this body from the European Court of Human Rights.

The Committee then continued reviewing the document on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis, reviewing sections regarding the scope of political expression and the permissible limitations on the right to freedom of expression, including consideration of the rights and reputations of others, as well as the protection of national security, public order, or public health and morals. Experts commented and proposed changes to the draft General Comment.

One Committee Expert suggested that consideration of the dignity of people also be included in the language regarding the permissible limitations on the right to freedom of expression. The Rapporteur said that the language used reflected the Covenant, so using the word dignity went beyond the language used in the Covenant. Another Committee Expert raised the issue of whether the Committee should define public order and expressed concern that this was an avenue the Committee should not explore within the confines of this draft General Comment. Another Expert agreed that if the Committee defined public order, it would also have to define public morals. The Rapporteur agreed that the Committee should not define public order. One Committee Member pointed out that States parties often invoked national security concerns to limit freedom of expression and proposed that more specific language be added to the draft general comment to help protect against possible abuses. 

The text of the draft general comment on the freedom of expression contains a set of general remarks and includes 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).

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:https://mail.hudsonny.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/comments.htm \t _blank  http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/comments.htm

The next meet public meeting is supposed to be held at 3 p.m. on Thursday, 22 July, when the Committee is scheduled to review its working methods including a draft revised reporting guidelines for States parties.


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