IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO SPEAK OUT
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
AND EXPRESSION
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 states:
While the struggle for the return of democracy continues in Fiji, certain basic principles and rights remain lost and suppressed for the entire nation. This week we start a Freedom Series which will discuss fundamental rights and how these rights have been suppressed for the past five years since the day of the military takeover on 05 December 2006.
It is therefore appropriate that we begin with a look at the right to free speech and expression.
The Torture Watch Team
"The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error" ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
The right to freedom of speech and expression is outlined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The right to freedom of speech and expression is very broad in scope. It could be said to have six main aspects. 1) “Everyone shall have the right…” The right to freedom of speech and expression belongs to everyone; no distinctions are permitted on the basis of a person’s level of education, or his or her race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or any other status. Save in exceptional circumstances, restrictions on the right of prisoners and convicted criminals to express themselves violate international law.
2) “…to seek, receive and impart…” The right to “impart information and ideas” is the most obvious aspect of freedom of speech and expression. It is the right to tell others what one thinks or knows, whether in a private meeting or through a means of mass communication. But freedom of speech and expression serves a larger purpose: to enable every citizen not just to contribute but also to have access to as wide a range of information and the viewpoints of others as possible. Hence Article 19 states that freedom of speech and expression also includes the right to seek and to receive information and ideas, for example by obtaining and reading newspapers, listening to broadcasts, surfing the Internet, participating in public debates as a listener, and significantly, undertaking journalistic or academic research.
Furthermore, it is increasingly being recognised that the right to ‘freedom of information’ also includes the right to access records held by public authorities. Governments must publish important information and respond to requests from individuals to access their records.
3) “…information and ideas of any kind…” The right to freedom of speech and expression applies not only to information and ideas generally considered to be useful or correct, but to any kind of fact or opinion which can be communicated. The UN Human Rights Committee (the body that oversees implementation of the ICCPR) has stressed this point:
Article 19, paragraph 2, must be interpreted as encompassing every form of subjective ideas and opinions capable of transmission to others, which are compatible with article 20 of the Covenant, of news and information, of commercial expression and advertising, of works of art, etc.; it should not be confined to means of political, cultural or artistic expression.
Moreover, the right to freedom of speech and expression also extends to controversial, false or even shocking material; the mere fact that an idea is disliked or thought to be incorrect cannot justify preventing a person from expressing it.
As observers have pointed out, legal protection only for accepted information and ideas would be a hollow gesture. The English philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) advanced four arguments as to why it is important to permit controversial speech:
International courts have repeatedly stressed that freedom of speech and expression under international law extends to controversial subject matter. The European Court of Human Rights stated:
Freedom of speech and expression ... is applicable not only to ‘information and ideas’ that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the state or any sector of the population. Such are the demands of pluralism, tolerance and broad mindedness without which there is no ‘democratic society’.
In another case, the Court underscored that it is immaterial whether a particular opinion is considered correct: “It matters little that [an] opinion is a minority one and may appear to be devoid of merit since ... it would be particularly unreasonable to restrict freedom of expression only to generally accepted ideas.”
4) “...regardless of frontiers...” As the words “regardless of frontiers” in both the UDHR and ICCPR make clear, the right to freedom of expression is not limited by national boundaries; states must allow their citizens to seek, receive and impart information to and from other countries.
5) “...through any media...” Citizens should be permitted to express themselves through any media, whether modern or traditional. This includes, but is not limited to, newspapers, magazines, books, pamphlets, radio, television, the Internet, works of art and public meetings.
6) “...to respect and to ensure...” Finally, and importantly, the right to freedom of expression has not only ‘negative’ implications, but also ‘positive’ ones; that is to say, states are not just required to refrain from interfering in the right but must also take active steps to remove obstacles to free expression. This is made clear by Article 2 of the ICCPR, which provides that all states parties to the Covenant undertake to “respect and to ensure to all individuals ... the rights recognized in the present Covenant”.
Examples of proactive measures which states should take are preventing the monopolisation of media outlets by the government or private entrepreneurs; proactively disseminating information; ensuring that minority groups are able to make themselves heard through the media; and, in transitional countries, making the abolition or amendment of laws from previous regimes which limit freedom of speech and expression a priority.
Unfortunately while Fiji is governed by a dictatorship the right to free speech and expression is severely restricted and outlawed. A person speaking out against the dictatorship in one form or another is harshly dealt with by the dictatorship and this treatment would include, threats, harassment, intimidation, beatings and torture. When you say things that gets the dictatorship's attention, you can be best assured that you are on the right track and doing the right thing by speaking out and expressing yourself against an illegal, corrupt and despotic regime.
Source: http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408
AND EXPRESSION
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 states:
- Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers
While the struggle for the return of democracy continues in Fiji, certain basic principles and rights remain lost and suppressed for the entire nation. This week we start a Freedom Series which will discuss fundamental rights and how these rights have been suppressed for the past five years since the day of the military takeover on 05 December 2006.
It is therefore appropriate that we begin with a look at the right to free speech and expression.
The Torture Watch Team
"The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error" ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
The right to freedom of speech and expression is outlined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The right to freedom of speech and expression is very broad in scope. It could be said to have six main aspects. 1) “Everyone shall have the right…” The right to freedom of speech and expression belongs to everyone; no distinctions are permitted on the basis of a person’s level of education, or his or her race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or any other status. Save in exceptional circumstances, restrictions on the right of prisoners and convicted criminals to express themselves violate international law.
2) “…to seek, receive and impart…” The right to “impart information and ideas” is the most obvious aspect of freedom of speech and expression. It is the right to tell others what one thinks or knows, whether in a private meeting or through a means of mass communication. But freedom of speech and expression serves a larger purpose: to enable every citizen not just to contribute but also to have access to as wide a range of information and the viewpoints of others as possible. Hence Article 19 states that freedom of speech and expression also includes the right to seek and to receive information and ideas, for example by obtaining and reading newspapers, listening to broadcasts, surfing the Internet, participating in public debates as a listener, and significantly, undertaking journalistic or academic research.
Furthermore, it is increasingly being recognised that the right to ‘freedom of information’ also includes the right to access records held by public authorities. Governments must publish important information and respond to requests from individuals to access their records.
3) “…information and ideas of any kind…” The right to freedom of speech and expression applies not only to information and ideas generally considered to be useful or correct, but to any kind of fact or opinion which can be communicated. The UN Human Rights Committee (the body that oversees implementation of the ICCPR) has stressed this point:
Article 19, paragraph 2, must be interpreted as encompassing every form of subjective ideas and opinions capable of transmission to others, which are compatible with article 20 of the Covenant, of news and information, of commercial expression and advertising, of works of art, etc.; it should not be confined to means of political, cultural or artistic expression.
Moreover, the right to freedom of speech and expression also extends to controversial, false or even shocking material; the mere fact that an idea is disliked or thought to be incorrect cannot justify preventing a person from expressing it.
As observers have pointed out, legal protection only for accepted information and ideas would be a hollow gesture. The English philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) advanced four arguments as to why it is important to permit controversial speech:
- If an opinion is silenced, we will never know whether or not it was correct; to deny the possibility that another’s opinion is correct assumes one’s own infallibility.
- Opinions are rarely entirely wrong or entirely correct. If an opinion is silenced, the ‘correct’ part will be lost.
- Even if an accepted idea is indeed the correct one, it can only fully convince the public if it survives an open and fair contest with an opposing idea.
- Why a particular idea is correct might easily be forgotten, if that idea is not periodically challenged and its strengths so exposed.
International courts have repeatedly stressed that freedom of speech and expression under international law extends to controversial subject matter. The European Court of Human Rights stated:
Freedom of speech and expression ... is applicable not only to ‘information and ideas’ that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the state or any sector of the population. Such are the demands of pluralism, tolerance and broad mindedness without which there is no ‘democratic society’.
In another case, the Court underscored that it is immaterial whether a particular opinion is considered correct: “It matters little that [an] opinion is a minority one and may appear to be devoid of merit since ... it would be particularly unreasonable to restrict freedom of expression only to generally accepted ideas.”
4) “...regardless of frontiers...” As the words “regardless of frontiers” in both the UDHR and ICCPR make clear, the right to freedom of expression is not limited by national boundaries; states must allow their citizens to seek, receive and impart information to and from other countries.
5) “...through any media...” Citizens should be permitted to express themselves through any media, whether modern or traditional. This includes, but is not limited to, newspapers, magazines, books, pamphlets, radio, television, the Internet, works of art and public meetings.
6) “...to respect and to ensure...” Finally, and importantly, the right to freedom of expression has not only ‘negative’ implications, but also ‘positive’ ones; that is to say, states are not just required to refrain from interfering in the right but must also take active steps to remove obstacles to free expression. This is made clear by Article 2 of the ICCPR, which provides that all states parties to the Covenant undertake to “respect and to ensure to all individuals ... the rights recognized in the present Covenant”.
Examples of proactive measures which states should take are preventing the monopolisation of media outlets by the government or private entrepreneurs; proactively disseminating information; ensuring that minority groups are able to make themselves heard through the media; and, in transitional countries, making the abolition or amendment of laws from previous regimes which limit freedom of speech and expression a priority.
Unfortunately while Fiji is governed by a dictatorship the right to free speech and expression is severely restricted and outlawed. A person speaking out against the dictatorship in one form or another is harshly dealt with by the dictatorship and this treatment would include, threats, harassment, intimidation, beatings and torture. When you say things that gets the dictatorship's attention, you can be best assured that you are on the right track and doing the right thing by speaking out and expressing yourself against an illegal, corrupt and despotic regime.
Source: http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408
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