Freedom of Expression
2019
TWENTIETH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE JOINT DECLARATION: CHALLENGES TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN THE NEXT
DECADE
The
United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression,
the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative
on Freedom of the Media, the Organization of American States (OAS) Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access
to Information,
Having discussed
these issues together with the assistance of ARTICLE
19, Global Campaign for Free Expression, and the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD);
Recalling
and reaffirming our Joint Declarations of 26 November 1999,
30 November 2000, 20 November 2001, 10 December 2002, 18 December 2003, 6
December 2004, 21 December 2005, 19 December 2006, 12 December 2007, 10
December 2008, 15 May 2009, 3 February 2010, 1 June 2011, 25 June 2012, 4 May
2013, 6 May 2014, 4 May 2015, 4 May 2016, 3 March 2017 and 2 May 2018;
Noting that, for twenty years, we, the
inter-governmental mandates for freedom of expression and media freedom, have
issued Joint Declarations with the aim of interpreting human rights guarantees
for freedom of expression, thereby providing guidance to governments, civil
society organisations, legal professionals, journalists and media outlets,
academics and the business sector;
Stressing that the Joint Declarations have
contributed to the establishment of authoritative standards which address a
wide range of issues and challenges, and also underline the importance of
freedom of expression to democracy, sustainable development, the protection of
all other rights, and efforts to counter terrorism, propaganda and incitement
to violence;
Alarmed by
the ongoing violence against and
prosecution of journalists, right to information activists, human rights
defenders and others for exercising their right to freedom of expression, as
well as the fact that impunity for killings and attacks prevails;
Welcoming
the significant contributions
that digital technologies have made to expanding global communications and the possibility for people everywhere to access information and ideas and to speak and be heard, while
noting the continuing imperative of providing universal and affordable access
to the Internet;
Acknowledging the need to address, within the
framework of international human rights law, serious problems that arise in the
context of digital technologies, including disinformation; incitement to hatred,
discrimination and violence; terrorist recruitment and propaganda; arbitrary
and unlawful surveillance; interference with the use of encryption and
anonymity technologies; and the power of online intermediaries;
Expressing concern about the ongoing and
deepening threats to media diversity and independence as a result, among other
things, of a significant reduction in advertising revenues for legacy media,
undermining news production and especially local and investigative journalism;
increased concentration of media ownership; political control over and
insufficient financial allocations to public service media; a failure to
develop community broadcasting sufficiently ; and ongoing attempts to exert
control over the private media, including through regulation;
Denouncing the continued prevalence of
undue legal restrictions on online expression and their abusive application,
and stressing the importance of States respecting the obligations set out in
Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights when
imposing restrictions on freedom of expression, which include ensuring that any
restriction is necessary and proportionate, and the availability of independent
judicial oversight over the application of these restrictions;
Deploring arbitrary disruptions and
shutdowns to restrict access to telecommunications networks and the Internet;
Highlighting the importance of the right to access
information held by public authorities, as reflected in the Sustainable
Development Goals Target 16.10;
Observing
that private companies have
responsibilities to respect human rights and remedy violations, and that
addressing the challenges outlined above requires multi-stakeholder support and
the active engagement of State actors, media outlets, intermediaries, civil
society and the general public;
Adopt, in London, on 10 July 2019, the following Twentieth Anniversary Joint Declaration: Challenges to Freedom of Expression in the Next Decade:
- Creating an Environment that Enables the Exercise of
Freedom of Expression
The protection and promotion
of freedom of expression, especially but not only in the digital environment,
requires protection and appropriate legal rules and regulatory systems. To
create enabling environments for freedom of expression, States should:
a. Take
immediate and meaningful action to protect the safety of journalists and others
who are attacked for exercising their right to freedom of expression and to end
impunity for such attacks.
b. Ensure
protection of freedom of expression as a matter of domestic legal, regulatory
and policy frameworks in accordance with international standards, including by limiting
criminal law restrictions on free speech so as not to deter public debate about
matters of public interest.
c. Promote
media diversity, including by supporting efforts to give voice to groups which
are marginalised and at risk of discrimination, developing rules on
transparency of ownership of the media and telecommunication infrastructure, adopting
and implementing effective rules on access to information, and narrowly
defining content restrictions to what is permissible under international human
rights law.
d. Ensure
that regulatory bodies for the media are independent, operate transparently and
are accountable to the public, and respect the principle of limited scope of
regulation, and provide appropriate oversight of private actors.
e. Address
the major economic challenges faced by independent journalists and media
outlets, including by supporting local media and regulating to mitigate the
negative impacts caused by the dominance of online advertising companies.
f. Respect
international human rights standards, including those of transparency, when
seeking to regulate or influence expression on online media platforms.
g. Refrain
from arbitrary or unlawful restrictions on the use of encryption and anonymity technologies.
h. Take both
immediate and longer-term steps to prohibit unlawful or arbitrary surveillance
and the unaccountable trafficking in tools of the commercial spyware industry
that have substantial detrimental effects on the exercise of freedom of opinion
and expression.
i. Devote
significantly greater attention and resources to media-, information- and
digital-literacy, over the short- and long-term, to address the particular
literacy challenges of the modern digital communications environment.
- Building and Maintaining a Free, Open and Inclusive
Internet
The exercise of freedom of
expression requires a digital
infrastructure that is robust, universal and regulated in a way that maintains
it as a free, accessible and open space for all stakeholders. Over the coming
years, States and other actors should:
a. Recognise
the right to access and use the Internet as a human right as an essential
condition for the exercise of the right to freedom of expression.
b. Protect
freedom of expression in accordance with international human rights law in
legislation that can have an impact on online content.
c. Refrain
from imposing Internet or telecommunications network disruptions and shutdowns.
d. Expand significantly
initiatives to provide universal and affordable Internet access.
e. Respect
and reinforce the principle of network neutrality.
f. Ensure
that major technological developments, such as the transition to 5G mobile
networks and expansion of the ‘Internet of Things’ (IOT), respect human rights,
particularly through robust human rights due diligence in the development of
infrastructure, network service, interoperability, and privacy-by-design.
g. Avoid
measures that risk fragmenting the Internet and limiting access to the global Internet.
- Private Control as a Threat to Freedom of Expression
A
transformative feature of the digital communications environment is the power of
private companies, and particularly social media, search platforms and other
intermediaries, over communications, with enormous power concentrated in the
hands of just a few companies. In order to protect against unaccountable
private domination of the environment for freedom of expression, we urge the
development of the following:
a. Independent
and multi-stakeholder oversight, transparency and accountability mechanisms to
address private content rules that may be inconsistent with international human
rights and interfere with individuals’ right to enjoy freedom of expression.
b. Regulatory
measures that address the ways in which the advertising-dependent business
models of some digital technology companies create an environment which can
also be used for viral dissemination of, inter
alia, deception, disinformation and hateful expression.
c. Company
implementation of responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business
and Human Rights, backed up by State regulation or oversight, to mitigate human
rights harms by developing policy commitments and ongoing human rights impact
assessments that are disclosed to the public.
d. Legal and
technological solutions that allow for transparent algorithmic curation and
moderation of content, and full disclosure and audit-ability of the data that
informs Artificial Intelligence.
e. Human rights sensitive solutions to the challenges caused by disinformation, including the growing possibility of "deep fakes", in publicly accountable and targeted ways, using approaches that meet the international law standards of legality, legitimacy of objective, and necessity and proportionality.
f. Effective rules and systems to address, in relation to companies providing digital communications services, undue concentration of ownership and practices which represent an abuse of a dominant market position.
ANNEX
LIST OF PAST JOINT DECLARATIONS
· 1999: Joint
Declaration on Promoting Freedom of Expression
· 2000:
Joint Declaration on Censorship by Killing and Defamation
· 2001:
Joint Declaration on Challenges to Freedom of Expression in the
New Century
· 2002: Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and the Administration
of Justice, Commercialisation and Criminal Defamation
· 2003: Joint Declaration on Regulation of the Media, Restrictions on Journalists
and Investigating Corruption
· 2004: Joint Declaration on Access to
Information and Secrecy Legislation
· 2005: Joint
Declaration on the Internet and Anti-Terrorism Measures
· 2006: Joint
Declaration on Publishing Confidential Information, Openness of National and
International Public Bodies, Freedom of Expression and Cultural/Religious
Tensions and Impunity in Cases of Attacks Against Journalists
· 2007: Joint
Declaration on Diversity in Broadcasting
· 2008: Joint
Declaration on Defamation of Religions, and Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Extremism
Legislation
· 2009: Joint
Statement on the Media and Elections
· 2010: Tenth
Anniversary Joint Declaration: Ten Key Challenges to Freedom of Expression in
the Next Decade
· 2011: Joint Declaration on Freedom of
Expression and the Internet
· 2012: Joint Declaration on Crimes Against
Freedom of Expression
· 2013: Joint Declaration on the Protection of
Freedom of Expression and Diversity in the Digital Terrestrial Transition
· 2014: Joint Declaration on Universality and
the Right to Freedom of Expression
· 2015: Joint Declaration on Freedom of
Expression and Responses to Conflict Situations
· 2016: Joint Declaration on Freedom of
Expression and Countering Violent Extremism
· 2017: Joint Declaration on Freedom of
Expression and "Fake News", Disinformation and Propaganda
· 2018: Joint Declaration on Media
Independence and Diversity in the Digital Age