![]() Therefore, there is a cut-off point between speech informed by bias that is acceptable and hate speech that violates human rights. A speaker that is merely offensive without seeking to encourage hate in others is also not generally recognised as a human rights violation without other aggravating factors. Crucially, this means that a speaker who uses offensive language with other intentions, for example, for satire, would not be recognised as advocating hate. This is also reflected in the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR).Īdvocacy, or promotion, implies the speaker intends to encourage these ideas. Several international treaties, namely the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ( ICCPR), prohibit the advocacy of hate, discrimination, hostility or violence. However, a number of international institutions include provisions which protect against other types of expression, such as incitement to discrimination and dissemination of racist ideas. To date, hate speech is neither wholly defined nor specifically protected against in international human rights law. It shows a progression towards Acts of Bias, including dehumanisation and slurs, to Discrimination, Violence and, eventually, Genocide. In the Pyramid, Biased Attitudes, such as stereotypes, misinformation and micro-aggressions, form the bedrock that enables escalation of hate and discrimination. Similarly, the Anti-Defamation League models the process of mass atrocities through a Pyramid of Hate, illustrating that genocidal acts cannot occur without being upheld by the lower stages that act as a base for mass atrocities. These include ‘enabling circumstances’, which involve ‘inflammatory rhetoric, propaganda campaigns or hate speech’, as well as ‘triggering factors’, comprising partly of ‘acts of incitement or hate propaganda targeting particular groups or individuals’. The framework places emphasis on the prevention of atrocity crimes by identifying a number of risk factors. In 2014, the UN produced a Framework for Analysis for Atrocity Crimes which outlined that atrocity crimes are ‘not spontaneous or isolated events they are processes, with histories, precursors and triggering factors’. This can involve equating people with animals, insects or diseases'. While this is not necessarily a linear process, his fourth stage identifies ‘dehumanisation’ as ' hate propaganda towards a victim group which depicts members as less than human. Stanton’s 1 0 Stages of Genocide recognise genocide as the outcome of a process beginning with the classification of groups of people, often by race, ethnicity or nationality. The 2019 UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech defines it as communication that ‘attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender, or other identity factor’. In 1997 the Council of Europe issued a recommendation on hate speech which defines it as ‘all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other forms of hatred based on intolerance’. This is manifested through the ‘othering’ of minority groups such as racial, ethnic, religious and cultural minorities, women and the LGBTQI+ community. Hate Speech typically targets the ‘other’ in societies. Hate Speech becomes a human rights violation if it incites discrimination, hostility or violence towards a person or a group defined by their race, religion, ethnicity or other factors. Speech that is simply offensive but poses no risk to others is generally NOT considered a human rights violation. Human Rights Treaties outlaw offensive speech when it poses a risk or threat to others. Upholding free speech is hugely important to open societies that respect human rights. There is no consensus on a definition for ‘hate speech’ in International Human Rights Law.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |