In Zemmour v France [2022] ECHR 1130 (in French only), the Fifth Section of the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that the Article 10 right of the applicant, a journalist and political commentator, had not been violated by his conviction for inciting discrimination and religious hatred against the Muslim community in France under s.24 § 7 of the Freedom of the Press Act of 29 July 1881. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Category: Human Rights (Page 1 of 43)
In McCann and Healy v. Portugal ([2022] ECHR 725)(in French only), the Fourth Section of the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that the applicants’ Article 8 rights had not been violated by the publication of a book, a documentary programme, and a newspaper interview alleging that the applicants’ daughter had died inside their holiday flat and that the applicants had hidden her dead body and fabricated her abduction. Continue reading
There are three clauses of the Bill of Rights Bill [pdf] which, if enacted in their current form, would have a direct impact on freedom of expression cases. These are clauses 4 (‘Freedom of speech’), 21 (‘Limit on court’s power to require disclosure of journalistic sources’) and 22 (‘Limit on court’s power to grant relief that affects freedom of expression’). Continue reading
As we have seen, Raab claims that the Bill of Rights “helped mould a separation of powers between government, Parliament and the courts – a system of checks and balances to prevent any one branch of the state from dominating the others or abusing its power”. But as far back as 1976 the Conservative sometime Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, was warning that the parliamentary system could be exploited in such a manner that it could act as an ‘elective dictatorship’. Continue reading
Raab’s view of the Bill of Rights 1689 is, if anything, even more rose-tinted than his misty-eyed evocation of Magna Carta. According to him, the Bill “built on earlier rights. Fair trial safeguards were added, strengthening the independence of the jury selection from bias, and requiring the prior conviction of a criminal offence before the imposition of fines or the forfeiture of property”. He also points out that it added to Article 20 of Magna Carta “a ban on the infliction of ‘cruel and unusual punishments’”, which he sees as “an early precursor to the modern ban on torture”. Continue reading
Raab expanded considerably on the sentiments expressed above in the first chapter of his book The Assault on Liberty: What Went Wrong with Rights (2009). When this was published, Raab took the opportunity openly to state that “I don’t support the Human Rights Act and I don’t believe in economic and social rights”, and many of the Act’s defenders regard the Bill of Rights Bill that he has recently introduced as the culmination of a twelve-year campaign to rip up our current human rights protections. Continue reading
According to Peter Hitchens in the Mail, 22 June 2022: “There’s no such thing as human rights … They are an invention, made out of pure wind. If you are seriously interested in staying free, you should not rely on these flatulent, vague phrases to help you. They are in fact a weapon in the hands of those who wish to remove your liberty and transform society”. Continue reading
In the case of Mesić v. Croatia ((2022) ECHR 348) the Court of Human Rights found that there had been no breach of Article 10 when a fine had been imposed upon Stjepan Mesić, the President of Croatia from 2000-2010, for insulting Ivan Jurašinović, a lawyer of Croatian origin practising in France. Continue reading
While the recently introduced Bill of Rights Bill [pdf] appears to weaken the judicial protection of fundamental rights in some respects, the government claims the Bill will strengthen the right to freedom of speech. Continue reading
On 28 April 2022, with little advance notice, an announcement was released by various governments informing the world that they had just signed a “Declaration for the Future of the Internet”. In all, sixty-one countries signed this grandiose-sounding document, ranging from Albania to Uruguay. Signatories notably included the US, which was the sponsor of the Declaration, the 27 countries of the EU, the UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and four of the five Nordic countries. Continue reading
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