A/HRC/RES/44/12
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
24 July 2020
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Forty-fourth session
30 June–17 July 2020
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council
on 16 July 2020
44/12.
Freedom of opinion and expression
The Human Rights Council,
Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Recalling all resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights
Council relevant to the right to freedom of opinion and expression, in particular Council
resolutions 7/36 of 28 March 2008, 12/16 of 12 October 2009, 16/4 of 24 March 2011, 23/2
of 13 June 2013, 25/2 of 27 March 2014, 34/18 of 24 March 2017, 38/7 of 5 July 2018, 39/6
of 27 September 2018 and 43/4 of 19 June 2020,
Welcoming the work of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the
right to freedom of opinion and expression, and taking note of his reports,1
Reaffirming that the right to freedom of opinion and expression, both online and
offline, is a human right guaranteed to all, in accordance with article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
that it constitutes one of the essential foundations of democratic societies and development,
and that it is critical to combating corruption,
Recognizing that the effective exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and
expression is an important indicator of the level of protection of other human rights and
freedoms, and bearing in mind that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent
and interrelated,
Acknowledging the important role of business enterprises in the exercise of the right
to freedom of opinion and expression and in enabling access to information, and recalling
that all business enterprises have a responsibility to respect human rights, as set out in the
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations
“Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework, and that the obligation and the primary
responsibility to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms lie with the
State,
1
A/HRC/44/49 and Adds.1–2.
GE.20-09787(E)