Key trends and challenges to the right of all individuals to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through the Internet 2011, para. 43
Paragraph
Paragraph text
Similarly, the Human Rights Committee has asserted that article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on limitations "may never be invoked as a justification for the muzzling of any advocacy of multi-party democracy, democratic tenets and human rights. Nor, under any circumstance, can an attack on a person, because of the exercise of his or her freedom of opinion and expression, including such forms of attack as arbitrary arrest, torture, threats to life and killing, be compatible with article 19". The Committee has also noted that journalists and bloggers are frequently subjected to such threats, intimidation and attacks because of their activities, as are persons who engage in the gathering and analysis of information on the human rights situation and who publish human rights-related reports, including judges and lawyers. Indeed, the Special Rapporteur remains deeply concerned about such threats and attacks against, as well as killings and imprisonment, of bloggers, journalists and human rights defenders who rely upon the Internet to carry out their work.
Legal status
Non-negotiated soft law
Body
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Document type
Special Procedures' report
Means of adoption
N.A.
Topic(s)
Civil & Political Rights
Governance & Rule of Law
Person(s) affected
Activists
Year
2011
Paragraph type
Other
Reference
SR Freedom of Opinion, Report to the UNGA (2011), A/66/290, para. 43.