On 12 July 2024, the UN Human Rights Council concluded its 56th Session in Geneva. The session was crucial for free speech, with a new resolution on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, alongside other resolutions on crucial related issues, from protest to tackling religious hate. ARTICLE 19 actively took part in negotiations on thematic resolutions and presented a number of statements, including on journalists in exile and on the human rights catastrophe in Gaza. We also joined State partners for a side event on freedom of expression as an enabling right. We highlight the details of the resolutions we followed closely at the session below.
Freedom of opinion and expression
We welcome the adoption of a new resolution on freedom of opinion and expression by consensus. Led by Canada and the Netherlands – alongside a core group consisting of Brazil, Fiji, Namibia, and Sweden – this resolution is the third iteration in a series of resolutions. Together, these resolutions have become the UN’s primary initiative specifically on the right to freedom of expression and have developed a robust set of international human rights standards.
This new resolution has the overarching theme of the right to freedom of expression as an enabling right, rightly focusing on how it is a necessary prerequisite to all other human rights and sustainable development, and is fundamental in our fight against major global challenges. Moreover, it provides specific commitments on a wide array of emerging and persisting issues that impede freedom of expression as an enabling right. Among other key issues, it raises concern at the increased abuse of legal provisions on defamation and criminal libel as well as strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), and calls on governments to adopt and implement measures to discourage such legal harassment. In this vein, it mandates a report and expert workshop to explore the impact of such lawsuits.
We urge all States committed to freedom of opinion and expression to co-sponsor and fully implement the commitments of the resolution. We also encourage the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to include specific recommendations to alleviate the effects of SLAPPs on journalists and other civil society actors in their upcoming report, and will be submitting inputs during the consultation process.
While we commend the core group for attempting to push forward specific measures to remedy SLAPPs – including recommendations to allow for early dismissal of such cases, limit the damages claimed in civil defamation suits, permit the defence of public interest and no malice, and provide legal support for to victims – we regret that these were lost in negotiations due to pressure from other delegations. We encourage the core group to ensure that this language is included in future iterations of the resolution. We also encourage the core group to mirror international standards and call on governments to decriminalise defamation and libel.
Religious hatred
We welcome the decision to withdraw the renewal of a regressive resolution on countering religious hatred constituting incitement. Led by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a version of this resolution was adopted last summer, which focused on the desecration of holy books over discrimination and violence faced by individuals on the basis of their religion or belief. However, instead of being adopted once again, this new resolution was withdrawn on the penultimate day of the session due to internal divisions over its content. This coincides with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation also failing to renew Resolution 16/18 at the previous session – the consensual and universally agreed-upon action plan to tackle religious hatred in law, policy, and practice.
There is a settled consensus that prohibitions on blasphemy is not only fundamentally incompatible with the right to freedom of expression but are counterproductive in our fight against hate. These laws shut down interfaith dialogue and can facilitate and legitimise violence against minorities and atheists. Instead, we believe that open space for dialogue, debate, and dissent, including on topics that may be controversial, is fundamental to challenge the root causes of hate. The adoption of Resolution 16/18 in 2011 was a landmark resolution for many reasons, including by marking an end to UN resolutions focusing on blasphemy and instead focusing on dealing with root causes of discrimination and violence. This new resolution would have therefore taken us in the wrong direction.
We call on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to solve this deadlock by returning back to renewing Resolution 16/18. We also encourage all States to use this opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to and implementation of the universally-agreed upon action plan in Resolution 16/18 and to resist any new and competing frameworks, especially those premised on prohibitions on blasphemy.
Protest
We welcome the adoption of a new resolution on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests. Costa Rica and Switzerland co-lead this resolution, which is updated and adopted every two years with new international standards. This resolution is no different, with strong new commitments on a number of important issues for protesters across the globe.
This new resolution incorporates many recommendations put forward by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in his recent Model Protocol to assist governments in meeting their human rights obligations during protests. Among other key steps forward, the resolution affirms that biometric technologies should not be used to categorise, profile or remotely identify protesters and urges governments to refrain from such use to identify those participating in an assembly. It also underlines that authorities should refrain from deploying the army or any military-type units, tactics or equipment or other units outside the official law enforcement chain of command during protest.
We urge all States to co-sponsor and scale up implementation of the resolution. We also use this opportunity to call on governments to refrain from the use of biometric technologies for mass surveillance, during and beyond the context of protests.