Freedom of Expression UNESCO promotes freedom of expression and freedom of the press as a basic human right

As stated by Richard Gleave the Freedom to Dance is gaining momentum.
Moshe would like to add that the Freedom to Dance is in direct contex with the Freedom of Expression, Freedom of speech and Freedom of speech on the Internet and is all covered by and under the umbrella of the UNESCO. Moshe points out that Freedom to work is another part of the Human Rights Act. It means, Professionals cannot be banned.

Freedom of Expression
UNESCO promotes freedom of expression and freedom of the press as a basic human right

Promoting Freedom of Expression, Press Freedom, Independence and Pluralism of the Media, Democraty, Peace and Tolerance

UNESCO promotes freedom of expression and freedom of the press as a basic human right, through sensitization and monitoring activities. It also fosters media independence and pluralism as prerequisites and major factors of democratization by providing advisory services on media legislation and sensitizing governments, parliamentarians and other decision-makers.

UNESCO to launch the “Freedom of Connection – Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet” report at the Fifth Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania
06-09-2010 (Paris)

UNESCO will organize, for the fifth year, workshops at IGF 2010 (14-17 September 2010) with the aim to spark off international debate on freedom of expression in cyberspace. UNESCO would also take this opportunity to release an in-depth analysis and report entitled “Freedom of Connection – Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet” conducted by the Oxford Internet Institute.

The research was supported by UNESCO within the framework of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), and as part of UNESCO’s activities related to Internet Governance. It aims to provide a reference tool that can inform and stimulate the debate on current global trends that are shaping freedom of expression on the Internet.

This report provides a new perspective on the social and political dynamics behind these global forces and threat to freedom of expression. It advances a conceptual framework on the ‘ecology of freedom of expression’ to enable the inclusion of a broader policy and practice discussion. This framework contains original synthesis of empirical research and case studies of selected technical, legal and regulatory trends including developments in six inter-related areas with focus on:

1. technical initiatives, related to connection and disconnection, such as content filtering;
2. digital rights, including those tied directly to freedom of expression and censorship, but also indirectly, through freedom of information, and privacy and data protection;
3. industrial policy and regulation, including copyright and intellectual property, industrial strategies, and ICTs for development;
4. users issues, focusing on fraud, child protection, decency, libel and control of hate speech;
5. network policy and practices, including standards, identity and regulation of Internet Service Providers; and
6. security issues, ranging from controlling spam and viruses to protecting national security.

This publication makes clear, freedom of expression is not just a by-product of technical change and it must be protected by legal and regulatory measures that balance a variety of potentially conflicting values and interests in a complex global ecology of choices. UNESCO seeks to obtain feedback on the draft from a wide range of stakeholders through this release prior to an official publication at the end of 2010.

The workshop will take place at Room 6, Lithuanian Exhibition Centre LITEXPO, Vilnius, 11.30a.m. -1.30p.m, 14 September 2010. Mr Jānis Kārkliņš, the Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information at UNESCO will chair the meeting. The speakers include:
• Prof. William Dutton, Director, Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford
• Dr Victoria Nash, Policy and Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford
• Dr Yaman Akdeniz , Associate Professor of Law, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey
• Mr Nicklas Lundblad, senior policy counsel and head of public policy for Google in Mountain View

The workshop welcomes remote participation through accessing IGF website.

The program and agenda of this workshop is available on IGF website.

The draft report “Freedom of Connection – Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet” is avaiable here.

File
UNESCO-19AUG10.pdf

Freedom of Information
Freedom of Information

Freedom of Information (FOI) or right to information is defined as the universal right to access information held by public bodies.
FOI laws reflect the fundamental premise that all information held by governments and governmental institutions is in principle public and may only be withheld if there are legitimate reasons, such as privacy or security, for not disclosing it.

Over the past 10 years, the right to FOI has been recognized by an increasing number of countries, including developing ones, through the adoption of a wave of right to information laws. In 1990 only 13 countries had adopted national right to information laws, whereas there are currently more than 70 such laws adopted across the world with a further 20-30 of them under consideration in other countries.

Freedom of speech in the United States

Freedom of speech in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and by many state constitutions and state and federal laws. Criticism of the government and advocacy of unpopular ideas that people may find distasteful or against public policy, such as racism, sexism, and other hate speech are generally permitted. There are exceptions to these general protection, including the Miller test for obscenity, child pornography laws, speech that incites imminent danger, and regulation of commercial speech such as advertising. Within these limited areas, other limitations on free speech balance rights to free speech and other rights, such as rights for authors and inventors over their works and discoveries (copyright and patent), interests in "fair" political campaigns (Campaign finance laws), protection from imminent or potential violence against particular persons (restrictions on fighting words), or the use of untruths to harm others (slander). Distinctions are often made between speech and other acts which may have symbolic significance.

Despite the exceptions, the legal protections of the First Amendment are some of the broadest of any industrialized nation, and remain a critical, and occasionally controversial, component of American jurisprudence.

Freedom of speech on the Internet

In a rare 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court extended the full protection of the First Amendment to the Internet in Reno v. ACLU, a decision which struck down portions of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, a law intended to outlaw so-called "indecent" online communication (that is, non-obscene material protected by the First Amendment). The court's decision extended the same Constitutional protections given to books, magazines, films, and spoken expression to materials published on the Internet. Congress tried a second time to regulate the content of the Internet with the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). The Court again ruled that any limitations on the internet were unconstitutional in American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft (2002).

Freedom of right to work

The right to work is the concept that people have a human right to work, and may not be prevented from doing so. The right to work is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in international human rights law through its inclusion in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, where the right to work emphasizes economic, social and cultural development.

Article 23.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

"Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment."

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights elaborates the right to work in the context of individual freedoms and economic, social and cultural development. The Covenant also elaborates the role of the state in realising this human right. Article 6 states:

"(1) The State Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right. (2) The steps to be taken by a State party to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include technical and vocational guidance and training programmes, policies and techniques to achieve steady economic, social and cultural development and full and productive employment under conditions safeguarding fundamental political and economic freedoms to the individual."


Moshe Levy