Everyone shall have the right to freely express his or her opinion. This right shall include freedom to hold own opinion, as well as to seek, receive and disseminate information and ideas through any media, without the interference of state or local self-government bodies and regardless of state frontiers. The RA Constitution. Article 42 Freedom of speech, as one of the pillars of a democratic society, includes almost any form and content of expression, including the right to freely express one’s gender identity, which includes ideas, opinions, and information about one’s identity. Freedom of speech is not an absolute right; it is subject to certain restrictions54. It includes the freedom to express ideas, opinions, but at the same time, the obligation to avoid expressions that offend people and violate their rights55. In particular, the right to freedom of speech does not presuppose freedom of hate speech56.
Hate speech regulations The definition of hate speech does not yet have a universally recognized wording, but in practice, conventional interpretations have been made by international bodies. Hate speech can be all forms of expression that spread, incite, encourage, or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, or other forms of hatred: based on intolerance, including intolerance and hatred expressed by extreme nationalism, ethnocentrism, discrimination against minorities, immigrants (migrants), persons of migrant origin57. Article 19 (2) of the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognizes freedom of expression, affirming, “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice”58. Freedom of expression under Article 19 Part 3 of the Covenant may be restricted if the following conditions are met: a) should be provided by law and should be necessary, B) aimed at respecting the rights and reputation of others, the protection of public security, public order, public health, or morals, c) be necessary for a democratic society to protect these interests. The mere existence of one or two conditions is not sufficient to justify the restriction. Article 20 (2) of the Covenant states, “Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by 54 UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 34. https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/ docs/gc34.pdf. 55 Erbakan v. Turkey, No 59405/00. 56 UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 11. 57 Recommendation No. R (97) 20 of The Committee of Ministers to Member States on “Hate Speech”, 1997: https://bit.ly/2wa4QoE. 58 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, article 19(2).
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