The United Nations and Freedom of Expression and Information
Critical Perspectives

There are a multitude of UN legal instruments which pertain to the rights of freedom of expression and information, and this book is the first to comprehensively map them and their function. It details the chequered history of both of these rights within the UN system and evaluates the suitability of the system for overcoming contemporary challenges and threats to the rights. Leading scholars address key issues, such as how the rights to freedom of expression and information can come into conflict with other human rights and with public policy goals, such as counter-terrorism. The book's institutional focus comprises five international treaties, UNESCO and the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression. Relevant for academics, lawyers, policy-makers and civil society actors, it also examines how new communication technologies have prompted fresh thinking about the substance and scope of the rights to freedom of expression and information.

Foreword Nigel Rodley; 1. The development of freedom of expression and information within the UN: leaps and bounds or fits and starts? Tarlach McGonagle; Part I. UN Normative and Institutional Approaches to the Protection of Freedom of Expression and Information: 2. International covenant on civil and political rights: interpreting freedom of expression and information standards for the present and the future Michael O'Flaherty; 3. International covenant on economic, social and cultural rights: accessibility and the right to information Yvonne Donders; 4. International convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination: the prohibition of 'racist hate speech' Patrick Thornberry; 5. Convention on the rights of the child: freedom of expression for children Lucy Smith; 6. Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities: ensuring full and equal access to information Eliza Varney; 7. UNESCO: freedom of expression, information and the media Sylvie Coudray; 8. The UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression: progressive development of international standards relating to freedom of expression Toby Mendel; Part II. Elected Thematic Focuses: 9. Ten challenges for the right to information in the age of mega-leaks Helen Darbishire; 10. Early days: the UN, ICTs and freedom of expression Karol Jakubowicz; 11. A new vision of values, accountability and mission for journalism Aidan White; 12. Uprooting 'defamation of religions' and planting a new approach to freedom of expression at the UN Sejal Parmar; 13. Limits to freedom of expression: lessons from counter-terrorism Martin Scheinin; 14. Tacit citing: the scarcity of judicial dialogue between the global and the regional human rights mechanisms in freedom of expression cases Antoine Buyse.

Tarlach McGonagle is a senior researcher at the Institute for Information Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Amsterdam and at the School of Human Rights Research in the Netherlands.
Yvonne Donders is Professor of International Human Rights and Cultural Diversity, and Executive Director of the Amsterdam Center for International Law, in the Faculty of Law at the University of Amsterdam.