4. Human rights cluster
‘The same rights that people have offline must also be protected online’ is the underlying
principle for human rights on the Internet. Human rights issues are cross-cutting, affecting
other Internet public policy areas. For example, freedom of expression and information is
directly related to access to the Internet and net neutrality. Protection of minority rights is
influenced by multilingualism and promotion of cultural diversity. Ensuring protection of
privacy is important in dealing with cybersecurity. Human rights include various other rights
that are relevant but have not been discussed here, such as freedom of association.
4.1 Freedom of expression
Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. With the growing relevance of the
Internet, the policy debate on freedom of expression has gained online relevance. The main
open issue is how to establish the right interplay (or balance) between Article 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which grants freedom of expression, and Article 29,
which states the limits of freedom of expression for the sake of morality, public order, and
general welfare.
Status of governance mechanisms for freedom of expression
Freedom of expression is protected by global instruments, such as the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (Article 29) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(Article 19), and regional instrument such as the European Convention on Human Rights
(Article 10) and the American Convention of Human Rights (Article 13). The main
governance mechanism for addressing online freedom of expression is the UN Human Rights
Council Resolution on Protection of Freedom of Expression on the Internet (2012). NGOs
such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Freedom House have developed
numerous mechanisms for discussing and implementing freedom of expression on the
Internet.
Possible gaps in dealing with freedom of expression
The mechanisms analysed appear to indicate the existence of a knowledge gap with regards
to data and research on the impact of the technical architecture of the Internet on freedom of
expression. For example, freedom of expression is influenced by the degree of anonymity,
which in turn depends upon technical features (or solutions). In this context, there may be a
policy gap related to the consideration of freedom of expression aspects in the development
of technical and web standards.
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