Incitement to Discrimination, Hostility and Violence: A Comparative Analysis
When
Where
Organized by
On 25 March, ODIHR organised a side event at the American Society of International Law (ASIL) 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting. This discussion examined the challenge of balancing the right to freedom of expression with the need to protect against online comments that amount to incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.
Why is it important
While digital technology is a huge opportunity to communicate across countries and cultures, it can unfortunately also spread disinformation, hatred and incitement to violence.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, minority and marginalized communities have been scapegoated and, in some cases, have even become victims of targeted violence and hate crime.
Hence the importance of our discussion around legal frameworks on incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence as well as freedom of expression.
Participants
The side event brought together diverse and representative panel:
- Karoline Fernandez de la Hoz Zeitler, Director of the Spanish Centre for Racism and Xenophobia (OBERAXE) at the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, National Point of Contact on Hate Crime, Government of Spain
- Louisa Klingvall, Team Leader, European Commission Directorate General Justice and Consumers, Unit for Fundamental rights Policy
- Iain Levine, Senior Human Rights Adviser, Facebook
- Emerson J. Sykes, Staff Attorney, Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, ACLU
- Moderator: Joanna Szymanska, Senior Programme Officer, Article 19
For any inquiries, please contact Griffin Ferry at griffin.ferry@odihr.pl.