Re: [hr-wsis] Re: ARTICLE 19 Critiques Right to Communicate Draft

[Meryem Marzouki <marzouki@ras.eu.org>]

Le jeudi 6 février 2003, à 08:37 AM, John Barker a écrit :

> Meryem
>
> The draft we are commenting on was received as an attachment. I am not 
> sure
> if this list accepts attachments but here it is.
>
> I have also forwarded you message to my colleague Peter Noorlander
> peter@article19.org who is working on a submission on the right to
> communicate.

Thanks John. Just in case, I'm reproducing hereafter Hamelink's draft 
Declaration in text format.
We should have a short discussion on this "Human Rights in the 
Information Society" Caucus list to produce
a 1-2 pages statement on what we propose to include in the final Summit 
Declaration and Action plan. This statement would be submittet to 
PrepCom2.
Meryem

DRAFT DECLARATION ON THE RIGHT TO COMMUNICATE

(WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY, GENEVA, DECEMBER 2003)

PREAMBLE
Parties to the present Declaration,
[The States Governments, Intergovernmental Organisations, United Nations 
Organisations, Representatives from the private sector, Non-governmental 
Organisations and Civil Society Organisations,]

Bearing in mind the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and 
Cultural Rights, the UNESCO General Conference Resolution 4.121,  the 
UNESCO General Conference Resolution 3.2, the Universal Declaration of 
Human Responsibilites, and the UN General Assembly Resolution 53/22;

Convinced that the time has come for the international communicate to 
formally recognize the right to communicate;

Bearing in mind that the formal recognition of the right to communicate 
is essential to the broader cause of defending all human rights 
worldwide;

Whereas communication is the foundation of all social organization and 
therefore is basic to the life of all individuals and their communities;

Emphasizing that communication is a fundamental participative and 
interactive process, which is essential to the sustainable development 
of  individuals and communities;

Convinced that all individuals should have equal opportunities to 
participate actively in all means of communication and to benefit from 
such means while preserving the right to protection against their abuses;

Reaffirming the critical necessity of the dialogue among civilizations 
in order to seek a new system of international relations based on 
inclusion, cooperation, and solidarity;

Mindful of the significant role of the right to communicate for this 
dialogue;

Determined to take new steps forward in the commitment of the 
international community to achieve substantial progress in its human 
rights endeavours;

Recalling that the aim of this Declaration is not to substitute the 
notion of the right to communicate for any rights already recognized by 
the international community, but to increase their scope with new 
elements in the context of the right to communicate;

Welcoming the contributions of all stakeholders to the World Summit on 
the Information Society (2003 and 2005);

Agree upon the following articles:
  PART I - INFORMATION RIGHTS

1.    Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this 
right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference by public 
or private parties and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas 
through any media and regardless of frontiers;

2. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and 
religion; this right includes freedom to express his thoughts, 
conscience and religion without interference by public or private 
parties, either alone or in community with others and in public or 
private;

3. Everyone has the right to be properly informed about matters of 
public interest; this right includes access to information on matters of 
public interest held by public or private sources;

4. Everyone has the right that there should be fair and equitable access 
to public means of local and global communication resources and 
facilities for conventional and advanced channels of communication, to 
distribute information, ideas and opinions;

5. Everyone has the right to expect that the resources needed for public 
communication, such as the Electro-Magnetic Spectrum- remain the common 
heritage of humankind and will not be appropriated by private parties;


PART II - CULTURAL RIGHTS

1. Everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural life of 
their community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific 
advancement and its benefits; this includes the right to artistic, 
literacy and academic creativity and independence;

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material 
interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production 
of which he is the author; in particular the moral rights of individual 
creative artists need strong protection;

3. Everyone has the right to a fair use of copyrighted work for purposes 
like criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching or research; this 
should not be considered an infringement of copyright protection;

4. Everyone has the right to express themselves, access information and 
to create and disseminate their work in the language of their choice, 
and particularly in their mother tongue;

5. Everyone is therefore entitled to quality education and training that 
fully respect their cultural identity; the right to use their own 
languages in educational and media institutions funded by the state; and 
the right to have adequate provisions created for the use of minority 
languages where needed;

6. All people have the right to promote, protect and preserve their 
cultural identity, national and international cultural property and 
heritage.


PART III - PROTECTION RIGHTS

1. Everyone has the right be protected against forms of communication 
that are discriminatory in terms of gender, race, class, ethnicity, 
religion, language, sexual orientation, and physical or mental condition;

2. Everyone has the right to be protected against the deliberate 
dissemination of misleading and distorted information by national as 
well as international information enterprises;

3. Everyone has the right to demand that the media of mass communication 
respect standards of due process in the coverage of trials and thus not 
presume guilt of defendants before a verdict of guilt by a court of law 
has been established;

4. Everyone has the right to be protected against interference with 
their personal sphere and autonomy  by public or private parties 
(including the media of mass communication);

5. Everyone has the right to use of methods of encryption in order to be 
able to conduct communications in anonymity;

6. Everyone has the right to be protected against forms of electronic 
surveillance that threaten privacy and confidentiality of communications;

7. Children have the right to be protected against harmful media 
products and commercial and other exploitation; they have the right to 
media products that are designed to meet their needs an interest and 
foster their healthy physical, mental and emotional development;

8. Women have the right to equal access to information and knowledge, as 
well as equal opportunities as participants and decision-makers in all 
aspects related to the shaping of public policies and frameworks 
concerning mass media and ICTs;

7. Everyone has the right to be protected from all forms of propaganda, 
in whatsoever country conducted, which is either designed or likely to 
provoke or encourage any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or 
act of aggression;

8. Everyone has the right to be protected from incitement to hate, 
prejudice, violence, war, and genocide;

9. Everyone has the right to cyber-security  meaning that human 
integrity and dignity are fully respected and protected in the new 
electronic environment (cyber-space) against the abuse of  information 
and communication technologies by governments and by non-state agencies;

PART IV - PARTICIPATION RIGHTS

1. Everyone has the right to participate in public decision making about 
the provision of information, the development and utilization of 
knowledge, the preservation, protection and development of culture;


2. Everyone has the right to participate in public decision making about 
the choice, development and application of communication technologies, 
and the structure and policies of media industries;


3. Everyone has the right to acquire skills necessary to participate 
fully in public deliberation and communication; this requires facility 
in reading, writing, storytelling, critical media awareness, computer 
literacy and education about the role of communication in society;

4. Everyone has the right to access and equitable use of cyberspace.


PART VI - IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING METHODS

1. Effective implementation of  the standards contained in this 
Declaration is essential to the promotion and safeguarding of the human 
right to communicate;

2. The rights and freedoms that form part of the right to communicate 
can only be restricted under the conditions that limitations are 
prescribed by international law, necessary in democratic societies, 
effective to the achievement of democratically adopted public 
objectives, proportional to those objectives and of  temporary duration.

3. The implementation of this Declaration requires the creation of an 
international ‘Communication Rights Ombudsman’, an autonomous person, 
independent of state bodies; it protects the right to communicate in 
relation with state bodies, local government bodies, those holding 
public authority and private parties;

4. Any person who believes that his/her right to communicate has been 
violated by any act, action or inaction (of a state body, a local 
government body or person holding public authority, or a private party) 
may ask the Ombudsman to intervene on his/her behalf, by submitting a 
petition for the start of proceedings.

5. The Ombudsman may also institute the proceedings on his own 
initiative. The Ombudsman may also deal with more general issues 
relevant to the protection of the right to communicate. The proceedings 
before the Ombudsman shall be non-formal and free-of-charge for the 
petitioners.

6. The Ombudsman gives an assessment of the facts and circumstances of 
the individual case, and judges whether in the case in question there 
have been violations of the right to communicate. In his report he also 
indicates how the right to communicate has been violated and whether 
there have been any other injustices.

7. On establishing violations or irregularities the Ombudsman may take 
measures by:
- Submitting to the body caused the violation or injustice a proposal, 
opinion, criticism or recommendation.
- Proposing that the body repeat a certain procedure in accordance with 
the law.
- Proposing compensation.
- Proposing some other way of remedying the injustice, which has been 
done to you.
- Propose the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against officials 
of the body who have caused the established injustice.
- Informing the public about his finding of the facts and steps that 
have been taken.

8. The ‘Ombudsman Office’ will establish procedures for periodic review, 
development and modification of this Declaration.

PART V – DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Everyone has a responsibility to promote and defend the right to 
communicate, to treat all people in accordance with this right, and to 
create the conditions for all people to enjoy the right to communicate;

2. Everyone should recognizethe following obligations as a necessary 
complement to the right to communicate:
a. the obligation to respect thoughts and ideas of all other people;
b. the obligation to respect the expression of thoughts and ideas by all 
other people;
c. the obligation to respect the privacy and security of all other 
people;
d. the obligation to respect  the creative work of all other people;
e. the obligation to respect the pursuit of autonomous cultural 
development by all other people;
f. the obligation to share our knowledge and experience with all other 
people;
g. the obligation to participate in processes of public decision making 
and ensure that capable leadership is chosen.


First Draft done at Amsterdam/Geneva December 15, 2002