As one of the drafters of the UDHR, René Cassin, stated, the Declaration represents “the most vigorous … protest of humanity against the atrocities and the oppression which millions of human beings have suffered through the centuries” (Winter and Prost 2013, p. 250).2 2 Concerning the concept of universality, especially in Article 19 of the declaration, see Chapter 3 by Loreto Corredoira in this volume.
3 3 “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”.
4 4 English version available at https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf (accessed January 14, 2021).
5 5 “In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society”.
6 6 See communication no. 550/93, Faurisson v. France (November 8, 1996).
7 7 See communications nos. 157/1983, Mpaka-Nsusu v. Zaire (March 26, 1986) and 414/1990, Mika Miha v. Equatorial Guinea (July 8, 1994).
8 8 See communication no. 878/1999, Kang v. the Republic of Korea (July 15, 2003).
9 9 See communications nos. 359/1989 and 385/1989, Ballantyne, Davidson and McIntyre v. Canada, (October 18, 1990); 414/1990, Mika Miha v. Equatorial Guinea; 1189/2003, Fernando v. Sri Lanka (March 31, 2005); 1157/2003, Coleman v. Australia (July 17, 2006); 1022/2001, Velichkin v. Belarus (October 20, 2005); 1334/2004, Mavlonov and Sa’di v. Uzbekistán (March 19, 2009); 926/2000, Shin v. Republic of Korea (March 16, 2004); 736/97, Ross v. Canada (October 18, 2000); or 1341/2005, Zundel v. Canada (March 20, 2007).
10 10 See communication no. 458/91, Mukong v. Cameroon (July 21, 1994).
11 11 See communication no. 1353/2005, Njaru v. Cameroon (March 19, 2007).
12 12 Ibid. and concluding observations on Georgia (CCPR/C/GEO/CO/3).
13 13 Concluding observations on Guyana (CCPR/C/79/Add.121).
14 14 See communication No. 736/97, cited in note 9.
15 15 Concluding observations on the Russian Federation (CCPR/CO/79/RUS).
16 16 Concluding observations on Uzbekistan (CCPR/CO/71/UZB).
17 17 See communication no. 1157/2003, cited in note 9.
18 18 General Comment No. 22: The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Art. 18): 30/07/93. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.4. (accessed January 14, 2021)https://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdocumentbank/general%20comment%2022.pdf (accessed January 14, 2021).
19 19 General Comment No. 27, paragraph 14. See also communications nos. 1128/2002, Marques de Morais v. Angola; and 1157/2003, Coleman v. Australia.
20 20 See communication no. 1180/2003, Bodrozic v. Serbia and Montenegro (October 31, 2005).
21 21 A defense of the use of said margin of appreciation can be found in McGoldrick (2016).
22 22 See communication no. 511/1992, Ilmari Länsman et al. v. Finland (October 14, 1993).
23 23 See the previously cited Sohn and Shin communications.
24 24 A large number of further examples can be found in Abad Alcalá (2020).
25 25 https://www.un.org/es/events/pressfreedomday/pdf/Declaración%20de%20Windhoek.pdf (accessed January 13, 2020).
26 26 These annual reports can be found at https://ohchr.org/EN/Issues/FreedomOpinion/Pages/Annual.aspx (access by subscription.)
27 27 Report of the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council on the use of encryption and anonymity to exercise the rights to freedom of opinion and expression in the digital age (A/HRC/29/32) (Twenty-ninth session). https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G15/095/85/PDF/G1509585.pdf?OpenElement.
28 28 Report of the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council on freedom of expression, states and the private sector in the digital age (A/HRC/32/38) (Thirty-second session). https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G16/095/12/PDF/G1609512.pdf?OpenElement.
29 29 According to data from the consulting firm NetMarketShare for May 2020 (https://netmarketshare.com), Google easily has an absolute majority in the online browser market for desktops; Chrome’s market share is 68.26%, almost eight times higher than that of Firefox’s 8.01% or Edge’s 6.67%. In the mobile search engine categories, Google has also achieved global dominance with a 93.36% share, compared to 3.92% for Baidu or 0.95% for Yahoo! Meanwhile, in the world of social media, and according to data reported by Statista in May 2020 (https://www.statista.com/markets/424/internet; accessed January 14, 2021), Facebook has more than 2.6 billion monthly active users as of the first quarter of 2020. Among other details, the social media giant now has almost five billion users worldwide, WhatsApp (two billion users) and Instagram (340 million users) are also included.
30 30 Report of the Special Rapporteur to the human rights council on the role of digital access providers (A/HRC/35/22) (Thirty-fifth session). https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G17/077/46/PDF/G1707746.pdf?OpenElement.
31 31 Report of the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council on online content regulation A/HRC/38/35 (Thirty-eighth session). https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G18/096/72/PDF/G1809672.pdf?OpenElement.
32 32 Report of the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council on surveillance and human rights (A/HRC/41/35) (Forty-first session). https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G19/148/76/PDF/G1914876.pdf?OpenElement.
33 33 All these three representatives’ declarations on communication rights can be found at http://www.osce.org/fom/66176;
34 34 Principles that are reaffirmed in the 2013 declaration. See note 33.
