International Human Rights Law

There is no formal definition of “hate speech” in international human rights law. Therefore, most United Nations instruments refer to “incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence”.

Limitations of the freedom of speech under International Law seek to strike a fine balance between two fundamental principles:

• On the one hand, the principle of equality and non-discrimination for all people that guarantees the equal enjoyment of human rights, protection of the law and dignity, without any discrimination;
• On the other hand, the right to freedom of opinion and expressi on that protects the right to hold opinions without interference and the freedom of expression, including the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kind, regardless of frontiers and through any media.

While certain restrictions on freedom of expression may be motivated by principles of equality and non-discrimination, “direct and public incitement to genocide” and “advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence” are strictly prohibited under international law, and are considered the “severest forms of hate speech”.

The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1965, prohibits “propaganda” and “dissemination of ideas” about racial superiority and racial discrimination, including from public authorities or public institutions (art. 4).

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide is the first human rights treaty adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948, on the heels of the atrocities committed during the Second World War. It specifies that genocide is a crime that can take place in times of war or peace and it obliges States to take measure to prevent it and punish perpetrators.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court adopted in 1998 also holds “criminally responsible and liable for punishment” anyone who ”directly and publicly incites others to commit genocide” (art. 25).

“Addressing hate speech does not mean limiting or prohibiting freedom of speech. It means keeping hate speech from escalating into something more dangerous, particularly incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence, which is prohibited under international law.” — United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, June 2019.