Council of Europe Publishing: Racism on the Internet
Sunday, February 7th, 2010Yaman Akdeniz, Racism on the Internet, Council of Europe Publishing, 2010 (ISBN 978-92-871-6634-0) is now available.
Racism was a pressing social problem long before the emergence of the digital age. The advancement of digital communication technologies such as the Internet has, however, added a new dimension to this problem by providing individuals and organisations with modern and powerful means to propagate racism and xenophobia. The use of the Internet as an instrument for the widespread dissemination of racist content is assessed in detail by Yaman Akdeniz.
The problem of racist content on the Internet has naturally prompted vigorous responses from a variety of agents, including governments, supranational and international organisations and from the private sector. This book also provides a detailed critical overview of these regulatory and non-regulatory initiatives.
Speech for the Council of Europe Cross-Border Internet, Consultation meeting (Strasbourg)
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009This speech will be delivered in Strasbourg on Thursday, 08 October, 2009
Intervention Speech for the Cross-Border Internet: Consultation meeting organised by the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 8-9 October 2009
By Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, Associate Professor in Law, Faculty of Law, Istanbul Bilgi University, Director, Cyber-Rights.Org
It is a great honour to be here today in Strasbourg at the Council of Europe, and to be very close to the European Court of Human Rights. For me, as an academic working in the field of human rights and new media, in particular with regards to legal and policy issues surrounding the Internet since the mid 1990s, the role of both the Council, and the European Court has been crucially important.
I recently attended the 1st Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Media and New Communication Services A new notion of media? which took place in Reykjavik, Iceland (28-29 May 2009). It was noted by the Reykjavik Political Declaration document that “there is ongoing concern about the effective implementation in practice of Council of Europe standards on freedom of expression and information and freedom of the media.” (paragraph 9) I do strongly share these concerns.
New media historically face suspicion and are liable to excessive regulation as they spark fear of potential detrimental effects on society. For example, this has proved true for the publication and transmission of sexually explicit content through the printing press, the telegraph, telephone, post, cinema, theatre, radio, television, satellite, and video.
Today, many states are reacting negatively to the availability and dissemination of certain types of content through the new media, in particular through the Internet. Today, there remains major concern about the availability of sexually explicit content including child pornography, racist content, hate speech, terrorist propaganda, and documents related to terrorism, as well as pirated content on the Internet. Such threats resulted and continue to result with state intervention (including in the Council of Europe region) through the development of regulatory, self-regulatory, as well as technological solutions.
However, there remains growing concern about the impact of some of the regulatory solutions adopted at state level or actions taken by the Member States of the Council of Europe on fundamental human rights as enshrined by the European Convention on Human Rights.
Based on the limited effectiveness of state laws, a number of states started or starting to introduce policies to block access to websites or other content on the Internet deemed illegal which are outside their jurisdiction. However, blocking policies are not always subject to due process principles, decisions are not necessarily taken by the courts of law, and often administrative bodies or hotlines decide which content or website should be subject to blocking. Often blocking policies lack transparency, and the administrative bodies lack accountability. Therefore, increasingly, the compatibility of blocking action is questioned with regards to the fundamental right of freedom of expression. There could be a breach of Article 10 if blocking measures or filtering tools are used at state level to silence politically motivated speech on the Internet, or the criteria for blocking or filtering is secret, or the decisions of the administrative bodies and hotlines are not publicly made available for legal challenge.
The public’s right to receive information provided by mass media is widely accepted in international law. Indeed the European Court of Human Rights established that “not only does the press have the task of imparting such information and ideas, the public also has a right to receive them,” and to receive and impart information is a precondition of freedom of expression. If as the European Court of Human Rights established, freedom of expression is “one of the basic conditions for the progress of democratic societies and for the development of each individual,” the Internet is probably the best venue to realise democracy and development of each individual.
Bearing in mind that alternative views could find a more open platform on the Internet, freedom to seek and receive information and ideas, should especially be underlined as the burden on the receivers will be higher than ever if States adopt blocking and filtering policies. As was stated by the Reykjavik Political Declaration efforts have to be increased to ensure that fundamental human rights such as freedom of expression as well as privacy of communications, underpinned by the rule of law, do not fall victims to such circumstances.
Finally, I note that increasingly, there is more emphasis on involving all stakeholders (both public and private) and relevant intergovernmental and international organisations within the Internet governance models and debate. Undoubtedly, governments do have authority over public policy, while the private sector (Internet industry + the ISPs) have expertise with regards to technical issues and infrastructure. Societal, community, and human rights issues are addressed by the civil society representatives and organisations. International organisations such as the Council of Europe can co-ordinate and facilitate the development of standards together with all the relevant stakeholders. I am therefore confident that the concerns that I raise today will be addressed through the future work of the Council of Europe.
Dr. Yaman Akdeniz (LLB, MA, PhD), Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Istanbul Bilgi University; Visiting Senior Research Fellow, School of Law, University of Leeds. Akdeniz is also the founder of Cyber-Rights.Org (http://www.cyber-rights.org) based in the UK, Cyber-Rights.Org.TR (http://www.cyber-rights.org.tr) based in Turkey, and the co-founder of BilgiEdinmeHakki.org (http://www.bilgiedinmehakki.org), a pressure group working in the field of freedom of information law in Turkey. His recent publications include Internet Child Pornography and the Law: National and International Responses (London: Ashgate, 2008: ISBN: 0 7546 2297 5), and Internet: Restricted Access: A Critical Assessment of Internet Content Regulation and Censorship in Turkey (co-authored with Kerem Altiparmak), Ankara: IHOP, 2008, at
Twelve CoE member states sign the Convention on Access to Official Documents
Friday, June 19th, 2009Avrupa Konseyi’nin Resmi Belgelere Erişim Sözleşmesi imzaya açıldı. 12 ülke ilk günden sözleşmeyi imzalarken gözler Türkiye’yi aradı…..
Press release – 486(2009)
Council of Europe Conference of Justice Ministers – Twelve Council of Europe member states sign the Convention on Access to Official Documents
Tromsø (Norvège), 18.06.2009 – Twelve Council of Europe member states today signed the Convention on Access to Official Documents (CETS n° 205), the first binding international legal instrument laying down a general right of access to official documents.
This new Council of Europe Convention is the first binding international legal instrument to recognise a general right of access to official documents held by public authorities. Transparency of public authorities is a key feature of good governance and an indicator of whether or not a society is genuinely democratic and pluralist, opposed to all forms of corruption, capable of criticising those who govern it, and open to enlightened participation of citizens in matters of public interest. The right of access to official documents is also essential to the self-development of people and to the exercise of fundamental human rights. It also strengthens public authorities’ legitimacy in the eyes of the public, and its confidence in them.
Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Montenegro (*), Norway, Serbia (**), Slovenia, Sweden and ‘the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ signed the Convention at the beginning of the 29th Conference of the European Ministers of Justice which is being held on domestic violence on 18 and 19 June in Tromsø. The convention will enter into force once it has been ratified by five states.
The Convention sets forth the minimum standards to be applied in the processing of requests for access to official documents (forms of and charges for access to official documents), review procedure and complementary measures. Limitations on the right of access to official documents are only permitted in order to protect certain interests like national security, defence or privacy.
Establishing a common basis of minimum standards, derived from the widely diverse experience and practice found within the Council of Europe’s 47 member States, the Convention has the flexibility required to allow national laws to build on this foundation and provide even greater access to official documents.
