Council of Europe issues guidelines to tackle hate speech

Countries should sanction the use of hate speech, while safeguarding freedom of expression, says the Council of Europe anti-racism commission.

On the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) issued guidelines to all 47 member states of the Council of Europe – including Georgia – on how to prevent hate speech, support those targeted by it, and deal with its consequences.

Among the general policy recommendations issued today by the ECRI were:

• Encouraging speedy reactions by public figures to hate speech;
• Promoting self-regulation of media;
• Raising awareness of the dangerous consequences of hate speech;
• Withdrawing financial and other support from political parties that actively use hate speech; and
• Criminalising its most extreme manifestations, while respecting freedom of expression.

"Hate speech is based on the unjustified assumption that a person or a group of persons are superior to others; it incites acts of violence or discrimination, thus undermining respect for minority groups and damaging social cohesion. This is why governments must resolutely and urgently react to hate speech,” the ECRI said.

The Commission believed in many instances, the most appropriate and effective approach to tackling hate speech was self-regulation by public and private institutions, media and the internet industry, such as the adoption of Codes of Conduct accompanied by sanctions for non-compliance.

"When necessary, the deletion of hate speech from web materials, the disclosure of the identity of hate speech users, and the obligation of media to publish acknowledgments that something they ran constitutes hate speech should be required,” one of the recommendations said.

Withdrawing all financial and other state support from political parties or other groups using hate speech, and eventually prohibiting or dissolving such groups was another recommendation of the Council of Europe anti-racism body.

"In the most serious cases, criminal prohibitions and penalties are necessary, but they should be used as a measure of last resort. All along, a balance must be kept between fighting hate speech on the one hand, and safeguarding freedom of speech on the other,” said ECRI.

Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland specifically warned against selective and arbitrary application of sanctions.

"Anti-hate speech measures must be well-founded, proportionate, non-discriminatory, and must not be used to curb freedoms of expression or assembly,” he said.

Jagland stressed that fighting hate speech must not be used to suppress criticism of official policies, political opposition and religious beliefs.

The ECRI also stressed the importance of education and counter-speech in fighting misconceptions and misinformation that formed the basis of hate speech.

Meanwhile the ECRI issued its latest report on Georgia on March 1, where the Commission identified hate speech against representatives of religious minorities and LGBT persons as one of the problems the country faced.