The Joint Statement delivered by China below is a perfect example of an invocation of the most enforceable human "right" there is: The "right" to support the sovereignty and actions of the incumbent regime in one's home country. This right of supporting the powers the be is rarely violated, and is so common and non-controversial as to be omitted from most human rights instruments, but it is still the implicit foundation of the Joint Statement delivered by China:<br>
<br><i>"Mr. Moderator, all stakeholders of the international community should take concerted efforts <b><u>to prevent and combat the abuse of freedom of expression on the Internet</u></b>. I<b>nternet </b><u><b>users of all countries</b> should respect the rights and dignities of others, contribute to maintaining social stability</u>, and safeguarding national security. The internet’s industry should act to foster a crime-free, reliable and secure cyberspace. Governments should strengthen legislation in the field of internet regulation and law enforcement activities with the aim of combating criminal activities."</i> <br>
<br>Earlier in the Joint Statement, they make clear in more detail what the "abuses" of freedom of expression are. <br><br><i>"The <b>abuse of the freedom of expression</b>, on the internet in particular, can encroach on the rights and dignity of other individuals, undermine social safety and stability, even threaten national security. The Internet is often used to propagate terrorism, extremism, racism, xenophobia, <u>even ideas of toppling legitimate authorities</u>. Moreoever, <b>the Internet is used by some groups to distort facts, exaggerate situations,</b> provoke violence, and <b>attempt to exaggerate tension wherever it appears to obtain political benefits.</b>" <br>
</i><br>Under the Joint Statement, "all users" of the Internet (which apparently includes those of us here on the IGC) should cooperate to "maintain social stability" and combat "abuses of freedom of expression" by those who "distort facts, exaggerate situations ... and attempt to exaggerate tension wherever it appears to obtain political benefits." To me, this Joint Statement is a clear invocation of the "right" to support incumbent regimes, styled as being a position "in strict accordance with international law" of human rights, which does give credence to national sovereignty ideas. To do so, they cite Article 19/20 of the ICCPR and other international law.<br>
<br>The original statement on human rights that I drafted was anchored in a non-rights concept, namely that <i>the case for interference with free expression must always be the more difficult one to make than the case for upholding free expression</i>. One commenter noted that this was an "important point" but unfortunately it got edited out of the final statement, and instead several expression mentions of international human rights law were inserted. (Such laws will always be useless in domestic courts precisely when they are needed the most)<br>
<br>No Country is particularly principled when it comes to upholding trenchant criticism of its governing policies or legitimacy, but this is precisely the moment and the context when freedom of expression is most important: to foster a peaceful process of change via changing others' opinions of the incumbent regime. <br>
<br>If not only violence or attempts to provoke violence are prohibited free expression, but also speech that, as the Joint Statement puts it, tends not to "promote social stability" is also prohibited, then <b><u>all peaceful and</u> all violent means of social change</b> on the internet are effectively prohibited.<br>
<br>None of us truly needs a "right" to be a loyal citizen, to keep to one's own business, or to support the incumbent regime. We need rights only to protect us when some other powerful person or organization doesn't like what we have to say. Supporting the incumbent regime's security efforts may be "expression" but it is not free expression in the truest sense, in that it doesn't require the support of a right to encourage and foster its expression.<br>
<br>The rights that mean the most are the ones that are being, or might be, violated. Like anything that is valuable, important human rights are subject to being stolen or violated. We should not confuse the extent of the violation of a right with the existence of the right or the enforceability of a right. <br>
<br>If we do confuse human rights with the concepts of enforceability of those rights in domestic courts or under national laws, there will never be "rights without borders". <br><br>As someone trained in the law, I of course do not oppose expansion of the recognition and enforcement of human rights globally, in domestic courts and elsewhere. But the most important times for human rights to apply will always be when domestic courts are of absolutely no use whatsoever, such as in Nazi Germany or cases of genocide. This is why we must, in my opinion, always keep our independence from not only national law, but even international law (in the sense in which international law is interpreted in domestic courts at least).<br>
<br>Paul Lehto, J.D.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 11:12 AM, William Drake <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:william.drake@uzh.ch">william.drake@uzh.ch</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><a href="http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2012/02/china-panel-on-right-to-freedom-of-expression-19th-session-human-rights-council.html" target="_blank">http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2012/02/china-panel-on-right-to-freedom-of-expression-19th-session-human-rights-council.html</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>On behalf of Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Congo, Cuba, DPRK, Ethiopia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritania, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zimbabwe.</div>
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<br><br>***************************************************<br>William J. Drake<br>International Fellow & Lecturer<br>Media Change & Innovation Division, IPMZ<br>University of Zurich, Switzerland<br><a href="mailto:william.drake@uzh.ch" target="_blank">william.drake@uzh.ch</a></div>
<div style="word-wrap:break-word"><a href="http://www.mediachange.ch/people/william-j-drake" target="_blank">www.mediachange.ch/people/william-j-drake</a><br><a href="http://www.williamdrake.org" target="_blank">www.williamdrake.org</a><br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Paul R Lehto, J.D.<br>P.O. Box 1 <br>Ishpeming, MI 49849 <br><a href="mailto:lehto.paul@gmail.com">lehto.paul@gmail.com</a><br>906-204-4026 (cell)<br><br><br><br><br>
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