United Nations Resolutions on Religious Hate Speech: The Impact on Freedom of Expression

SUMMARY

In its report United Nations Resolutions on Religious Hate Speech: The Impact on Freedom of Expression, the United Nations Committee examines the role of the United Nations in helping to define the scope and limits of the right of freedom of expression under international law. The report discusses evolving international law and norms that seek to define and protect freedom of expression, as impacted by different national and cultural standards regarding the interrelationship between freedom of expression, defamation, hate speech, protection of religions and recognition of other core values such as human dignity and equality. The report also examines how the evolving international law and norms regarding the balancing of protection of freedom of expression and protection of other individual and group rights comport with the notion of the primacy of freedom of expression under the First Amendment.