The Content and Context of Hate Speech

This chapter addresses the difficult question of whether international law calls on states to adopt consistent criminal prohibitions on hate speech. The concern is with the specific question of criminal hate speech rather than the much broader question of hate speech policies (which include, among other things, criminal, civil, and administrative rules, as well as a host of promotional measures to counter hate speech). The central focus is on whether a global legal framework exists that promotes a consistent and coherent balance between the interests hate speech laws are designed to promote – equality and public order – and the right to freedom of expression.

This chapter argues that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) does indeed provide sensible standards, at least in relation to criminal prohibitions on hate speech, and that these standards are precise and coherent. At the same time, the chapter recognizes that international courts have in key respects failed to provide a clear interpretive framework for the hate speech rules in the ICCPR, leaving states some discretion as to the hate speech rules they adopt. However, it argues that this is a challenge that could, and should, be overcome. The chapter also counters two of the more important critiques of these international standards, namely that the hate speech laws they envisage may be abused and that they are not effective.