Singapore: “Sentencing a teenage blogger to jail sends
wrong message to young people” – UN expert warns
GENEVA (4 October 2016) – “The lesson that somebody can
be thrown in jail for their speech is exactly the wrong kind of message that
any government should be sending to anybody, but especially to young people,”
today said the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and
expression, David Kaye.
“The criminalisation of a broad range of legitimate, even
if offensive forms of expression is not the right tool for any State to pursue
legitimate aims such as tolerance and the rights of others,” the expert said
following the 29 September sentencing by a Singapore court teenage blogger Amos
Yee to six weeks imprisonment for ‘wounding religious feelings’.
In statement issued in August, Mr. Kaye noted that the
international human rights law allows only serious and extreme instances of
incitement to hatred to be prohibited as criminal offences, not other forms of
expression, even if they are offensive, disturbing or shocking.
“Threats of criminal action and lawsuits contribute to a
culture of self-censorship, and hinder the development of an open and
pluralistic environment where all forms of ideas and opinions should be debated
and rebutted openly,” the Special Rapporteur highlighted.
(*) See the Special Rapporteur’s statement (15 August
2016): http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20377&LangID=E
ENDS
Mr. David Kaye (USA) was appointed as Special Rapporteur
on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and
expression in August 2014 by the United Nations Human Rights Council. As
Special Rapporteur, Mr. Kaye is part of what is known as the Special Procedures
of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of
independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the
Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address
either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the
world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN
staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any
government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. Learn more,
log on to:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/FreedomOpinion/Pages/OpinionIndex.aspx
UN Human Rights, Country Page – Singapore:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/SGIndex.aspx
For more information and media requests please contact
Ms. Azin Tadjdini (+41 22 917 9400 / atadjdini@ohchr.org) or write to
freedex@ohchr.org.
You can access this press release here: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20632&LangID=E
For media inquiries related to other UN independent
experts:
Xabier Celaya – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 /
xcelaya@ohchr.org)
For your news websites and social media:
Multimedia
content & key messages relating to our news releases are available on UN
Human Rights social media channels, listed below. Please tag us using the
proper handles:
Twitter: @UNHumanRights
Facebook: unitednationshumanrights
Instagram: unitednationshumanrights
Google+: unitednationshumanrights
Youtube: unohchr
Nema komentara:
Objavi komentar