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Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech: What International Human Rights Law Says

Centre for the Study of Human Rights public lecture


In recent years, the world has witnessed a number of incidents involving hate speech at times with wide-ranging and global repercussions. Many governments have put in place measures which not always are in consonance with international human rights law. This lecture recalls the relevant provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and showcases the jurisprudence of the expert bodies monitoring their implementation. It also illustrates some recent activities undertaken by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The appointment of Navanethem Pillay (Navi) as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was approved by the General Assembly on 28 July 2008 and she assumed her functions on 1st September 2008. On 24 May 2012, the United Nations General Assembly extended her mandate for a further two years.

Ms Pillay, a South African national, was the first woman to start a law practice in her home province of Natal in 1967. Over the next few years, she acted as a defense attorney for anti-apartheid activists, exposing torture, and helping establish key rights for prisoners on Robben Island.

She also worked as a lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and later was appointed Vice-President of the Council of the University of Durban Westville. In 1995, after the end of apartheid, Ms. Pillay was appointed as acting judge on the South African High Court, and in the same year was elected by the United Nations General Assembly to be a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where she served a total of eight years, the last four (1999-2003) as President. She played a critical role in the ICTR's groundbreaking jurisprudence on rape as genocide, as well as on issues of freedom of speech and hate propaganda. In 2003, she was elected as a judge on the International Criminal Court in the Hague, where she remained until August 2008.

In South Africa, as a member of the Women's National Coalition, she contributed to the inclusion of an equality clause in the country’s Constitution that prohibits discrimination on grounds of race, religion and sexual orientation. She co-founded Equality Now, an international women's rights organization, and has been involved with other organizations working on issues relating to children, detainees, victims of torture and of domestic violence, and a range of economic, social and cultural rights.

Ms. Pillay received a BA and a LLB from Natal University South Africa. She also holds a Master of Law and a Doctorate of Juridical Science from Harvard University. She was born in 1941, and has two daughters.

Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEUNHCHR


Speaker(s):

Navi Pillay | talks
Dr Chaloka Beyani | talks

 

Date and Time:

15 February 2013 at 6:00 pm

Duration:

1 hour 30 minutes

 

Venue:

Old Theatre
Old Building
London School of Economics and Political Science
London
WC2A 2AE


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Organised by:

London School of Economics & Political Science
See other talks organised by London School of Economics & Political Science...

 

Tickets:

FREE

Available from:

Ticket Information
This event is free and open to all however a ticket is required, only one ticket per person can be requested.

Members of the public, LSE staff, students and alumni can request one ticket via the online ticket request form which will be live on this listing after 10pm on Wednesday 6 February until at least 12noon on Thursday 7 February. If at 12noon we have received more requests than there are tickets available, the line will be closed, and tickets will be allocated on a random basis to those requests received. If we have received fewer requests than tickets available, the ticket line will stay open until all tickets have been allocated.

LSE students and staff are also able to collect one ticket per person from the New Academic Building SU shop, located on the Kingsway side of the building from 10.00am on Thursday 7 February. These tickets are available on a first come, first serve basis.

Additional Information:

From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the day of the event, or on our website lse.ac.uk/events

Event weblisting: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/2013/02/20130215t1800vOT.aspx

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