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A key tool in the struggle for a free Internet

Document Citado por Related
Vincent
AutorRamiro Álvarez Ugarte
Páginas55-56

Page 55

See note 24

The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has published the report Freedom of Expression and the Internet. This report probably constitutes the main legal and constitutional tool to advance the struggle for a free and open Internet in the Americas.

The report is neither an international treaty nor directly binding on States. However, it is an oficial interpretation of the American Convention on Human Rights issued by one of the system’s bodies. What it does is extend to the digital world the generous standards on freedom of expression developed by the Inter-American system throughout decades.

The report is extensive and comprehensive and includes standards and principles of Human Rights and good practices. It draws on what exists and points to possible and, on occasion, necessary directions to protect the right to freedom of expression on the Internet. It covers issues such as net neutrality, access, privacy, cybersecurity and responsibility of intermediaries. And in each of those issues, it explains what the system’s current Human Rights standards have to say.

These kinds of IACHR reports have historically been useful in the defense of Human Rights. In several countries, international treaties are directly applicable and, in many cases, have constitutional status. Some even argue - at a constitutional, statutory or case law level - that the interpretations issued by international treaty-making bodies require attention. That is why this report is relevant: it is a kind of soft law that has proven very effective in the past.

Civil society organizations need to bear in mind what we do to be able to fully comprehend the importance of this report. In fact, activists interested in making the Internet a free and open space generally act outside the formal structures of the State. We have no political afiliation

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nor run for elections. Our political action takes a different form: we seek to persuade our public oficials that the principles we hold are true and that they, in turn, must lead judicial decisions as well as political and regulatory options that take these issues seriously.

This persuasion policy is how we have been making our rights-based claims for decades: movements for civil rights, indigenous rights, women’s rights and LGBTI rights are proof of that. We have limited resources and combine them in different ways: while some are engaged in...

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