Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights

The article 10 is under the European Convention on Human Rights, also known as ECHR. The ECHR is made up of a treaty of worldwide human rights within the 47 states. Although the word European is mentioned, it has nothing to do with the European Union. One of their agreement is to guard the rule of law and promote democracy in European countries. This article is divided into two parts; the right express one in freedom and the right to express in a freedom way carrying duties and responsibilities. This right of freedom of expression will protect; entertainment, political speech, artistic expression, information of a commercial nature and discussion of matters of public information.

Everyone falls under Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights. Every individual in this world has this right. This right includes held opinions, receive and plan ideas and information without any interference by the public authorities, no matter the boundaries. They are empowered to have the independence and to be allowed, to admonish and condemn the government and the public. The citizens who their countries are located in Europe and Central Asia are the ones who are covered by this article.

Freedom of expression, permit to say words which can be offending, disturbing and even shocking. Despite all of this, one may face consequences according to the context, and people involved. Article 10 includes some key elements to make it the ‘freedom of expression’ complete. There is freedom to hold opinions. This means that no one can confine one from their ideology and thoughts. Another freedom is freedom to receive. This element protects the act of accepting information. This is related to freedom of expression as hearing and speaking are parts of the rights.

Apart from those mentioned, there is the freedom to impart. This type of freedom protects the act of providing information and ideas. Everyone– No bias made, regardless of status, age, gender, citizenship, nationality etc. This aspect also covers media companies, organisation and legal persons. Another freedom is regardless of frontiers. No restrictions, regardless of idea or information originated from other countries. One can also not forget the limitations of this article. For many years, even in the past, a broadcasting license was always being refused to being granted in order to mention journalistic information and sources. There was also a refusal to reelected a civil servant because of something written or said, forms of censorships by public authorities, disciplinary penalty imposed in response to something written or said by an individual, blocked access to websites or web domains, and the list goes on.

In a case, where a case has to be dealt in court, the first assessment to be done is whether they have done any interference in regards to freedom of expression. If the answer is ‘yes’ then the court takes further steps to justify the case. Further on, ‘the three-part test’ assessment will be carried on. The case can be dealt if guilty in a fine or imprisonment depending on the harm and seriousness of the case.

A local case study which interfered with article 10, is the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, that happened on the 16th of October, 2017. She had her own blog, which was called Running Commentary. She wrote about several subjects, but she mainly focused on politics. She used to write quite straight forward without hiding any facts. The case presently hasn’t been completely solved even though its been over four years by now. The reason behind her death might be because she carried private information which was not supposed to be published and known by anyone including her. The danger of not having this information discharged has caused her death.

An international case is Dink v. Turkey, 2010, involved the murder of the famous author, Firat Dink, known under the pen name of Hrant Dink, at a time when proceedings against him for denigration of Turkishness, originally requested by a nationalist group, were ongoing in the courts. The Court held that the ongoing proceedings against Dink, combined with the lack of protection afforded to him, represented an interference with his right to freedom of expression. Another case is In Ezelin v. France, 1991,37 the Court went even further, suggesting that the right to freedom of expression, at least in the circumstances of that case, was a “lex generalis in relation to Article 11”, which guarantees the right to freedom of assembly, and that Article 11 was, in turn, a lex specialis.

There are many advantages of this article. The first advantage is the right of freedom of expression is the most essential foundation in a democratic society. This right of freedom of expression will protect; entertainment, political speech, artistic. Protection are: criticism of religion, information about abortion, which is considered as a sensitive topic and the search for historical truth. There is also the criticism of fast-food restaurants, information about someone’s private life and criticism of the founder of the state. Another advantage is that an individual can decide the way to express himself or herself. These can be done either by writing, drawing, photography, jokes, or by acting.

There are also some disadvantages of Article 10. These include that, this right might be overstepped by the media in ways that false news is created and rumours spread which leads to wrong results. This is for the countries; as they cant place restrictions certain restrictions in regards to freedom of expression.