"This chapter has shown the positive relationship and virtuous circle between domestic authorities and international bodies that strengthens the protection of human rights by highlighting progress on two issues within the right to freedom of expression: criminalization and access to information. Ele
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ven countries have repealed desacato laws, nine countries have limited the use of criminal law in cases of criticism leveled against public officials, and more than twenty- four countries have recognized the right of access to information. These evolving inter- American standards on freedom of expression seem to have been consolidated into ICCAL. This chapter does not mean to suggest that progress is necessarily constant or permanent. The right to freedom of expression has encountered strong opposition in countries such as Venezuela. There have already been significant setbacks in freedom of expression in Latin America and rising authoritarianism in the region has created additional threats to this right. Notwithstanding those challenges, there is no doubt that the relationship between the Inter- American System and domestic legal systems, including constitutional courts, has generated a transformation in international law and constitutional law across the region. Although we might not expect to see major advances in freedom of expression in the coming years, due to the challenge of rising authoritarianism, we do know that in States in which the judiciary continues to enjoy sufficient autonomy inter- American standards have curbed authoritarian attacks on individual rights. International standards lend domestic courts the legitimacy they need to rebuff authoritarian advances in contexts of political polarization." (Concluding remarks, pp. 493-494)
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"This volume brings together leading experts from a variety of fields to critically evaluate the extent to which global norms on freedom of expression and information have been established and which actors and institutions have contributed to their diffusion. The contributors also consider ongoing a
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nd new challenges to these norms, from conflicts over hate speech and the rise of populism to authoritarian governments, as well as the profound disruption introduced by the internet. Together, these essays lay the groundwork for an international legal doctrine on global freedom of expression that considers issues such as access to government-held information, media diversity, and political speech." (Publisher description)
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"This is a book about free speech narratives. Stories about how imagination and rational thinking in wildly different cultures capture, imagine, and conceptualize what freedom of speech means. 1989 and 2011 are only two recent (in historic perspective) turning points when freedom of speech and freed
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om of the press emerged, or at least powerful efforts were made to support its emergence, although disheartening backlashes followed in several countries. This book also tells many other free speech narratives that emerged, or evolved outside the frames of 1989 and 2011, also with several troublesome repercussions. The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, the year of largely velvet revolutions (in the words of Vaclav Havel), brought freedom of speech to Central Europe and Eastern Europe. It also increased the hope that freedom of speech and democracy can prevail in more and more countries on the earth. This book examines, in some historic perspective, to what extent this hope has become reality since and prior to 1989, also in light of the Arab revolutions of 2011." (Introduction, page 1)
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