We believe the best antidote to offensive and hateful speech is constructive dialogue that counters and responds to such speech by refuting it through principled arguments, causing the hateful speech to fall under its own weight. In fact to do so can be counterproductive and even raise the profile of such ideas. As President Obama stated in a speech delivered in Cairo, Egypt in June 2009, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. īanning and punishing offensive and hateful speech is neither an effective approach to combating such intolerance, nor an appropriate role for government in seeking to promote respect for diversity. Indeed, these concerns were so fundamental that the United States took a reservation, when it became a Party to the CERD, noting it would not accept any obligation that could limit the extensive protections for such fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the U.S. This concern includes the restrictions contained in Article 4 of the CERD to the extent that they might be interpreted as allowing or requiring restrictions on forms of expression that do not constitute incitement to imminent violence or acts of intimidation. In light of this framework, the United States has long made clear its concerns over resorting to restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and assembly in order to promote tolerance and respect. The progress we have made, we have accomplished without banning speech or restricting freedom of expression. We are not at the end of the road toward equal justice but our nation is a far better and fairer place than it was in the past.
The United States has struggled to eliminate racial discrimination throughout our history, from abolition of slavery to our civil rights movement.
The United States Government appreciates the opportunity to provide these written comments to the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s Thematic Discussion on “Racist Hate Speech.” The United States of America is a State Party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and is profoundly committed to combating racial discrimination. Observations of the United States of America on the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s Thematic Discussion on “Racist Hate Speech” Note: The following comments were submitted by the United States to the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on Augfor consideration in connection with the CERD Committee’s August 28 thematic discussion on racist hate speech.
0 kommentar(er)
