Eliminating Hate Speech

Speech by Marja Ruotanen

Director, Human Dignity and Equality

Council of Europe

Good morning,

It is an exceptional pleasure for me to welcome you on behalf of the Council of Europe and to see so many participants and such a distinguished set of speakers.

I would like to thank the Finnish League for Human Rights and the Finnish authorities for having invited us to Helsinki to reflect on how we can better work together to combat hate speech.

Hate speech has always existed, but we are increasingly concerned by its prevalence and impact. And rightly so! Hate speech seriously threatens the cohesion of a democratic society, the protection of human rights and the rule of law.

When conveyed through electronic means of communication, hate speech can reach and hurt an unprecedented number of people. While “traditional media” have taken important steps to reduce hate speech, the use of the Internet and social media by individuals or groups to incite to hatred and violence bring new and important challenges, making it particularly difficult to prosecute the authors of hate speech or challenge and take down the illegal content. Regrettably, hate speech is underreported and when complaints are filed, they are often not even recorded.

Hate speech covers many forms of expressions which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred, violence and discrimination against a person or group of persons for a variety of reasons. Reasons people find to hate other people seem endless. They include color, ethnic origin or nationality, religion, language, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender. Hate speech is both a violation of the right to equality of the victim and an abuse of the freedom of speech of the hater. It also undermines the effective integration into society of the most marginalized groups, such as Roma, migrants, asylum seekers, religious minorities or other groups that are in a situation of vulnerability.

The Council of Europe was born in the aftermath of the II WW, a war triggered by the most destructive of hate speeches. Mandated to foster unity, it is not surprising to see the Council of Europe ranking the fight against hate speech as a priority. The Council of Europe addresses hate speech in many ways and through many different and mutually reinforcing strategies. The case law of the European Convention of Human Rights provides excellent guidance on the checks and balances that must enter into play. Other treaties, such as the conventions related to national minorities and regional and minority languages promote access to rights by people belonging to minorities, combat discrimination and foster diversity as a value.The Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime also addresses some forms of hate speech through its additional protocol concerning the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems (2003).

More recently, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) adopted a General Policy Recommendation for preventing and combating hate speech thus contributing to shed light into an issue that the Commission knows well thanks to its monitoring work. The Chair of ECRI, Mr Christian Alundwill explain in more detail the background and the contents of this recommendation.

Dear participants,

25 of November – the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women – marked the start of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.  Violence which takes many forms – one of them sexist hate speech.  Sexist hate speech is rampant in Europe and women are disproportionally targeted. Although it has taken a new dimension through the Internet, the root causes of sexist hate speech are fundamentally linked to the historic and persistent unequal power relations between women and men. These roots are so deep that society seems to integrated sexist hate speech as a normal and even funny way of expression of the tensions between women and men.

The fact is that sexist hate speech is a form of violence against women and girls that perpetuates and exacerbates gender inequality and other forms of violence against women.

Sexist hate speech can take many forms: it can be sexualised hate speech or sexist hate speech, cyber-sexism or cyber gender harassment. It is gender motivated, degrading hate speech which aims to humiliate or objectify women, to destroy their reputation and to make them vulnerable and fearful.  It is a form of “social shaming” that aims to instil fear and insecurity thus contributing to maintaining and reinforcing gender hierarchy and patriarchy in both the private and public space. 

Target groups are very diverse: Every woman and girl is a potential target for online and offline sexist hate speech.  Women in the world of media and politics, women human rights defenders, or women challenging the domination of gender stereotypes in the world of gaming are targets. Gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religious or other belief, disability, language, age, class or other factors can also be used as grounds for discrimination and make a woman or a girl a target and potential victim.

Sexist hate speech undermines freedom of speech, freedom of choice, the right to pursue career choices, the right to live free from violence and abuse. Consequences sometimes can be devastating leaving deep, life-long psychological, emotional and/or physical scars or in the most extreme cases, leading to loss of life.

Despite the significance of the offences and despite the gravity of the consequences, somehow, sexist hate speech is not taken seriously. It is often considered less severe than other forms of hate speech. Perpetrators of sexist hate speech play down the seriousness of their actions. This leads to legitimising sexist hate speech and its grave consequences on victims.

The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence – in short, the Istanbul Convention – proposes an integrated response to these human rights violations affecting millions of women in Europe. The Convention includes measures to eradicate gender stereotypes as well as behaviours, traditions and practices which contribute to inequality. It also requests states to criminalise forms of violence that relate to sexist hate speech.

Dear participants,

Beyond the work on standards and the monitoring of their compliance by member States, the Council of Europe deploys important efforts to address hate speech through its intergovernmental work in the fields of education, media and youth. Through the No Hate Speech movement, the Council of Europe is mobilising people (in particular young people) to counter hate speech and promote human rights education. Because this is an issue that concerns us all.

I therefore call upon all of you to join the No Hate Speech Movement. There is far too much hatred poisoning our life and threatening our values. Let’s put our heart, instead. And let’s show that this heart is beating louder and louder to carry and spread the values we share!