Beware of the ICCPR when posting on social media or online

The ICCPR, is an agreement by all members of the United Nations, about a civilian's right to political opinion. This agreement puts in place multiple safeguards to ensure that citizens are not persecuted due to their political opinions or beliefs. Along with granting civilians their rights to freedom of expression, there are also some important restrictions that this covenant puts in place.


The first of these restrictions appear in Article 19, which states that free speech is only allowed as long as it -

  1. respects the rights or reputations of others, 
  2. protects national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals. 

Article 20 explicitly prohibits -

  1. any propaganda for war
  2. advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.

If any of your social media posts contains any of the above, you are liable for arrest and prosecution by law enforcement. As a matter of fact, the ICCPR has been cited in several arrests in recent time of people who have made inappropriate social media posts.

Therefore, before you post anything online or on social media, ask yourself, whether your message contains any of the above. If it does, remove it immediately. 

Young adults and teenagers are extremely prone to outbursts on social media, and therefore you should educate them about the restrictions in the ICCPR and advise them that political discussions on social media are best avoided.

You can read the text of the covenant here.

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1 comments:

  1. Nice post! This is a very nice blog that I will definitively come back to more times this year! Thanks for informative post. Social media

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