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Hate Speech and the European Court of Human Rights

Hate Speech and the European Court of Human Rights

Author: Natalie Alkiviadou
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781032909240
Published In: July 2025
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Description
Contents

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This book argues that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) should reconsider its approach to hate speech cases and develop a robust protection of freedom of expression as set out in the benchmark case of Handyside v. the United Kingdom. In that case, the ECtHR determined that Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), safeguarding the right to freedom of expression, extends protection not only to opinions which are well received but also to those deemed offensive, shocking, or disturbing. However, subsequent rulings by the Court have generated a significant amount of contradictory case law. Against this backdrop, this book provides an analysis of hate speech case-law before the ECtHR and the now obsolete European Commission on Human Rights.

Through a jurisprudential analysis, it is argued that these institutions have adopted an overly restrictive approach to hate speech, which fails to provide adequate protection of the right to freedom of expression. It also demonstrates that there are stark inconsistencies when it comes to the treatment of some forms of ‘hate speech’ versus others. The study further contends that, in reaching its decisions on hate speech cases, the Court disregards empirical evidence on matters related to free speech restrictions. Viewing the ECHR as a ‘living instrument’ the book places this analysis within the current state of affairs vis-à-vis the handling of hate speech, particularly online, by European countries, the European Union itself and social media platforms, actions which the author argues are contributing to a free speech demise.

The book will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the area of Law, Political Science, European Studies and Sociology.

Introduction

1. Hate Speech: Definitional and Conceptual Framework

2. The Effects of Hate Speech and How Best to Deal with Them

3. The Council of Europe

4.. Hate Speech Jurisprudence: Protecting Protected Characteristics before the European Court of Human Rights

5. Hate Speech Jurisprudence: Dealing with Totalitarianism, Genocide Denial and Violence before the European Court of Human Rights

Conclusion