The United Nations committee developing an expanded interpretation of Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights will soon publish the results of its deliberations, according to a U.N. official.
The Human Rights Committee met March 23-25, and the official said it discussed up to paragraph 25 of the proposed Draft General Comment No. 34, which provides a detailed examination of the scope and implications of Article 19.
They “hopefully will finish it and adopt it at the next session,” the official said, indicating that the new draft will be put on the website during the week of April 4.
Right to information experts have recommended that the committee got further with the draft General Comment, which replace General Comment No. 10, adopted by the committee in 1983. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
The London-based group, ARTICLE 19, called the draft “a progressive interpretation of the right to freedom of expression,” but also criticized it in its comments.
An analysis by the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) notes that the 1983 General Comment “is not only outdated but, being only a few paragraphs long, it fails to address man important freedom of expression issues.
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