The Court decided against the Austrian government, in a case which challenged the Austrian government's broadcasting monopoly 3. In 1993 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that states may not prohibit private radio or television stations from functioning. This applies to printed media - newspapers, magazines, etc. It is now clearly established in international law that states must allow all types of media to operate and they must permit media enterprises to be founded by private persons or groups of persons. From this we can talk about a right to media freedom which all governments must respect. The right to expression and information through any media 2 is a right which belongs to all persons, including members of any minority group within any state or society. In order to inform those wishing to use these mechanisms, this article will first examine the right to media freedom in general and then focus on the particular rights of minorities with respect to the mass media. There are now, however, increased possibilities to use these new European mechanisms to defend and promote minority rights. New monitoring mechanisms introduced under the Framework Convention and the Charter for Minority Languages are just beginning to function. Pertinent legal standards are still developing. The rights of minority groups to freedom of expression and information, to media freedom, are still in a relatively early phase of evolution. In the European context in particular, the rights of expression of minority groups have been elaborated in subsequent treaties, notably the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. They do nevertheless recognize language rights and the right not be discriminated against. However, the international instruments weigh heavily in favour of individual rights over group rights. The same that is true for any individual is true for minority groups: to have an identity means to be able to express that identity through the medium of one's choice. It is these two latter documents which governments sign and pledge to uphold the rights contained therein. This in turn led to Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The right to freedom of speech was elaborated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as cited above. In the preamble to the Declaration we find enumerated four rights of particular importance: "freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want". When the United Nations developed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, it stressed the importance of freedom of expression. Our identities, in significant part, arise from having the right to express our ideas and opinions, and to be able to do so in the language of our choice and by means of the form of expression which we choose - to be able to communicate this information to others by the medium of our choice. įor the individual to be an individual, to be a unique human being with dignity and with rights and freedoms, the right to freedom of expression is an essential right. Minorities and media freedom under international lawĮveryone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
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