Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction.

How to protect my freedom of speech ?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances

Slovenia became the 29th member State of the Council of Europe on 14 May 1993

who is members of european court of human rights in Slovenia?

Action of the Council of Europe in Slovenia

Prevention of tortureThe European Committee for the prevention of torture visits places of detention (for juvenile or immigration detainees, police stations, psychiatric hospitals) in order to assess how persons deprived of their liberty are treated.

Fight against racismThe European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) is an independent monitoring body which provides member States with concrete and practical advice on how to tackle problems of racism and intolerance in their country.

Protection of social rightsThe European Social Charter is a Council of Europe treaty which guarantees social and economic human rights. It was adopted in 1961 and revised in 1996. The European Committee of Social Rights rules on the conformity of the situation in States with the European Social Charter, the 1988 Additional Protocol and the Revised European Social Charter.

Protection of minoritiesThe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities provides for a monitoring system to evaluate how the treaty is implemented in State Parties. An advisory Committee adopts recommendations to improve minority protection.

Fight against corruptionThe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) monitors member states' compliance with the Council of Europe anti-corruption standards with the objective to improve the capacity of its members to fight corruption.

Fight against money launderingMONEYVAL Committee of expertsThe committee evaluates the effectiveness of domestic measures to counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism in Council of Europe member states which are not members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Council of Europe member states which are members of MONEYVAL but subsequently become members of the FATF can elect to retain full membership of MONEYVAL. Applicant states for membership and other non-member states which are not members of the FATF may apply to join the terms of reference under certain conditions.

Fight against trafficking in human beingsThe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) is responsible for monitoring implementation of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by the Parties. It regularly publishes evaluation reports.

How to recognize and respond to hate speech?

The notion of hate speech can often be encountered in public speaking, especially in recent years when we have indeed been able to witness the occurrence of hate speech in the public space to a relatively greater extent than in previous years.

The meaning of using the term 'hate speech', whichever word is more specific, is to designate that type of speech in a public space that harms the human rights of different groups of people and contributes to their exclusion and discrimination. While there are a number of different internationally recognized definitions of hate speech, they share three key elements of the definition. These are the following:

Hate speech is a public speech, delivered in a public space or spread to public space through media, online platforms or social networks.

Hate speech is a speech that aims to attack, denigrate, devalue, dehumanize, demonize, disenfranchise, intimidate or harass a person or group of people, and is most often a minority group member or community member or other group because of their position of being discriminated against or marginalized.

A person or group of people exposed to hate speech must be identified by a so-called a protected characteristic that made her hate speech. A list of these protected characteristics in the context of Croatian legislation is provided by Article 1 of the Anti-Discrimination Act (Official Gazette 85/08, 112/12), which includes the following characteristics:

 race or ethnicity or skin color, gender, language, religion, political or other beliefs, national or social background, wealth, union membership, education, social status, marital or family status, age, health status, disability, genetic heritage, gender identity, expression or sexual orientation.

Hate speech can sometimes be heard saying that it is not problematic, but that it is just another form of freedom of expression. However, this reasoning is not substantiated - namely, hate speech is one of the few forms of speech that is not protected by the principle of freedom of expression and should not be tolerated in public space.

Moreover, hate speech in the public space should be actively suppressed by punishing those who disseminate it, but also by educating media producers and media audiences, as well as by cooperation between regulatory bodies, civil society organizations, media publishers and content moderators

How to Identify and Report Hate Speech on Social Media

Hate speech is sort of an amorphous concept. As Susan Benesch, founder and director of the Dangerous Speech Project, put it in an email, “There is no consensus definition for hate speech. For that reason—and also because any definition of hate speech is highly context-dependent—there’s no consistent or reliable way of identifying it online.”

Still, hate speech “often looks like attacks on people for their perceived race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation,” says Evan Feeney, the Media, Democracy and Economic Justice Campaign Director for civil rights advocacy group Color of Change. “Anything that attacks someone for these immutable characteristics.

There are varying degrees of hate speech, and and rhetoric can escalate from prejudiced language to threats of violence. As Zahra Billoo, the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), put it: “‘I hate all Muslims’ is one kind of hate speech. ‘I hate all Muslims and want to kill them’ is an escalation.” When there’s a specific threat against a specific person, Billoo says, the stakes amplify. “‘I hate Zahra and am going to her house and will wait for her outside and beat her up with an axe’ is beyond hate speech. It’s a threat,” she said. Note that though you might be able to get Twitter or Facebook to block a user who says they “want to kill” a group of people without including any specifications, typically law enforcement will not address that kind of general threat.

Other examples of hate speech, especially on social media, include ethnic slurs, “coded” language (some anti-Semitic groups, for instance, use an (((echo))) symbol around Jewish users’ or groups’ last names) and violent imagery. “Our members report people sharing memes and photos from the Jim Crow era of black folks being lynched,” Feeney said. “They’re often used to intimidate people, even though there is no verbal statement. It’s still a clear threat to someone, to dig up historical terror.”