How the Recent UN Human Rights Council Resolution on Freedom of Speech Exemplifies the Dangers of Authoritarian Regimes' Influence over International Human Rights Law

by Ilya Somin
The Volokh Conspiracy
November 1, 2009

https://www.legal-project.org/548/how-the-recent-un-human-rights-council-resolution

Excerpt:

The recent UN Human Rights Council Resolution endorsed by the Obama Administration exemplifies a key weakness of international human rights law that John McGinnis and I have focused on in our academic work (e.g. here and here): the heavy influence of repressive authoritarian governments over its content. In this case, the resolution was initially promoted primarily by authoritarian Islamic governments who hoped that it would legitimize efforts to suppress "anti-Muslim" speech. The Obama Administration supported the resolution, I would guess, primarily in order to improve the US image with those governments and their traditionalistic Muslim and Islamist sympathizers.

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