More than words: freedom of speech and hate speech in the Inter-American Human Rights system

Abstract

The freedom of speech has an extremely wide scope. It namely preserves the free expression of ideas and opinions that others might find profoundly offensive and disturbing. Due to its radical nature, this freedom can either collide with other fundamental rights, such as the right to honor, to privacy, to oblivion or to religious freedom, or with certain rules that preserve the national security or the circulation of “hate speech”. These tensions crossing the freedom of speech are frequently expressed in judgments and declarations of the Interamerican Court of Human Rights. This work seeks to account for the different theoretical perspectives undermining the arguments presented by this Court regarding “hate speech”. As to be seen, different conceptions within a liberal framework coexist in the declarations issued by the Court and rest of bodies that comprise the Interamerican System of Human Rights, ranging from those that follow classic liberal principles to more egalitarian liberalism-oriented positions.