Annually, on May, 3, the world public celebrates the World Press Freedom Day that gives a food for thought over the observance of this right in Ukraine. The issue of the censorship and freedom of speech, press and information in Ukraine comes more and more into the notice of mass-media and public.
Freedom of speech is one of the key concepts of the democratic society proclaimed both by the national (The Constitution of Ukraine, Article 34) and international legislation (The European Convention on Human Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
Particularly, the Article 10 of the Convention guarantees: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”. It should be noted that the interpretation of the right on free expression in regards to the freedom of press has carried out considerable progress due to the practice of the European Court on human rights. According to the court decisions for the last few years the right on free expression and information in regard to the freedom of press applies also to the defense of the journalists’ sources of information.
Most world constitutions proclaiming the freedom of speech completely deny censorship (The Constitution of Ukraine, Article 15). Censorship is defined as the control of the state, organization or group of people over the public expression of ideas and creative work of the individual. As a rule, it is manifested in the limitation of the expression of certain ideas, regarding definite subjects or certain words. Censorship is often reasoned as attempts to stabilize society which the government control.
Finally, regarding the fact that in Ukraine the freedom of speech is guaranteed by the national and international legislation, it is obligatory to create the effective mechanism of counteraction to the phenomenon of censorship in Ukraine favouring the realization of the right on the freedom of speech at any authorities and opposition and preventing it from becoming the cause for political speculations.
Kateryna Alandarenko
Vice-Chairman “All-Ukraine Public Organization
« Human Rights Organization «Common Goal»
Head of the Youth and Cultural Exchanges Department
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