Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian Committee

Draft Resolution 1.2

Signatories: China, UK, Russia, France, Turkey, Belarus, PLO, Italy, Mexico, Pakistan,
Argentina, UAE, Germany, Israel, ST Vincent,

Topic: The Conflict Between Freedom of Speech, Expression and Media Censorship in the 21st
Century

Recognizes freedom of expression to be a fundamental human right as per Article 18 and 19 of

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that everyone shall have the right to hold opinions
without interference,

Bearing in mind that everyone has the right to hold opinions and therefore with some limitations
on the freedom of thought, conscience or on the freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief of
one’s choice can be permitted,

Noting with approval Article 18 (3) of the ICCPR that freedom to manifest one's religion or
beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to
protect public safety, order, health, religion or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of
others,

Realizing no one shall be subject to coercion which would impair their freedom or force them to
adopt a religion or belief against their choice

Recalls Article 19 (3) of the ICCPR which permits restrictions on the right of freedom of
expression only for the purpose of respect of the rights or reputation of others and for the
protection of national security or public order or of public health or morals,
Further recalls that such restrictions can only be provided by legislative authorities,

Emphasizing on the Article 20 (1) of the ICCPR that no manifestation of religion or belief may
amount to propaganda for war which shall be prohibited by law,

Noting with satisfaction Article 20 (2) of the ICCPR that freedom of expression is limited to any
advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination,
hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law,

Having studied General Comment 11, State parties are under obligation to enact laws to prohibit
such acts as mentioned in Article 20 of the ICCPR,

Aware that human right conventions that are territorially bound such as the ICCPR do not apply
to nor by nature are applicable to areas beyond a state’s national territory,

Approving of redefining the definition of freedom of speech to include the limitations,

Declaring hate speech is abusive or threatening speech in writing that expresses a prejudice
against a particular group in particular on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, color,
gender or sexual orientation,

Believing harmful speech that constitutes a crime to be criminalized under freedom of speech
under the Rabat Plan of Action,

Recognizing that in the age of social media freedom of speech can be viewed as permission to
spread damaging misinformation and promote hate and intolerance,
Approving restrictions of digital media over fraudulent speech, misinformation, child
pornography, harassment, death and rape threats, commercial speech such as advertising,
copyright or patent rights, and derogatory remarks about religions such as blasphemy,

Recalling that states used information take down orders and content filtering on information
regarding the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent spread of misinformation and to stop criticism of
government policies,

Taking into account that a key factor causing a lack of freedom of speech throughout
the globe but of a higher effect in the developing world is discrimination of people of lower
socio-economic status,

Aware of the fact that the misuse of censorship by governments, and other state authorities, must
be prohibited,

Having Considered the effect that conflict has on the impediment of freedom of speech,

Deeply Concerned that gender based inequality in regards to a lack of freedom of speech is much
higher as compared to other identity factors,

Deeply Conscious that journalists and reporters, are assaulted and harassed, as well as arrested,
detained, and prosecuted through the enactment of vague laws that suppress their voice in
regards to critique or contradiction to the state authorities view,

1) Emphasizes the importance of the RMI (response to misinformation) framework:

a) Response to this issue should be grounded in International Human Rights
including the principles of lawfulness, legitimacy, necessity and proportion,
b) These international laws will create an idea of fear which leads to self censorship;

2) Commends the use of the DRI framework that calls for the protection of journalists by:
a) D - The duty for political leaders to publically, unequivocally and systematically
condemn the attacks against journalists,
b) R - To properly resource national protection mechanisms,
 c) I - To create a special investigative body and prosecutorial units for crimes against
journalists, to end impunity sharing ensuring also independence of these
investigations without bios so the criminal masterminds are faced with adequate
prosecution;

3) Recommends the EI framework in accordance to the FFA framework that stands for
equality in the workplaces and society:
a) Emphasizing the importance of an employment matrix that will provide equal
workplace opportunity for women, this matrix will be in accordance with ECOSOC
under the mandate of UNCSW:
i) This will give woman more power and importance within a society
lowering the chance of them receiving gender based censorship,
b) Implementing harsher laws under the mandate of the ICJ and in accordance to
the rome statute these harsher laws will be against the discrimination seen in
society by minorities like black people and also against the national laws that
countries have against referendums and protests;

4) Further recommends the committee to adopt the OIE Framework to get rid of poverty
as it is a cause of lack of freedom of speech under the following guidelines;
a) O- Objective of the fund is to ensure:
i) Effective learning environments to existing education systems,
ii) Development of schools,
b) I- Implement it through:
i) A joint fund set-up under the mandate of UNESCO in accordance with
ECOSOC with countries willing to donate,
c) E- Ensure correct utilization of funds and resources by setting up a UN regulatory
body,
i) Annual goals to be set up through the body that will be under the mandate of
UN,
ii) Annual reports by the countries to be sent to the UN body who will analyze
them,
iii) Complete transparency policy with the public by publishing the report of the
progress after analyzing to ensure no foul play;

6) Draws Attention towards the adoption of the EHP framework which will operate to
suggest guidelines for the eradication of poverty, a key factor in a lowered level of free
speech globally:
a) E- Education,
i) Volunteer teachers and individuals should be allowed and
encouraged to teach children in countries with a low literacy rate,
ii) Teachers and individuals should be brought in from the United
Nations Volunteers (UNV),
 iii) Female education should be emphasized with building
gender-segregated schools in place with a more conservative environment;
b) H-Health;
i) Healthcare centers and clinics should be established in towns and villages
specifically targeting far-flung and rural settlements of the third world countries;
ii) Volunteer doctors and healthcare paramedics be deployed in those centers to treat
people free-of-cost;
iii) Clean drinking water supply be provided to every town in the following ways;
1) wells should be dug with the help of locals also providing them with
knowledge of how to build and maintain wells;
2) Desalination plants be built after mutual agreement with relatively
economically stable country;
c) P-Peace;
i) United Nations peace-keeping forces be deployed in conflict and terrorism
affected countries, including but not limited to countries such as; Afghanistan and Nigeria, to
ensure peace;
ii) Peace talks should be held between countries and extremist groups like the Boko
Haram and Al-Qaeda;
iii) United Nations should intervene to stop the on-going conflicts in Africa for the
smooth operations of teachers and healthcare professional volunteer;

7) Proposes the PSC (protection of State and Civilians) framework which will give the rights to
governments to remove false information from media:
a) Recommends the creation of a body in accordance to OHCHR which would be made
that would be the body (Central Committee of Media Censorship) through which
censorship laws would be passed on under the mandate of ICJ and the Rome Statute, this
will include all signatories and through this:
i) Countries having the instance wanting to censor something would have to get it
regulated and approved by this body,
ii) This would include the interests of the religious, political and social minorities
and to protect these minorities from any type of hate speech etc,
iii) CCMC(Central Committee of Media Censorship) will first check upon what the
government wants to censor which if is found suspicious of having
misinformation or any hate speech or anything which threatens the peace and
stability of a country and whether or not it needs to be censored
iv) If the board doesn't find the information misleading or against the government or
have any hate speech in it, then the government has no right to censor that website
1) This board will examine and censor websites which are found with
pornographic content, content which is against the government of
 countries and hate speech and which are racially and culturally
inappropriate;
b) Further protects the states secrets privilege according to the CCCR (Center for
Constitutional rights)

8) Recommends to adopt the OMR (Online Media Regulation) Framework under the following
guidelines;
a. Set-up of a regulatory body under the mandate of UNESCO that will;
i. Regulate online media and content;
ii. Will have representatives from countries willing to be a signatory to it;
iii. Will go through censored media to ensure that an individual's right to
freedom of expression is not being taken away;
iv. Requests to be sent to the body of censoring media and keeping in mind of
article 19 of the International Covenant and Civil Rights the body will
decide respectively whether to censor or not;
v. The regulatory body will have the power to call in any digital platform
service deemed not to be complying with its own policies or failing to
protect users;
vi. The regulatory body should be required to publish and consult on
enforcement guidelines and follow due process before directing a platform
to implement specific measures;
vii. The regulatory body will be expected to prioritise complaints and requests
that demonstrate importance and relevance;
b. The regulatory body to be funded;
i. By being accountable to the UNGA in the forms of bi-monthly reports of
expenditure and progress;
ii. Initially by ECOSOC;
iii. Further funding will be allocated from the signatories of this framework
from economic deals negotiated from respective governments;
c. Ensure efficient use of these funds by;
i. Making the regulatory body report and be accountable to SOCHUM to
keep the committee better informed of the findings and factual events
taking place;

9) Proposes the PRA initiative that suggests the regulations of state and private Internet
corporations regarding the censorship of content on social media along with funding
underdeveloped countries to promote freedom of speech:
 1. P: Privacy, States and private organizations shall be prohibited from unregulated and
unconsented surveillance or collection of data of individuals;
a. If it is a matter of public security or a national threat (as mentioned in the article
19 of the ICCPR), then the state governments should disclose the details of their
surveillance programs beforehand as well as clarify their intentions in regards to
the surveillance being carried out,
b. A UN watchdog committee shall be set up to oversee the following none of the
states or organizations are carrying out any unnecessary surveillance the reasons
and intentions for their surveillance are legitimate and
confirm with international human rights law;

R:Regulation;
states and private internet corporations shall not carry out unregulated
censorship or any censorship that violates the following:
a) an individual’s right to freedom of speech or expression:
b) an individual’s right to safety:
c) an individual’s right to life:
d) an individual’s right to information:
e) freedom of press:

states and private internet organizations shall not carry out censorship
that is biased towards a certain sex, race, ethnic or religious group:

in order to carry out the above mentioned statements, an international

body (the freedom board) should be set up that will oversee the entire
censorship process, the main priorities of the board are listed below,
a) the board shall have representatives from all nations as well as major
internet corporations,
b) all members of the board shall have the same voting rights in order
to avoid abuse of power,
c) the decisions made by the board shall not be offensive to any religious or cultural group,
i. this will be achieved by making separate laws for different regions, for example the decisions
passed for the middle eastern regions shall be made by keeping the Islamic values in sight;

The community guidelines of internet corporation’s especially social media

companies shall also be reviewed by the board in order to remove any rule
hindering the freedom of speech of individuals as per Article 19(2) of the
ICCPR which stipulates that the right to freedom of expression applies
regardless of frontiers and through any media of one’s choice
5. the states and corporations that fail to comply with the board shall be
subjugated to trade and travel sanctions

A:Access (to internet):

1. states shall not restrict internet usage in order to prevent individuals from
a) organizing,
b) expressing their opinions,
c) getting access to the global community,
d) using it as a medium for press;

states shall adopt policies and laws to provide affordable and equitable access to internet their
citizens:

Financial aid shall be provide to developing countries in order to provide

universal access to internet hence giving every person around the globe an
equal platform to speak and express themselves:

States shall be provided loans from the world bank for the implementation
of policies regarding the accessibility of the internet, however these loans are an added incentive
as most of the finances of this project will covered by the following countries:

1
11) Calls upon the committee to adopt the FNDC (Fake News Diffusion Control) Framework
presented by Palestine to combat misinformation;
a) Formation of a UN watchdog task force with the following objectives;
i) To regulate the reliability and validity of online news;
ii) Check sources of news and fact-checking websites;
iii) Initiate a learning program in which different courses are designed to spread civil
literacy related to fake news disasters;
b) This watchdog task force will be funded;
i) By a joint fund set-up under SOCHUM with countries willing to donate;