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 Welcome to the Oxford Human Rights Hub Blog!

Promoting dialogue between human rights researchers, practitioners and policy-makers from around the world.

Original contributions on recent human rights law developments across the globe, including case law, current litigation, legislation, policy-making and activism are welcome.

To contribute, read our guidelines or contact our editorial team: oxfordhumanrightshub@law.ox.ac.uk

10766 OxHRH Infographic

The Great Balancing Act: Countering Online Hate Speech While Protecting Freedom of Expression

Christina Moreno 7th August 2017

German lawmakers have recently passed a controversial law, ‘Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz’ (Network Enforcement Act or NetzDG), which, in part, aims to counter online hate speech. Under the Act, social media companies operating in Germany are required to remove ‘clearly illegal’ content within 24 hours or risk fines of up to €50 million ($57 million). In not-so-clear cases, […]

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Pihl v Sweden: the ECtHR’s Unhelpful Preoccupation with Hate Speech

Claire Overman and Andrew Wheelhouse 27th April 2017

On 9 March 2017, the Third Section of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) declared inadmissible a complaint by the applicant, Mr Pihl, that his right to respect for his private life had been violated.  He had complained to the ECtHR that Swedish legislation preventing him from holding a non-for-profit association responsible for a […]

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Courts and contempt powers in India: The case of Jolly LLB-2

Vrinda Bhandari 4th April 2017

Although the Legislature and the Executive are the subject of regular political satire in India, last month the courts showed that contempt powers can be used to create a hitherto-unknown zone of immunity around the judiciary and legal profession in India. The case of Jolly LLB-2 The case involved the movie “Jolly LLB-2”. Here, a […]

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