Council of Europe published freedom of speech handbook written by HFHR lawyer

The Council of Europe has published a guidebook for lawyers, entitled Protecting the right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights. A handbook for legal practitioners. The publication was written by Dominika Bychawska-Siniarska, a lawyer of the HFHR and Director of the Observatory of the Freedom of Media in Poland.

The publication presents basic guarantees and obligations of States under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights but also describes the types of speech that are not protected and presents admissible restrictions on the freedom of speech defined in the case law of the ECtHR. On the top of that, the Handbook includes information regarding the exercise of the freedom of expression by the media and via modern technologies and summarises the limitations of the freedom of speech resulting from the reputational protection afforded to public figures.

The Handbook may be used as a particular reference for everybody who wants to enhance their knowledge of the application of ECtHR standards in the areas of freedom of expression.

The publication is available here.