Page 43 - مجلة الدراسات القضائية

certain legitimate constraints, such
as prisoners, continue to enjoy their
rights to manifest their religion or be-
Iief to the fullest extent compatible
with the specific nature of the con-
strain t.(')
Human rights are'universal, in-
divisible and interdependent and
interrelated';(z) the manifestation of
one's religion is also a form of expres-
sion. Freedom of expression can also
be limited for legitimate reasons, as
stated in Article 19 of the ICCPR:
The exercise of the rights provided
for in paragraph 2 of this article car-
ries with it special duties and respon-
sibilities. It may therefore be subject
to certain restrictions, but these shal!
only be such as are provided by law
and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputa-
tions of others;
(b) For the protection of national
security or of public order (ordre
public), or of public health or
morals.
Additionally, Article 20 prohibits
incitement of hatred against others
because of their religion, and Article
27 protects members of ethnic, re-
1- !bid, paragraph 8
2- Vienna Declaration and Programme of
Action, UN Doc A/CONF.15724l (Part l),
ch Ill, s l, para 5.
ligious, or Iinguistic minorities from
being denied the enjoyment of their
own culture.
While international organizations
may provide guidance on how these
rights and their restrictions should
be interpreted and applied, States
enshrine in law their own under-
standings of these rights. For exam-
ple, according to the Human Rights
Committee Ceneral Comment No. 34
(2011),"when a State party imposes
restrictions on the exercise of free-
dom of expression, these may not put
in jeopardy the right itself."(3) Mogen
Schmidt, the then-Deputy Assistant
Director-Ceneral, Communication
and lnformation Sector of UNESCO,
defined the relationship between
freedom of religion and freedom of
expression:
restrictions m ust be form ulated
in a way that makes clear that its
sole purpose is to protect individuals
holding specific beliefs or opinions,
rather than to protect belief systems
from criticism. The right to freedom
of expression implies that it should be
possible to scruti nize, openly debate,
and criticize, even harshly and unrea-
3- UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR
Ceneral Comment I\0. 34: Article l9 (Freedoms
of Opinion and E xpression), paragraph
21,, 1,2 September 2011, CCPR /C/
GC/34, available at: https:/ /www.
re fivorld .org/ docid/ 4ed3 4b5 62.html
42
Dr. Jinan Bastaki