“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.” Freedom of access to information and freedom of expression is guaranteed under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human […]
Read moreIn the first of seven daily blogs in the run up to Human Rights Day, and to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, today’s post looks at Article 7: Freedom from Discrimination. Article 7 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights includes the statement that: ‘All are entitled to equal protection against […]
Read moreSince the invention of modern printing, newspapers, newssheets and pamphlets, and in the 20th century radio and television, have been the vehicles of free speech, open debate, and democracy. Editors and journalists have marked their times, popularising new ideas, shaping thinking, and uncovering wrong-doing. Every effort to censor or block news only serves to […]
Read moreIn its internal structures, IFLA deals with copyright and other legal matters and freedom of access to information and freedom of expression through different committees. This does not mean that the two issues are not connected, or of course that the committees work in isolation. Indeed, the two work together on ongoing policy issues, and […]
Read moreThe way people produce and access information has changed in the last decades. Internet platforms, for instance, make it possible for content – especially from new voices – to reach wide audiences. While some of the content shared might represent straightforward infringement, a big part of it consists of original, user generated content. Libraries, as […]
Read moreCopyright is regularly held up in public debates as both a barrier to, and a pre-condition of free speech. Given the emotive power of human rights arguments, as well as how readily they are used, it is worth exploring these claims. The answer, to both, is ‘not necessarily’. Foe? Taking the Universal Declaration of […]
Read moreIn the first part of this two-part series looking at the UN General Assembly’s Resolution on Culture and Sustainable Development, passed on 19 December, we looked at key overall takeaways from the text that could help libraries and others in our efforts to get culture recognised fully recognised and integrated into planning.
The second part looks back to the previous such Resolution, from 2021, in order to get a clearer idea of what has changed between the two. While many elements are simply copy and pasted from one text to the next, each revision does offer an opportunity to reflect new thinking and approaches. Through this, we can get an idea of how the discourse on culture is evolving over time.
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