Human rights defenders stand guard over freedom of speech

Human rights defenders are more on guard of freedom of speech than journalists.

As reported by Iryna Bekeshkina, Chairman of the Board of the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, on July 6 at the international conference “Human Rights in Ukraine: The Starting Point”.

Sociologists asked the professional groups two questions, do they think that in some cases a certain censorship is required? And whether it is possible to limit freedom of speech for reasons of morality.

16% of human rights defenders, 29% of journalists and 58.3% of judges admit the need for limited censorship. And 10.7% of human rights defenders, 31% of journalists and 55.6% of judges are convinced that freedom of speech can be limited for reasons of morality.

Andriy Kulikov, Chairman of the Board of the Hromadske Radio (Public Radio), calls the results of the poll alarming.

“But it is also disturbing that we still do not have an agreed concept of censorship, which would be perceived by the majority not only of the journalistic guild, but also of society. Moreover, editorial policy, censorship and self-censorship are confused (sometimes deliberately). Journalists, who simply carefully check facts and circumstances, are often branded as prone to self-censorship. But behind appeals to restrict freedom of speech, taking into account the war or for reasons of, there is an attempt to distract the journalistic community and the audience from subjects, which are not beneficial for those who are in power”, – as noted radio-journalist Andriy Kulikov.

Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Ukrainian Sociology Service company interviewed, in particular, 180 judges, 206 police officers, 100 journalists and 103 human rights defenders. Surveys of professional groups represent trends and assessments of representatives of these target groups. The interviews took place within the framework of a sociological survey of “Human Rights in Ukraine”, commissioned by the United Nations Development Program in Ukraine in cooperation with the NGO Human Rights Information Centre and the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

Mykola Mirnyj, journalist of the Human Rights Information Centre for Detector Media