International and Comparative Journalism Law

International Law

International law is that which governs relationships among nations. It embraces not only nations but also international organizations, multinational corporations, nongovernmental organizations, and even individuals (including those who invoke their human rights or, conversely, commit war crimes). While international law has a long history, it became increasingly important in the twentieth century. Freedom of speech and press are but one aspect of such law.

There is no unified international legal system covering journalism. International law on journalistic practices derives from several sources of modern law under the governing statute of the International Court of Justice:

• International conventions, whether general or particular establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting states;
• International custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law;
• The general principles of law recognized by civilized nations; and
• Judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified legal authorities of various nations.

The United Nations provides the global framework of international law on human rights, which applies to freedom of speech and the press. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, guarantees everyone the right to freedom of opinion and expression that includes “freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and idea through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Freedom of expression under the Declaration, however, is not absolute. It can be restricted to protect others' rights and freedoms and to meet “the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.”

Nor is the Declaration legally binding in and of itself. It is primarily hortatory and aspirational. Still, it is cited by many international and national courts in their decisions on freedom of the press. In a 1991 access to information case, for example, the Constitutional Court of South Korea, drawing partly upon the Declaration, stated that the public's right to know is “naturally included in the freedom of expression.”

In 1976, the Declaration was made legally binding by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a supranational treaty. States that have ratified the ICCPR must adhere to its human rights provisions. The freedom of expression under the ICCPR is almost identical to that under the Declaration. In ruling on a possible conflict between the right of reply and freedom of the press, the Hungarian Constitutional Court in 2001 took into account the ICCPR's dictates, which allow restrictions on freedom of the press in order to protect an individual's reputation.

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