Motion for recommendation

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 572.

Racism and xenophobia in cyberspace

Presented by Mrs Zwerver and others

Council of Europe

Doc. 8886, 7 November 2000

1. Expressions of racism and xenophobia on the Internet face few obstacles. Racists from all over the world interact and exchange information relatively freely.

2. On the “net” anyone can find CDs containing racist songs for sale. Material appears on the Internet that in many countries would have been confiscated immediately had it appeared in shops.

3. In Council of Europe member states, the legal framework to combat racism and xenophobia is by no means perfect. More specifically the fight against racism and xenophobia on the Internet is an area where there is room for improvement.

4. The Council of Europe is currently finalising a draft Convention on cyber-crime, which will, amongst other objectives, aim at banning the distribution of child pornography via the Internet. On 10 October 2000, the Committee of Ministers requests the Parliamentary Assembly to deliver an opinion on this draft Convention.

5. The draft Convention does not address the issue of racism, xenophobia, hate speech and racial discrimination on the Internet.

6. Therefore the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers, in the draft Convention on cyber-crime, define as criminal acts the distribution of racist and xenophobic materials, hate speech and racial discrimination on the Internet.

(Signed)