27 November

Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Freedom of Expression and Online Speech

8:00am-10:00am ET (New York); 10:00am-12:00pm BRT (São Paulo)

Hosted by the Escola Paulista da Magistratura (São Paulo School of Judges)

in cooperation with Columbia Global Freedom of Expression

**REGISTER HERE* (see instructions below)**

The event will be in Spanish and Portuguese simultaneous interpretation.

Due to the massive use of the internet as a vehicle for the exercise of freedom of expression, resulting in a large number of judicial processes on it in Brazil, and the actual difficulty in implementing effective protection of freedom of expression and at the same time guaranteeing safeguard to other rights that have the same level of constitutional and legal protection, the course objective is to study the current academic and judicial trends on the mentioned subject, nationally and internationally, to assist legal operators in the task of solving the practical problems that have emerged.

The Inter-American Human Rights System (“IAHRS”) operates at a regional level within the framework of the Organization of American States (“OAS”), and it aims to promote and protect human rights in the Americas, including freedom of expression. Its main organs are the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

The Court exercises both a contentious and advisory jurisdiction. The IACHR has two main functions, the monitoring, promotion, and cooperation on human rights and the assessment of individual petitions that may be brought to the Court.

Considering the IACHR has the duty to monitor the respect for human rights in the Americas and that Brazil is directly submitted to the jurisdiction of the IACtHR, the analysis of Regional legal background, and jurisprudence on freedom of expression is essential to law operators in the task of dealing with problems involving this and other rights.

Director of the UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Expression at the Universidad de Los Andes and Former Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Catalina Botero Marino and Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Pedro Vaca will discuss the ways in which freedom of expression is safeguarded by Regional legal norms and the task of the IACHR in preserving it. Speakers will elaborate on IACtHR jurisprudence, by highlighting specific cases relating to online speech and as prior censorship, content regulation, expression of public officials, hate speech and disinformation.

Moderator:

Dr. Flávia Cristina Piovesan, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo

Speakers:

Catalina Botero Marino, Director of the UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Expression at the Universidad de Los Andes and Former Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Dr. Pedro Vaca, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

This webinar was made possible with support of UNESCO Multi-Donor Programme on Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists (MDP)

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Moderator: Dr. Flávia Cristina Piovesan, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo

Flavia Piovesan is a professor of Constitutional Law and Human Rights at the Catholic University of São Paulo and in the Human Rights post-graduate programs of the Catholic University of São Paulo and the Catholic University of Paraná. She also teaches at the PhD Program (intensive mode) of the University of Buenos Aires. She is also Professor at the Academy on Human Rights at the American University Washington College of Law (Washington, DC). She holds a masters and a PhD in Constitutional Law from the Catholic University of São Paulo. She was a visiting fellow of the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School in 1995. She returned to the program in 2000 and 2002. In 2005 she was a human rights visiting fellow at the Centre for Brazilian Studies, University of Oxford. In 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016 and 2017 she was a visiting fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Heidelberg, Germany). From 2009 to 2014, she was a Humboldt Foundation Georg Forster Research Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. She was a member of the UN High Level Task Force on the implementation of the right to development and is a member of OAS Working Group for monitoring the San Salvador Protocol on social, economic and cultural rights. She is Commissioner, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States (2018-2021).

Catalina Botero Marino, Director of the UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Expression at the Universidad de Los Andes and Former Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Catalina Botero Marino is the former consulting director of Global Freedom of Expression from April 2021 – June 2023. She is a lawyer, director of the UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Expression at the Universidad de Los Andes, co-chair of the Oversight Board of Facebook and Instagram, member of the external transparency panel of the Inter-American Development Bank, commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists and member of the Advisory Board of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute. She is an adjunct professor at American University’s Human Rights Academy. She was Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the OAS, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Universidad de Los Andes, and an Associate Judge of the Constitutional Court and of the Council of State in Colombia.

Dr. Pedro Vaca, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Pedro Vaca Villarreal is the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) since October 6th, 2020. He is a Colombian lawyer from Universidad Nacional of Colombia. He has a Master’s degree in Law and a Specialization in Constitutional Law, with more than 12 years of professional experience in the field of human rights. He has litigated on behalf of victims of serious violations of freedom of expression. From 2013 to 2020, he served as Executive Director of the Foundation for Freedom of the Press (FLIP) in Colombia. He has extensive experience in organizational management, inter-sectoral dialogue, and articulation of teams and networks. He currently is also a professor for the Master’s Program in Journalism at Universidad de los Andes. He has led regional processes in defense of freedom of expression from positions of responsibility. He was a member of the Advisory Network of the Media Freedom Coalition and of the Global Council of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX). Was part of the UNESCO team for the training of judges in Bolivia, Mexico and Colombia. He was a consultant to Freedom House for the Colombia chapter of the global report on internet freedom and co-founded the Presunto Podcast.