20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall
Google / Reporters without Borders
Breaking Borders

Check against delivery

Dear friends,

In preparing for this brief speech on such a fundamental topic as the freedom of speech in the Internet era, I thought of George Bernard Shaw, who once told a person that he had 15 minutes for his speech. When the man complained about how on earth he could tell the audience everything he knew in only 15 minutes, Shaw replied: "I advise you to speak very slowly."

Representing the oldest European institution, I'll take you through our history of human rights, and address some of the great opportunities but also some of the demanding challenges which we are facing regarding the internet revolution.

All within 15 minutes!

Twenty years ago, here in Berlin, the world changed. The concrete symbol of Europe's ideological divide finally came down. The wall was gone. Freedom was won.

Without doubt, the history of Europe is the history of darkness, war and oppression. But it is also a history of enlightenment, humanism, culture and civilisation.

In 1948, Winston Churchill spoke of European unity with passion and conviction. In the centre of our movement, he said, stands the idea of a Charter of Human Rights, guarded by freedom and sustained by law. He spoke about the end of darkness, and of a new era of human dignity.

A year later his idea gave birth to the Council of Europe.

Another year on, the Council of Europe gave birth to the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Council of Europe was the first political organisation in Europe to provide representatives of governments and parliaments with the opportunity to work together to advance human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

As they do today.

It became an organisation where states could develop common legal standards and common approaches to common challenges faced by their societies.

As they do today.

And it became an organisation where states are accountable for their compliance with common values, principles and standards.
An organisation which codified human rights and fundamental freedoms into a legally-binding international charter allowing individuals to seek protection against violations of these rights before an international court, namely the European Court of Human Rights.

The Court has been and continues to be the most important tool of the Council of Europe.

But let me be clear, Europe did not invent human rights. It is the other way around. Human rights, as enshrined in the European Convention on Human rights, invented the Europe we know today. Europe has become a place where people build their lives, instead of losing their lives. That is the true legacy of the Convention on Human Rights.

You may ask if there is any longer a need for the Council of Europe today? I say yes.

Today, the core mission of the Council of Europe remains as relevant as ever: to protect and promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Freedom of expression and information stands at the crossroads of these three fundamental values. Without this human right there can be no democracy and no effective defence of the rule of law.

Online as well as offline.

One of the principal characteristics of democracy is the possibility which it offers to resolve a country's problems through dialogue, without recourse to violence, even when these problems are irksome. Democracy thrives on freedom of expression.

It is of the essence of democracy to allow diverse political programmes to be proposed and debated, even those which call into question the way a State is currently organised, provided that they do not harm democracy itself.

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the immense corpus of case-law is the basis for all Council of Europe work in the media field, whether we prepare treaties such as the Convention on Transfrontier Television or other European legal texts, give legal advice to our member states on draft legislation, or train media professionals.

More recently, Article 10 has underpinned our development of a new notion of media, one which explores the responsibilities of media-like mass communication services and one which promotes the public service value of the Internet.

With 60 years of experience, and over 400 Court judgments on Article 10, the Council of Europe has an irreplaceable role in protecting and promoting freedom of expression in Europe.

Let me point to three aspects of our work which are particularly important.

One, in our legal standards, starting with the European Convention on Human Rights, freedom of expression provides for a legal guarantee which means that all 47 governments have a duty to protect this right and are legally accountable for their conduct in this respect.

Two, the protection of human rights, including the freedom of expression is people-centred because it allows individuals, after exhausting domestic remedies, to petition a supra-national organ, the European Court of Human Rights. For the Court, freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society and one of the basic conditions for its progress and for each individual's self-fulfilment.

Three, the freedom of expression is well defined by the clear requirements which any restrictions of this right must meet. Article 10 includes a three-step test which says that any restriction must be prescribed by law, pursue a legitimate aim, and must be necessary in a democratic society.

As opposed to what some people - and some governments – think human rights and fundamental freedoms are not an idealistic luxury which only affluent societies can afford.

To the contrary, they are a precondition not only for political freedom, but also for stability and economic prosperity.
The communist system collapsed and the Berlin wall came down because the authorities behind the Wall did not tolerate any freedom of expression. Without this freedom, there is no creativity, no new knowledge, no new ideas and no good solutions.

Freedom of expresion is a precondition for innovation which is imperative in a changing technological landscape.

The Internet was developed by innovative people and Internet is helping the world to develop. Either you understand it, or you disappear.

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights says that everyone has the right to hold opinions and to receive and impart information without interference by public authorities and regardless of frontiers.

The internet has not changed this fundamental principle, but it has completely changed the environment in which it applies.

But the rise of a united democratic Europe tells the story of continously expanding the right to freedom, while we at the same time have understood that no freedom can be absolute.

The Internet, together with tools like Google and YouTube, has revolutionised freedom of expression in ways nobody could have dreamed – connecting people across boundaries of time, distance, culture, and experience.

Online we share ideas, we build knowledge and understanding, we challenge conventional wisdom, and we create networks for positive change.

The Internet is not a dangerous place by its very nature. It is a space of enormous opportunity and freedom. But the Internet is also challenging the very exercise of this freedom.

The Internet is about transparency and participation. But it must also be about responsibility.

But let me ask you, who is to decide the necessary regulations? You, me, our government? And how can anything be decided concerning a space nobody owns, but everybody joins?

As a response to these challenges, the Council of Europe has been engaged in close co-operation with governments, civil society, business community and others. The aim is to develop Europe wide and global standards, tools and benchmarks to defend and extend the freedom of expression and information, free media and freedom of thought and belief.

Over the years, the Council of Europe has produced more than 80 recommendations on how to defend and to extend the freedom of expression. With the case law of the European Court on Human Rights, we now have an arsenal of legal standards and policy recommendations on how to protect the freedom of expression offline as well as online.

The protection of human rights in general, and the protection of the freedom of expression and information in cyberspace is an exercise with a moving target. Basic principles do not change, but circumstances do, all the time.

The list of challenges is long and getting longer every day. We must continuously work to protect our right to privacy online so that there is no "chilling effect" on our freedom of expression and information.

Let me give you an example: Children have the right to a childhood. But what about the traces they leave on the Internet during their childhood? Shouldn't they be removed so that children are not prejudiced in later life as young adults, when for example seeking higher education and job opportunities?

The Internet simply must learn how to forget. This should be a right.

In the Council of Europe we are determined to meet these challenges, and protect all human rights online as we do offline.

There is no footnote in the European Convention on Human Rights which says that it does not apply in cyberspace.

Dear friends, Winston Churchill said that "At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into the little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper".

By the end of today, more than 1.6 billion men and women world wide will have been on the Internet. More than 400 million of them will have been Europeans.

I ask for your support and co-operation so that every little man and woman online can be a tribute to democracy.

Going online – Breaking borders.

Thank you for your attention.