Monday, September 14, splendidly framed by the Chancellor’s Office (Palazzo della Cancelleria) of Rome, an international meeting took place regarding “Security and Hate Speech. Defense of the individual and protection of personal data: The law in the era of social media”. The event, organized by the National Bar Council (Cnf), was attended by prestigious speakers, representatives of the political world and various jurisdictions.
“We must take this theme of the language of hatred very seriously,” began Andrea Mascherin, President of Cnf, introducing the day’s work, “If we don’t control it and intervene, it could truly be the “flood” of our era and could swamp the dams of resistance against hatred, against integration, against any form of discrimination and, above all, it could overwhelm the authority of the law.”
This meeting, which, for the first time, united legal professionals from the G7 member countries, had a primary goal of “strengthening the supranational strategy that, between respect for constitutional rights and the demand for protection of the right to expression, the right to anonymity and the right to privacy, allows for the opposition of threats to personal dignity and security, construed from false information and incitement of hatred as well as of racial, religious and gender discrimination,” explained the organizers on the website of Cnf.
Liviu Olteanu, Secretary General of the AIDLR (International Association for the Defense of Religious Liberty), presented a report in which he underlined the importance of the schooling of educated youth in the fight against hatred, a role that is assumed not only by political but also religious authorities, along with the commitment that said parties must maintain to spread the message of respect and peace.
“The liberty of expression,” declared Olteanu in conclusion of his report, “is a right for all as long as it does not degenerate into hate speeches that are, in fact, instigations of hatred and do not result in anything good. The approach that will be taken to tackle this kind of verbal violence is distributed to different levels: it begins from the government that should prevent journalists from inciting hatred, achieved through the law and its representatives who need to monitor and condemn violent situations, and ends with each of us who should be aware that the liberty of expression does not mean saying everything that comes to mind in any context, but rather we must limit our speech in favor of the supreme value that is peace and respect for all in every area of life.”
In the morning session, representatives of the Bar Associations of the G7 countries (United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, and Italy) presented their Country Papers: the president of the Chamber, Laura Boldrini, and the subsecretary to the president of the Council, Maria Elena Boschi; the European Ombudsman for the protection of data, Giovanni Canzio; and the vice president of the Constitutional court, Giorgio Lattanzi. Andrea Mascherin, president of the Cnf, moderated the presentations.
The afternoon session provided a platform for various scholars and university professors such as Francesca Bignami, from George Washington University, and Mario Ricca, from University of Parma, among other distinguished representatives of caliber such as Stephan Jaquement, from the High Commissioner of Onu, and Antonello Soro, president of the Personal Data Protection Authority. The concluding presentation of the day was given by Andrea Orlando, Ministry of Justice.
