Features of international legal regulation of restrictions of the right on access to information and freedom of thoughts expression

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to conduct a comprehensive study of the international legal aspects of restricting the right on access to information and freedom of expression in the context of modern global challenges, such as digitalization, information wars and the introduction of martial law in the country. The article systematizes the provisions of several international regulatory legal acts that are used to regulate human information rights and also identifies the criteria for the lawful restriction of these rights in international law, in particular legality, legitimate purpose and necessity in a democratic society. The following methods are the methodological basis of the study: analysis and synthesis, comparative and legal, formal and legal, as well as the method of the systems approach. The case law of the European Court of Human Rights (decisions in the cases of Handyside v. United Kingdom, Lingens v. Austria) and the positions of the UN Human Rights Committee are also used as an empirical basis for clarifying the limits of permissible restrictions. The results of the study revealed a few conflicts: the vagueness of the terms “national security” and “public order”, the lack of unified standards for digital platforms regarding content moderation, the lack of an international arbitration mechanism for the protection of digital rights. In conditions of armed conflict, such as in Ukraine, restrictions on information rights are often caused by real threats but require a constant balance with the principles of human rights.

The conclusions substantiate the need to adopt a universal or regional international regulatory legal act that would codify the standards of restrictions on freedom of speech and put forward a proposal to create an independent international arbitration body to protect digital rights. The results of the study have practical significance for improving international mechanisms for the protection of information rights, as well as their legal regulation in conditions of war and state of emergency.