Evolution of Communication as a Human Right

Summary

The evolution of the concepts of “freedom of expression” and “freedom of the press” from the common law of Anglo-Saxon countries and the first Bills of Rights to continental constitutions, including those of Latin America and Africa, is fascinating. It shows that the communication rights to seek, impart, and receive information (“the right to freedom of expression includes, inter alia, the right not only to impart but also to seek and receive information”) needs to be rethought in the face of the challenges of being always connected (already a reality in many countries of the world, thanks to smartphones) to the networked society—not only for law but also for information ethics.

In 1948, the birth of communication rights was witnessed at the United Nations (Universal Declaration of Human Rights), confirmed in 1950 by the Council of Europe (European Court of Human Rights [ECHR]), and reaffirmed at the United Nations by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, although for many centuries, human beings have felt the natural need to express themselves, to communicate with other human beings, and for this reason, since the beginning of history, they have sought and created countless mechanisms, acoustic, visual, physical, and so on, that would allow them to satisfy this innate desire for relationship. Communication, understood as a right, includes these manifestations or technical means, so it is the same right in the context of information dissemination, whether on X (Twitter) or TikTok or in the pages of The Guardian or El País.

While in the long gestation period of rights, from the classical world to the Middle Ages, the communicative relationship took place spontaneously, the only difficulty being the possibility of perfecting the means or techniques used, the 18th to 20th centuries witnessed its birth in declarations of rights or political constitutions and in the conquest of the right to print, carry, or distribute against power. In this itinerary, the influence of the classics (Aristotle spoke of the essential nature of communication in society) or of modern thinkers (Milton, Paine, or Vitoria) in the defense of the human right to communication cannot be forgotten, which is effectively materialized in these recent legal texts.

In 1976, the work Information as a Right was published, which organizes the key elements of the system of information law, the axis of journalistic teaching and practice, and also the center of the democratic debate on press freedom. Despite the absence of a consensus on the use of the term “right to information” in contrast to other theories of “right to communication” or “communication rights,” it is imperative to consider the freedom of expression of citizens beyond their interaction with the press. In this context, the term “communication rights” may be more appropriate.

If information is understood as a right, this includes the rights recognized to journalists (professional secrecy, conscience clause), as well as their duties (confidentiality of sources, verification of facts, correction, attribution, etc.).