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24 Chi. J. Int'l L. 1 (2023-2024)

handle is hein.journals/cjil24 and id is 1 raw text is: 















                       Propaganda for War &

             International Human Rights Standards
                               Evelyn Aswad*


                                 Abstract

     Shortly after Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the
European  Union  (EU) began  suspending Russian state-sponsored media outlets
from  broadcasting within the EU because  they were spreading propaganda  for
war. The  EU   also required social media companies  to  remove  user speech
containing the banned broadcasts and prohibited search engines from displaying
content from those outlets in search results. The EU's General Court upheld the
outlets' suspension as consistent with both European human  rights norms and
the  United  Nations  International Covenant  on  Civil and  Political Rights
(ICCPR),  which  contains a mandatory  prohibition on propaganda  for war  in
Article 20(1). The EU's  outright ban and  the General Court's decision have
generated questions among  governments, companies,  and civil society about the
meaning  of ICCPR   Article 20(1), a provision the international community has
generally overlooked.  This  Essay   unpacks  the  scope  of  Article 20(1)'s
prohibition  on   war   propaganda,   providing  an   overview   of  existing
interpretations and then proposing  a way  to reconcile the ICCPR's  ban  on
propaganda  for war with the treaty's otherwise broad protections for freedom of
expression.










*   Herman G. Kaiser Chair in International Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. The
    author thanks Devraat Awasthi, Maddison Craig, and Leslee Roybal for their research assistance.
    The author also thanks Todd Buchwald, Nadine Strossen, and Elizabeth Amory for their
    comments on draft sections of this Essay. The views in the Essay are solely those of the author.


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