Regulation Of Hate Speech In International Criminal Law

Hate speech is a persistent and widespread phenomenon in human society,and the international community has always attached great importance to the regulation of hate speech,which has been addressed in the domestic laws of many countries and many branches of international law.As an important branch of international law,international criminal law has provided many rules and developed a large body of criminal justice practice in regulating hate speech.As international law and domestic legal rules often interact with each other,as well as with the various branches of international law,it is important to study the relevant rules and practices of international criminal law to develop international consensus and standards on the regulation of hate speech.The regulation of hate speech in international criminal law has its roots in the European International Military Tribunal,and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide formally criminalised specific hate speech for the first time at the international level.The Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Statute of the International Tribunal for Rwanda,in turn,continued the Nuremberg trials in subsequent trials,directly punishing some defendants for spreading hate speech.The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court has further refined the relevant provisions of international criminal law to combat hate speech.Over the years,international criminal law has developed a unique and more detailed mechanism for regulating hate speech.In the practice of international criminal law,there are two approaches to regulating hate speech: one is to consider hate speech as direct and public incitement to commit genocide,and the other is to consider hate speech as a crime of persecution as a crime against humanity.Direct and public incitement to commit genocide requires a specific intent to commit genocide,while hate speech satisfies both the “directness”and “publicness” elements and may be punishable under the international criminal law even if the perpetrator does not cause serious consequences of genocide.The crime of persecution requires that the perpetrator has an intention to against humanity and discriminatory grounds,that the hate speech is part of a widespread or systematic attack,and that the hate speech grossly or blatantly denies the victim of a fundamental right.The balance between protecting individuals from atrocities caused by hate speech and safeguarding their freedom of expression remains a difficult challenge at present.It is still difficult to develop an international law mechanism to regulate hate speech based on international criminal law,and to better address the dangers of hate speech,it is necessary for States to further discuss the regulation of hate speech based on a study of the theory and practice of international criminal law to reach a greater consensus.