ABSTRACT
The freedoms of information and expression are inter-connected. Both are recognised as essential to democratic society by global institutions and governments around the world. At its first session in 1946 the UN General Assembly declared:
In 1982, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, adopting the Declaration on Freedom of Expression and Information in 1982, held that ‘the principles of genuine democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights form the basis of [European] cooperation, and that…freedom of expression and information is a fundamental element of those principles’.
