ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the tools available at a Council of Europe level to tackle the far-right and its by-products. It will commence with a consideration of the principle of non-discrimination, as provided for by the ECHR. It will then proceed with the analysis of the scope of Article 10 and Article 11 of the ECHR and the way in which they are applied in cases involving the far-right. It will then consider the, at times, controversial and rather unclear role of Article 17 of the ECHR in removing some types of expression deemed to be hate speech from the scope of the Convention, and close with an appreciation of the meaning and impact of the margin of appreciation doctrine on the outcome of such cases. The chapter demonstrates a zealous yet unsubstantiated approach of the ECtHR to ban all speech regarded as hate speech without adequate contextual or theoretical analysis. It further reflects that a more careful approach has been adopted vis-à-vis the right of assembly and association but that these are not without their downfalls. After this, the chapter will consider how the ECtHR approaches hate crime. The chapter closes with an analysis of the Additional Protocol to the Cybercrime Convention as a tool that focusses on racist and xenophobic material on the Internet.
