The Hartford Guidelines on Speech Crimes in International Criminal Law

International courts face unique challenges when adjudicating international speech crimes such as direct and public incitement to commit genocide, and instigating crimes against humanity. The courts must balance freedom of expression, a right protected by international conventions, with the need to regulate potentially harmful speech and punish those who incite others to commit genocide or persecute members of a protected group. They must also determine the intentionality of the speaker advocating a crime, and in the case of completed crimes, ascertain the causal nexus between the expression and the crime.

Under the auspices of the Peace and Justice Initiative and University of Connecticut School of Law, a team of attorneys with expertise before the International Criminal Court along with academic researchers from law, linguistics, history and political science, convened in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, in 2017 to elaborate a set of Guidelines that would assist international jurists and policymakers as they confront public expression that is prohibited under international law.

I was part of this workshop, held at the Law School of the University of Connecticut, from May 18-20, 2017. The White Paper is the result of the research, writing, editing of about 12 authors in total (me included), led by Richard Ashby Wilson.