Protection against Religious Hatred under the UNICCPR and the European Convenrion System

This paper will explore the exact relation between the right to freedom of expression and the prohibition of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrmination, hostility or vilence. Considering the precise formulations of the substantive human rights norms of the International Covenant on Civil and political Rights (Part III of the treaty: articles 6-27), one could argue that the prohibition of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence is the odd-one-out in as far as this norm:(i) does not provide the individual aith a clear right (it does specify the duty bearer: the state; however, this clause does not identify a right holder); (ii) if anything, actually constitiutes a limit on another substantive human rights norm: the right to freedom of expression.