The right to freedom of thought: an interdisciplinary analysis of the UN special rapporteur’s report on freedom of thought

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dc.contributor.authorO'Callaghan, Patricken
dc.contributor.authorCronin, Olgaen
dc.contributor.authorKelly, Brendan D.en
dc.contributor.authorShiner, Bethanyen
dc.contributor.authorWalmsley, Joelen
dc.contributor.authorMcCarthy-Jones, Simonen
dc.contributor.funderIrish Research Councilen
dc.date.accessioned2025-11-04T09:12:36Z
dc.date.available2025-11-04T09:12:36Z
dc.date.issued2023-06-23en
dc.description.abstractIn 2021, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief presented his ‘Report on Freedom of Thought’ to the United Nations General Assembly. This was the first substantive consideration of the right to freedom of thought at the United Nations level since the right was recognised in 1948. This paper provides interdisciplinary reflections on this report to support ongoing discussions on the appropriate content and scope of this fundamental human right. We begin by addressing reasons for the historical neglect of this right, namely the right being viewed as more symbolic than practical and relevant interests being perceived as already protected by other rights. Next, given there is no consensus on what the right protects, or how it protects, we consider its potential attributes. We then consider potential violations of this right, turning to its application to mental health. Finally, we consider the Special Rapporteur’s recommendations, discussing how some may be realised through human rights-centered regulation in the form of the European Union’s new Digital Services Act. In this context, we also briefly consider relevant aspects of the EU Commission’s proposal for an AI Act. We conclude by outlining pressing challenges facing the development of this righten
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationO’Callaghan, P., Cronin, O., Kelly, B.D., Shiner, B., Walmsley, J. and McCarthy-Jones, S. (2024) 'The right to freedom of thought: an interdisciplinary analysis of the UN special rapporteur’s report on freedom of thought', The International Journal of Human Rights, 28(1), pp. 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2023.2227100en
dc.identifier.doi10.1080/13642987.2023.2227100en
dc.identifier.eissn1744-053Xen
dc.identifier.endpage23en
dc.identifier.issn1364-2987en
dc.identifier.issued1en
dc.identifier.journaltitleThe International Journal of Human Rightsen
dc.identifier.startpage1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/18144
dc.identifier.volume28en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherTaylor and Francis Ltd.en
dc.relation.projectIrish Research Council (Laureate Grant IRCLA/2022/2628)en
dc.rights© 2023, the Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in anymedium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on whichthis article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectFreedomen
dc.subjectThinkingen
dc.subjectThoughten
dc.subjectHuman rightsen
dc.subjectMoral panicen
dc.subjectPhilosophyen
dc.titleThe right to freedom of thought: an interdisciplinary analysis of the UN special rapporteur’s report on freedom of thoughten
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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