Executive summary

This report is the tenth report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression to the Commission on Human Rights and the first report of Mr. Ambeyi Ligabo, appointed as Special Rapporteur on 26 August 2002. The report is submitted pursuant to Commission resolution 2002/48, in which the Commission decided to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for a further three years.

In section I, the report defines the terms of reference and methods of work of the Special Rapporteur. Section II describes the activities of the Special Rapporteur during the past year. It also refers to the activities of the former Special Rapporteur, Mr. Abid Hussain, until 26 July 2002, date of the end of his tenure. Section III contains a discussion of issues relevant to the mandate, including access to information for the purposes of education on and prevention of HIV/AIDS, and the right to freedom of opinion and expression in the context of counter-terrorism measures. It also refers to a number of trends with respect to freedom of opinion and expression that emerged from an analysis of the communications received by the Special Rapporteur over the year. Section IV contains the conclusions and recommendations of the Special Rapporteur.

A summary of communications sent to and received from Governments is contained in addendum 1 to the present report, and a report on the Special Rapporteur’s mission to Equatorial Guinea is contained in addendum 2.