A/HRC/21/30 I. Introduction 1. On 29 February 2012, pursuant to Human Rights Council decision 18/119, the Council held a panel discussion on the right to freedom of expression on the Internet at its nineteenth session. In its decision, the Council also requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to liaise with relevant special procedures, States and other stakeholders, including relevant United Nations bodies and agencies, with a view to ensuring multi-stakeholder participation in the panel discussion, and to prepare a report on the outcome of the panel discussion in the form of a summary. 2. The panel discussion was aimed at (a) drawing the attention of the international community to the current challenges to the enjoyment of the right to freedom of opinion and expression on the Internet; (b) identifying positive and practical steps that Member States could take to respect, protect and promote the right to freedom of expression on the Internet; and (c) identifying positive and practical steps that Member States could take on the key recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. 3. The panel discussion was chaired by the Vice-President of the Human Rights Council, moderated by journalist Riz Khan and opened by the High Commissioner. The panellists were the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Carl Bildt; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue; the Executive Director of the Association for Progressive Communications, Anriette Esterhuysen; the Executive Director of the Centre of Research, Studies and Learning (Brazil), Carlos Afonso; the Head of Free Expression, External Relations, Communications and Public Affairs of Google (Belgium), William Echikson; and the Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia, Hesti Armiwulan. II. Statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and contributions of panellists 4. The High Commissioner, in her opening remarks, congratulated Sweden and the other co-sponsors on having brought such an important discussion to the Human Rights Council, and welcomed the innovative format of the discussion. She stated that the Internet had become an indispensable tool for people to receive information beyond that prepared and disseminated by traditional mass media. At the same time, the Internet allowed all users to become providers of information by offering people a global and public online space for exchanging information and ideas. In particular, she noted how human rights defenders had quickly claimed the audiovisual and crowdsourcing capacities of the Internet to document human rights violations and to share them in real time with a global audience. Indeed, as a result of such unique characteristics, the Internet had transformed human rights movements, as States could no longer exercise control by claiming a monopoly over information. She expressed concern, however, that this has resulted in a backlash and intensified attempts to unduly restrict access to online content or the Internet as such. She also expressed concern that measures aimed at preventing criminal activity on the Internet may be used to crack down on human rights defenders, suppress dissent and withhold “inconvenient” information. She also cautioned that private companies could undermine the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression on the Internet, for example by illegally disclosing personal information to States without any court order, undertaking censorship on behalf of States or secretly collecting personal information and using it for commercial purposes without the user’s knowledge or consent. She stressed the need for any laws or measures 2