The International Convention concerning the Use of Broadcasting in the Cause of Peace is a 1936 League of Nations treaty whereby states agreed to prohibit the use of broadcasting for propaganda or the spreading of false news. It was the first international treaty to bind states to "restrict expression which constituted a threat to international peace and security".
Contents
Creation
In 1933, the Assembly of the League of Nations authorised the drafting of a multilateral treaty on propaganda. The Convention resulted and it was concluded and signed on 23 September 1936 at a conference in Geneva, Switzerland. The Convention entered into force on 2 April 1938.
Content
Article 1 of the Convention obligates the state parties to prohibit and stop any broadcast transmission within their territories that are "of such a character as to incite the population of any territory to acts incompatible with the internal order or the security of a territory"; this article was intended to prohibit and stop propaganda from being broadcast that would incite listeners to revolution.
Article 2 of the Convention contains a similar mandate by prohibiting broadcasts that would constitute "incitement to war against another high contracting party". The Article makes no distinction between the speech of the state and the speech of private individuals.
Articles 3 and 4 prohibits the broadcasting of false news, and Article 5 states that parties to the agreement will, upon request, provide information to foreign broadcasting services that can be used to promote knowledge and understanding of the "civilization and conditions of life of his own country".
History of legacy
Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, there were 22 parties to the Convention. The effect of the Convention was severely limited by the fact that Germany, Italy, and Japan‒states which waged extensive propaganda campaigns throughout the 1930s and World War II–were not parties to the Convention. Significantly, China, the United States, and the Soviet Union also chose to not ratify the Convention, the U.S. on First Amendment grounds.
After the Second World War, depositary functions for the Convention passed from the League of Nations to the United Nations. In 1954, the United Nations General Assembly recognised that the Convention "was an important element in the field of freedom of information". The General Assembly authorised the drafting of a Protocol which would supplement and update the Convention; however, when the draft Protocol attracted little support, the UN "abandoned all efforts at reviving the Convention".
Beginning in the 1960s, the Convention continued to be ratified by a few states, particularly those in the Communist bloc. However, during the 1980s, it was denounced by Australia, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. It was most recently ratified by Liberia in 2005. As of 2013, it is in force for 29 states.
Signatories and state parties
The following states became parties to the Convention by ratifying, acceding to, or declaring succession to it. Parties that signed the Convention on 23 September 1936 are indicated in bold. Parties that have subsequently denounced the Convention are indicated and the date of ratification is in italics.
The other states that signed the Convention but have not ratified it are Albania, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Greece, Lithuania, Mexico, Romania, Spain, Turkey, and Uruguay.