New Zealand Human Rights Commission: Te Kähui Tika Tangata Contents Foreword 1 Introduction 3 Part I: Hate speech 4 What is hate speech? 4 Why regulate hate speech? 4 Arguments against regulating hate speech 6 Hate crime compared with hate speech 7 Balancing and limiting rights 8 The rise of online hate speech Part II: International law 10 12 International human rights treaties 12 Regional human rights instruments 15 Other international law sources and commentary 16 Part III: Hate speech laws in New Zealand 20 Human Rights Act 20 Harmful Digital Communications Act 23 Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act 23 Broadcasting Act 24 Summary Offences Act 24 UN recommendations 24 Overview of hate speech laws in New Zealand 25 Part IV: Hate speech laws in other countries 26 Australia 26 England and Wales 29 Scotland 32 Northern Ireland 34 Ireland 34 Canada 34 United States 37 Part V: Concluding Comments 41 Appendix 1 42 Appendix 2 43 2