This section contains background information about the philosophy of communication rights from 1969 to the present.
The call for democratization of communication has many connotations, many more than are usually considered. In other words, it implies a change in outlook. There is surely a necessity for more abundant information from a plurality of sources, but if the opportunity to reciprocate is not available, the process is not adequately democratic.
It is not concepts that change history. Rather, history itself engenders the necessity of its own change and, concomitantly, new concepts arise which are likely to stimulate and reflect it adequately. Such is the case of the concept of the right to communicate.
The protection most needed is of the human right to communicate. But by situating such a right where it belongs, among the people by whom and for whom it is to be exercised, we clear the ground.
In recent years, the view has developed that a more radical approach is needed to the whole question of communications freedoms. The existing formulations are seen to lack a philosophical basis and to be incomplete.
International relations today are characterized by a web of relationships, firstly between states and international intergovernmental organizations, and secondly between natural and juridical persons of different nationalities and non-governmental organizations.
The right to communicate must be based in its legal plane on all the acts and documents adopted by the UN and other international organizations in the field of communication. All of this constitutes a necessary limitation but, at the same time, constitutes a positive factor.
The notion of human rights is based on the understanding that everyone in society should be free to participate fully in social and political activities and to be protected from attempts to restrict the exercise of this right to citizenship.
Our Commission should be regarded as a nucleus of a much larger group of people involved in and interested in all aspects of communication.
At each step of human history, the formulation of law and the organization of social structures have been conditioned by the technology of communications.
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Communication rights enable all people everywhere to express themselves individually and collectively by all means of communication. They are vital to full participation in society and are, therefore, universal human rights belonging to every man, woman, and child.
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