Law against Hatred
The Constitutional Law Against Hatred, for Peaceful Coexistence and Tolerance (Ley constitucional contra el odio, por la convivencia pacífica y la tolerancia), also known simply as the Law Against Hatred, is a law passed unanimously by the Venezuelan Constituent National Assembly and published in Gaceta Oficial 41,274 on 8 November 2017. The bill was introduced to the Assembly on 10 August 2017 by President Nicolás Maduro and its discussion began on 4 September. The law establishes penalties that can include 20 years in jail, media shutdown, and fines to companies and electronic media. The law is controversial and has been criticized in Venezuela. Its detractors say that it is designed to oppress political dissent by criminalizing it, establishing restrictions on personal freedom and promoting both censorship and self-censorship. The lack of powers of the Constituent Assembly to legislate has also been pointed out, and the National Assembly of Venezuela declared it as null and void "in rejection of the hate- and intolerance- generating instrument promoted by Nicolás Maduro and the fraudulent Constituent [National Assembly]", stating that the law violates Articles 49, 51, 57, 58, 62, 68 and 202 of the constitution. Outline The law establishes the penalty of between 8 and 10 years in jail for officials who delay the prevention or punishment of a hate crime and for health personnel who refuse to treat a person for reasons of hate. Article 21 establishes sentences of up to 20 years in jail for those who incite hatred, discrimination or violence against a person or group of persons by any means, and Article 22 legalizes the blocking of any type of media that are considered to violate the law through their content. The law indicates that the person who disseminates a "hate message" (broadly defined or undefined in the Law) on social networks must delete it within six hours of its publication, or else must pay a fine ranging from 50 thousand to 100 thousand tax units. The law also allows for radio or television service provider that promote hate or war propaganda to revoke these, and notes that any media that does not actively broadcast messages "intended to promote peace, tolerance and equality" will be fined by up to 4% of their gross income in the fiscal year immediately preceding that in which the offense was committed. According to the law, the fine will be paid into the Social Responsibility Fund of Radio and Television. The law prohibits the activity of groups, movements and social organizations that do not comply with what is established in it. Similarly, Article 11 orders the National Electoral Council (CNE) to revoke the registration of political organizations that promote "fascism, intolerance or hatred towards national, racial, ethnic, religious, political, social, ideological, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or of any other nature." This article also states that the parties must have among their disciplinary rules a guideline on preventative measures against such hatred, and the penalty of expulsion of persons who contravene the law.