We are looking to build a case law database on the issue of children's freedom of expression and access to information that lawyers, children's rights activists and others can use as a free resource. Below is a small snapshot of significant cases on this issue.
We will continue to update this page with links to case summaries in our legal database, so please email us with suggested cases.
If you are a lawyer who has worked on similar cases, or would like to, please email us so that we can include your name and contact details in our network of legal professionals.
- Print Media South Africa v. Minister of Home Affairs (2012) (scheme of prior restraint of publications containing sexual conduct in South Africa)
- Alekseyev v. Russia (2010) (discrimination against LGBTI persons and public morality justifications in Russia)
- INTERIGHTS v. Croatia (2009) (limited school curriculum on sex education that discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation in Croatia)
- Dynamic Medien Vertriebs GMBH v. Avides Media AG (2008) (age ratings for DVDs sold in Germany)
- Fines for broadcasters of a reality television show which contained a number of scenes that could endanger the moral development of children and the young (2008) (broadcast of a reality show with scenes of violence, alcohol, sexual content before 10pm in the Czech Republic)
- “The Last Temptation of Christ” (Olmedo-Bustos et al.) v. Chile (2001) (ban of film on grounds of blasphemy in Chile)
- Monteiro v. The Tempe Union High School District (1998) (inclusion of potentially offensive books on school curricula in the United States)
- Sumayyah Mohammed v. Moraine and Another (1995) (legality of school's refusal to allow a child to wear hijab instead of a uniform in Trinidad and Tobago)
- Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 et al. v. Pico (1982) (ban of certain books in school libraries in the United States)
- Loewen v. Turnipseed (1980) (approval of a history book for use in schools in the United States)
- Kjeldsen, Busk Madsen and Pedersen v. Denmark (1976) (mandatory sex education and parents’ religious and philosophical beliefs in Denmark)
- Handyside v. United Kingdom (1976) (ban of book aimed at children which was deemed to contain obscene information in the United Kingdom)