Homepage ARTICLE 26Right to education ARTICLE 25Right to an adequate standard of living ARTICLE 19Right to freedom of expression and information ARTICLE 1 & 2All forms of discrimination are forbidden ARTICLE 27Right to cultural life ARTICLE 18Freedom of thought and religion Belgica
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Shoof

ARTICLE 19Right to freedom of expression and information

Everyone has the right to an opinion of their own, and to express it. Everyone has the right to receive information freely.

Freedom of opinion is absolute and without reservation. No one can keep us from thinking what we want. Freedom of expression is also very important, but not unlimited. Certain states can restrict it for good reasons. For instance, in Belgium, revisionism and hate speech are forbidden. However, it remains difficult to apply these same laws on social media, which facilitate the surging of insults and hateful speech. According to the #Génération2020 survey conducted by Média Animation, 'for more than 50% [of young people] who have experienced difficulties online, this came in the form of mean or hurtful messages.'

Furthermore, protecting the freedom of expression of journalists is fundamental, as the media play an important role in the smooth running of democracy. In a world where press freedom is exponentially threatened by authorities, Belgium slid down, from 2021 to 2022, from the 11th to the 23rd place in the NGO Reporters Without Borders ranking.
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The artist and their vision

"I felt the need to talk with locals about the place of language and its legitimacy when it isn't understood. In other words: “Those who aren't understood, have they a right to express themselves?"

- Shoof
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Activities

  • Try moving your arms so as to match the white marks.
  • Close your eyes and listen. Move your arms to match the sounds you hear.
  • Does it ever happen to you that you don't dare saying what you think?
  • As you continue on the trail, find, on the Jam'in Jette mural (which is on the building right opposite this one), various means of expression. Do you know of other ones too?
  • What do you think, or wish, shouldn't be spoken or written in public spaces, real or virtual?
  • How do you think we tell apart true information from false information?
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Crack the Code

Discover the name and last name of one person who's played a fundamental role in human rights. To do so, you must crack the following code. In this code, each number stands for one letter. You will find what letter each number represents on each trail segment. When you have the name, you can find out what their contribution to human rights was. Enjoy!

Stand before the mural, now turn around! You see a power box. On it, there is a small fox with a short sentence. What is the first letter of the last word? Number 4 in the code stands for this letter.

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Address

Chaussée de Wemmel, 306