Upholding standards for advocacy and litigation: ECNL supports the efforts of various UN-level human rights mechanisms to create better standards for freedom of peaceful assembly. Kran, expert member of the UN Human Rights Committee said: “I expect the outreach you are doing, in such an accessible format, will reach many rightsholders.
ECNL engaged in the drafting of the Comment from the beginning (find out more about our work and the process that led to the Comment here) and is now working with our partners to help boost awareness of the specific innovative protective standards acknowledged by the GC so that they can use these new standards in litigation before national or international courts. 37 on Article 21, ICCPR: The milestone UN document, adopted in July 2020, creates safeguards for emerging protest practices such as assemblies held online and in private spaces, and condemns negative trends of use of disproportionate force, internet disruptions and attacks on media, watchdogs or vulnerable groups. Implementation of the General Comment no. Such developments have negative impact both on the practical exercise of the right of peaceful assembly and on the way this is monitored.ġ. Various crisis on the horizon such as the economic downturn remains critical, and the ongoing wars are triggering social unrest. Another challenge consists of the increasing use of digital technologies – including artificial-intelligence driven devices – to monitor assemblies (e.g., live facial recognition cameras, phone-tracking, predictive emotion-recognition devices, etc).įurther and tighter restrictions to protests and gatherings are to be expected across the world even as COVID-19 pandemic related lockdowns are eased. One of the key challenges is the use of excessive, disproportionate and discriminatory force by the authorities policing the assemblies (e.g., unlawful arrests, use of lethal weapons to disperse protests, etc.). As people take to the streets, meet up or gather online to preserve rights and create better society, they are confronted by various challenges. However, freedom of peaceful assembly is under pressure globally, both in the physical and the online space.
They are a central means for people to collectively express their views and needs, contribute to social, cultural and political discourse, and hold authorities to account. The rights to assemble, demonstrate, protest and gather together are essential to democracy.
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