On World Democracy Day 2022, experts from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) joined together to issue a joint statement in which they raised concerns about the increasing use of crisis situations and declarations of the state of emergency to suppress peaceful assemblies around the world. The experts reinforced the importance of States respecting, protecting, and facilitating peaceful assembly in times of emergencies.
Read the 2022 Joint Declaration on Protecting the Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly in Times of Emergencies here.
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In 2020 five leaders in the field of human rights, Mr. Clément Voule, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and Association, Commissioner Joel Hernandez, President of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) and Mr. Pedro Vaca its Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Hon. Rémy Ngoy Lumbu, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and focal point for reprisals in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), joined together to issue for the first time a landmark joint statement reinforcing the importance of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly worldwide and offered recommendations on how to strengthen protection of this fundamental right.
In its joint declaration, the UN and regional experts issue a call to Governments to refrain from using violence in the management of peaceful assemblies. Following a year of massive global protests, the public health measures put into place for combating the global covid-19 pandemic have often been abused, hence undermining the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association. The experts not only ask to refrain from using excessive violence and restricting civil space, but to undertake meaningful action in addressing the public demands that were the root of the global protests.
Read the 2020 Joint Declaration on The Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Democratic Governance here.