The UN Human Rights Committee’s Interpretation of Freedom of Assembly Puts Existing Protections at Risk

We, the undersigned group of 15 organizations, unite in concern about the latest draft of the General Comment No. 37 on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. We believe that this draft, in its current form, allows the depletion of the existing norms of protection.

For this reason, we have sent a document to the Human Rights Committee in which we put forward some observations regarding its impending risks. We underline among other points that the ambiguous wording fails to clearly define the instances in which the States violate the right to assembly. The definitions of “pacific” and “violent” are problematic and confusing. Moreover, the draft normalizes the States’ surveillance activities without providing standards on their limitations, such as the principles of legality, necessity, and proportionality.

Signatory organizations:

Alianza Regional por la Libre Expresión e Información

Article 19 – Oficina para México y Centroamérica

Blogueiras Negras (Brasil)

Casa da Cultura Digital Porto Alegre (Brasil)

Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad – DeJusticia (Colombia)

Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales – CELS (Argentina)

Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional – CEJIL

Derechos Digitales (América Latina)

Fundación Construir (Bolivia)

Fundación Internet (Bolivia)

Greenpeace USA (Estados Unidos)

InternetLab – Pesquisa emDireito e Tecnología (Brasil)

National Lawyers Guild (Estados Unidos)

POJOAJU Asociación de ONGs del Paraguay

Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales – R3D (México)

SurSiendo – Comunicación y Cultura Digital (México)