The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the context of natural resource exploitation projects 2015, para. 41
Paragraph
Paragraph text
The Special Rapporteur reiterates that the guarantees provided by international human rights standards relate only to assemblies that are peaceful (see A/HRC/20/27, para. 25). When violent incidents occur within otherwise peaceful assemblies, authorities have a duty to distinguish between peaceful and non-peaceful demonstrators, take measures to de-escalate tensions and hold the violent individuals - not the organizers - to account for their actions. The potential for violence is not an excuse to interfere with or disperse otherwise peaceful assemblies. This principle is all the more important because violence in the course of peaceful protests may be instigated to justify the dispersal of a protest.
Legal status
Non-negotiated soft law
Body
Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
Document type
Special Procedures' report
Means of adoption
N.A.
Topic(s)
Civil & Political Rights
Humanitarian
Year
2015
Paragraph type
Other
Reference
SR Freedom of Assembly, Report to the HRC (2015), A/HRC/29/25, para. 41.