A/HRC/41/41
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
17 May 2019
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Forty-first session
24 June–12 July 2019
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful
assembly and of association*
Summary
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful
assembly and of association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, focuses on the opportunities and
challenges facing the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the
digital age. The Special Rapporteur seeks to provide guidance on how to best preserve and
maximize these opportunities and address risks.
The Special Rapporteur concludes that international law protects the rights to
freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, whether exercised in person, through
technologies of today, or through technologies that will be invented in the future. Existing
international human rights norms and principles should not only dictate State conduct, but
also be the framework that guides digital technology companies’ design, control and
governance of digital technologies.
* Agreement was reached to publish the present report after the standard publication date owing to
circumstances beyond the submitter’s control.
GE.19-08114(E)