A/HRC/56/50 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-sixth session by the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 15/21 and 50/17. 2. In the report, the Special Rapporteur highlights the key gains made to advance the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association since the establishment of the mandate in 2010, in a context of expanding authoritarianism, the backsliding of democracies and the increasing repression of civic space and fundamental freedoms globally. He also identifies the deepening and emerging threats to those rights. The report should serve as a wake-up call for urgent unified action from States, international actors and other stakeholders to ensure that those important gains are preserved so that those rights can continue to play their historic role in safeguarding human rights, democracy and peace and security. Those rights are at the heart of movements for equality, peace and justice and fundamental for effective global governance. They are, however, being increasingly and systematically undermined, curtailed and attacked. 3. In preparing the report, the Special Rapporteur convened a two-day global consultation in Kampala from 8 to 9 April 2024 with representatives of civil society, trade unions, activists and donor organizations from across the world. He also drew from 27 submissions provided by civil society organizations, previous report findings and consultations with civil society, States and regional human rights mechanisms, as well as from consultations with law enforcement practitioners, held within the framework of Human Rights Council resolution 50/21. II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur 4. Between 15 April 2023 and 30 April 2024, the Special Rapporteur sent 133 communications, of which only 62 received responses, conducted two official country visits (to Algeria in September 20231 and to Bosnia and Herzegovina in April 20242), and participated in many events, consultations and academic visits, including: (a) The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development regional meeting with civil society in Malaysia in November 2023; (b) A round table on Libya, held in Geneva in February 2024, attended by Libyan civil society organizations and relevant authorities, which created a space for dialogue towards the development of a legal framework for protecting the right to association in line with international human rights law and standards. 3 Follow-up online briefings were held with civil society organizations and with the International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Working Group, established under the Berlin process. The briefings were organized by the Co-Chairs, namely, the Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Division of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Permanent Missions of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Switzerland to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva; (c) An academic visit to Tunisia in February 2024 and a joint academic visit to Cameroon with the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa and Chairperson of the African Commission, in March 2024; 1 2 3 2 See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/algeria-must-open-civic-space-and-let-critical-voicesbe-heard-un-expert. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/bosnia-herzegovina-act-urgently-reverse-deteriorationcivic-space-and. See www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/association/statements/20240212-stm-srfoaa-libya-roundatble.pdf. GE.24-11191