The exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the context of elections 2013, para. 18
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- However, in many countries, elections have been marred by human rights violations and abuses. For instance, in September 2009, in Guinea, some 50,000 peaceful demonstrators gathered in a stadium to protest against the possible candidacy of Capitain Moussa Dadis Camara for the presidential elections of January 2010. Security forces opened fire and used bayonets and knives to disperse the crowd. More than 150 persons were killed, and over a thousand injured. Many individuals were arrested on the scene, at their home or in hospitals. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, in June 2009, following the declaration of victory for President Ahmadinejad, security forces killed several protestors when they peacefully took to the streets to contest the election results. Security forces opened fire during the demonstrations and used batons and pepper spray to disperse the crowds. Several hundred people were arrested during the protests following the presidential elections of 2009. In the Russian Federation, peaceful protests against alleged fraudulent elections in the context of parliamentary elections held in December 2011 were met with excessive use of force, with over a thousand persons detained in various cities. Various acts of harassment, intimidation, arbitrary detention of several activists and members of the opposition also occurred in the context of the presidential protests on 6 May 2012. In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in the wake of the presidential elections of April 2013, peaceful demonstrations held in front of the offices of the national electoral commission in several states were met with brute force by security forces, along with arbitrary arrests. In Malaysia, security forces used indiscriminate force to repress a peaceful protest organized by the Coalition for Fair and Free Elections (Bersih), which advocates for the reform of the electoral process in that country.
- 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)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Activists
- Year
- 2013
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Reference
- SR Freedom of Assembly, Report to the UNGA (2013), A/68/299, para. 18.
- Paragraph number
- 18
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