A/HRC/53/38 I. Introduction 1. Civil society activists, individuals and groups are facing increased repression and serious human rights violations for exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Many survivors of such violations have been left without justice or reparations. The endemic impunity for such violations has generated cycles of repression that gravely undermine the enjoyment and protection of those fundamental freedoms, which are essential components of democracy and for the defence of all human rights. Impunity for such violations has caused and augmented crises and conflict, and contributed to the rising challenge of authoritarianism around the world. 2. In the present report the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association examines the victims’ needs for justice in the face of the persistent accountability gaps for serious human rights violations committed against those exercising or attempting to exercise their fundamental rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. 3. The serious human rights violations addressed in the present report include extrajudicial or summary executions, including killings as a consequence of the use of excessive and unlawful force by law enforcement agents in the context of protests; enforced disappearances; torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including sexual and gender-based violence; and prolonged arbitrary detention. The Special Rapporteur also considers mass atrocities, constituting international crimes, that are committed in the context of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. 4. In the report, the Special Rapporteur seeks to identify pathways for ending impunity for such crimes while ensuring restoration of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Important steps include investigating, prosecuting and punishing perpetrators, providing reparations to victims and institutional and policy reforms, including measures aimed at establishing an honest, comprehensive and public account of past violations. The Special Rapporteur recalls that access to justice and remedies is an integral element of the protection of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. 1 The report is primarily directed to States, but it also examines the role the international community and others can play in promoting and supporting accountability. 5. The present report draws on 47 submissions from civil society and 7 from States,2 as well as information obtained through dedicated global and regional consultations with 95 activists, protesters, lawyers, victims’ representatives and national human rights institutions. It draws on years of regular engagements with civil society, victims and authorities, including during country and academic visits, and hundreds of communications sent to States. II. State obligations 6. Under international human rights law, States have a duty to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of those within their jurisdiction and to provide effective remedies when they are infringed.3 In addition, States have the obligation to investigate alleged violations promptly, thoroughly and effectively through independent and impartial bodies, to bring those responsible for serious crimes to justice and provide reparations. Those obligations arise in particular in respect of the crimes of torture and similar cruel, inhuman and degrading 1 2 3 2 A/HRC/47/24. A full list of submissions will be available at https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2023/callinputs-mandate-special-rapporteur-rights-freedom-peaceful-assembly-and. See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 8; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 2; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 6; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, art. 14; Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 39; Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention on Human Rights), art. 13; American Convention on Human Rights, art. 25; and African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, art. 7. GE.23-08077