Freedom of Assembly and Association

The Human Rights Committee has commented that the rights contained within articles 21 and 22 are integral to human dignity, and important to the exercise of electoral rights and democratic participation guaranteed under article 25:116

a rticle 21

The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

a rticle 22

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

2. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those which are prescribed by law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. This article shall not prevent the imposition of lawful restrictions on members of the armed forces and of the police in their exercise of this right.

3. Nothing in this article shall authorize States Parties to the international l abour Organisation Convention of 1948 concerning Freedom of a ssociation and Protection of the Right to Organize to take legislative measures which would prejudice, or to apply the law in such a manner as to prejudice, the guarantees provided for in that Convention.

114 Ross v Canada, Communication 736/1997, UN Doc CCPR/C/70/D/736/1997 (2000), para 10.6.

115 a t paras 11.6 and 11.7.

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Association

Most communications concerning political association and assembly have been dealt with by the Committee as allegations of the violation of the right to freedom of thought and expression under article 19 of the Covenant. in a rare exception to this approach, violation of articles 22(1) and 19(1) and (2) was found in Lopez v Uruguay, in circumstances where the victim was subjected to various forms of harassment by authorities, ultimately leading to his arrest and detention, due to his active participation in trade union activities.117

in Lee v Republic of Korea, the Committee considered a conviction against the author by reason of his membership in the group Hanchongnyeon. Membership in the group had been prohibited, under article 7(1) of the National Security l aw, on the basis that the group ‘may’ endanger the existence and security of the State or its democratic order. The Committee took the view that no evidence had been put before it to explain why prosecution for membership in such a group was necessary to avert a real, rather than possible, danger to national security.118

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 949

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