HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

General Comment No. 37 on Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – Right of peaceful assembly

Global Webinar on Peaceful (and not so peaceful) assemblies: A fresh look at the international standards. Wednesday 16 December 2020, 14:00-16:00 Geneva Time (CET) and 15:00-17:00 South Africa Standard Time (SAST).
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The webinar will also be livestreamed on the following link: https://universityofpretoria.live/global-webinar-countdown/

The Committee commenced the process of drafting the General Comment with a half day of general discussion during the 125th session, on 20 March 2019. For that event, the Committee invited interested members of the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), civil society, and academia to participate and focused its discussions on the views provided (submissions provided for the purposes of that discussion can be found at the following link).

During its 126th session, the Committee commenced its first reading of the draft and completed its review at the 127th session. In advance of the second reading in March 2020, during its 128^th session, the Human Rights Committee invited all interested stakeholders to comment on the Committee's draft.

Various stakeholders, including Member States, other UN and regional human rights mechanisms, UN organisations or specialised agencies, National Human Rights Institution, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), research institutions, and academics have submitted comments. All the submissions received have been posted below.

The General Comment No. 37 was adopted on 23 July 2020 during its 129th online session. General Comment No. 37 on Article 21 - on Right of peaceful assembly (CCPR/C/GC/37).

Frequently Asked Questions

English | French | Spanish

Comments:

States

• Angola
  
• City of Amsterdam
• Chile
• Colombia
• Denmark
• Germany
• Israel
• Jordan
• Kyrgyzstan
  
• Lithuania
  
• Mexico
  
• Norway
  
• Pakistan
  
• Paraguay
  
• Poland
  
• Qatar
• Qatar - Additional comments
• Russian Federation English | Russian
• Spain
• Switzerland
• The Netherlands
• Turkey
• Turkey - additional comments
• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• USA

UN organizations, specialized agencies, and experts

• Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division, OHCHR
• Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)/OSCE
• Mr. Clément Nyaletsossi Voulé, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
• Committee on the Rights of the Child
• Mr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
• Mr. Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
• Ms. Amalia Gamio- Member of Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
• Expert Council on NGO Law of the Council of Europe
  
• Mr. Markus Schefer - Member of Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
  
• UNICEF
  
• Maina Kiai, Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
• International Organization for Migration (IOM)
  

Academia and other professionals

• Mr. Hans Weinert, journalist in Germany
• Mr. Michael Hamilton, Associate Professor of Public Protest Law at the University of East Anglia
• Centre for Political Studies of the University of San Martin in Buenos Aires
• Ms. Evelyn Aswad, Director of Center for International Business & Human Rights, University of Oklahoma College of Law
• Jonathan Peters, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Law at the University of Georgia
• Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford
• Ms. Anita Danka, Independent Human Rights Law Expert
• Students of the University Panthéon-Assas Paris II / Paris Human Rights Center (CRDH)
• Mr. Jamie Grace, Senior Lecturer in Law at Sheffield Hallam University
• Stephen Politzer-Ahles, Assistant Professor of linguistics at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
  
• Mr. David Mead, Professor of UK Human Rights Law (UEA Law School) at the University of East Anglia
  
• Mr. Martin Scheinin, Professor of International Law and Human Rights at the European University Institute
• Michael Hamilton, Suzanne Dixon and Jennifer Young (University of East Anglia); Ella McPherson; Sharath Srinivasan, Eleanor Salter, Katja Achermann, Camille Barras, Allysa Czerwinsky, Bronwen Mehta and Muznah Siddiqui (Centre of Governance and Human Rights, University of Cambridge)

National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and other national institutions

• Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR)
• Portugal : Portuguese Ombudsman
• Philippines : Commission on Human Rights Philippines
• Ecuador : Defensoría del Pueblo
• Denmark : Danish Institute for Human Rights
• Algeria: National Human Rights Council
  
• Nicaragua : Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos
  
• India : National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
• Defensora de los Derechos de la Niñez de Chile
• Comité Español de Representantes De Personas Con Discapacidad (CERMI)
  
• The Commissioner for Children's Rights Office, Cyprus
• Comisión de Derechos Humanos de la Ciudad de México (CDHCM)

NGOs/Civil Society stakeholders

• Rights for Peace
• Amnesty International
• Reporters sans frontières (RSF)
• International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO)
• Greenpeace USA and National Lawyers Guild
• Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) and Right to Protest (R2P)
• Demosistō
• Equal Rights Trust (ERT)
• The Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture
• Greenpeace International
• Equal Education Law Centre (EELC)
• Hong Kong Bar Association (HKBA)
• Human Rights Centre “Memorial” and OVD-Info
• European Center For Not-For-Profit Law (ECNL)
• NGOs from the Americas English - Spanish
• Africa Disability Alliance
• Child Rights Information Center Moldova (CRIC)
• Hong Kong NGOs
• African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF)
• Resonar
• Not1More (N1M)
• The Advocates for Human Rights
• Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
• International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
• Maat Association for Peace, Development and Human Rights English | Arabic
• The Carter Center
• International League for Human Rights (ILMR)
• International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL)
• MINBYUN - Lawyers for a Democratic Society Public Interest and Human Rights Litigation Center
• Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA)
• Access Now
• Belgrade Centre for Human Rights
• Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
• Justice Centre Hong Kong
• Lawyers Rights Watch Canada
• Privacy International
• NGO Monitor
• Open Net Korea
• Open Society Justice Initiative
• Plan International
• Child Rights Connect
• Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)
• Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya (IDHC)
• Netherlands Helsinki Committee
• Corporación OPCIÓN
• International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
• Espacio Público
• Derechos en Acción
  
• Stand with Okinawa
• NOVACT
• Firma Victor Mosquera Marin Abogados
• Thai Civil Society Organizations (with support of CCPR Centre)
• World Movement for Democracy
  
• The Legislative Council Office of Hon. Dennis Kwok, Civic Party, HRSAR
• Article 19