IHRC welcomes the statement of the United Nations calling on states to respect and enable the rights of everyone to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression.
The statement is a direct response to the alarming level of repression by many state authorities of the freedom of their inhabitants to support Palestinian rights.
Since the Israeli genocide against Gaza began in October last year, the treatment of Palestine advocates in many jurisdictions has been characterised by the deliberate targeting of activists, artists, protestors, political and civil organizations through the use of bans, intimidation, harassment and arrests.
In December 2023 IHRC submitted a report to the UN focussing on the UK, France and Germany and highlighting legislation and policy deemed to violate the right to freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and of association, and protection of human rights defenders.
The report argued that anti-terrorism and anti-extremism policies and legislation under consideration will strengthen draconian policies already in force, especially in the areas of citizenship, migratory flows management, monitoring of CSO’s and the restriction of individuals’ political rights. Many Muslim organizations are routinely subjected to targeted vilification campaigns by sections of the media and politicians in a bid to discredit them and frustrate their work. But paradoxically, such policies also end up targeting and accusing of antisemitism many Jews and Jewish groups who often work with Muslim CSOs in their pro-Palestinian activism and solidarity work.
The UN statement says: “It is urgent that States respect and protect the rights of civil society, human rights defenders, the academic community, and growing movements and protests calling for a ceasefire, peace, justice and the release of hostages and detained Palestinian civilians. These rights are key for enabling civil society and peaceful protest movements to play their important role to ensure a just and sustainable peace and end atrocity crimes and grave human rights violations, which we are currently witnessing against the Palestinian population in Gaza.
States must ensure that any measures related to countering terrorism, hate speech or anti-Semitism, public order or national security do not result in imposing undue restrictions, criminalisation or reprisals against civil society actors, human rights defenders and protesters.”
IHRC is currently preparing a follow-up report for submission to the UN.
