UNHRC

Protecting the Right to Protest and its Importance in

Democratic Societies

Purpose

The Human Rights Council enables and aims to address issues concerning violations of
human rights. The Council was established in 2006, where it replaced the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights, and first began its role as an inter-governmental body within the
UN human rights system. The council of UNHRC is comprised of 47 member states and is
responsible for upholding and protecting human rights globally. The council has three
sessions annually, and special sessions if needed, and reports to the General Assembly.

Each member state part of the UNHRC addresses and forwards issues concerning violation of
human rights that require immediate attention annually. Tasked with recommending specific
regulations and approaches each country must take, the Council is responsible for maintaining
equality when it comes to the access and ubiquitous implementation of human rights globally. In
this session, the issue of protecting the right to protest and elaborating on its importance in
democratic societies will be discussed.

Introduction
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), issued by the General Assembly in
1948, sets out the standard for the universal achievement of the protection of fundamental rights.
The right to protest is a fundamental human right, supported but not limited by Articles 18 to 27
of the UDHR, it ensures an individual’s right to freedom of expression, thought, assembly, and
association. Most monumental historical events have occurred through protests, and the changes
implemented by these protests have shaped the status quo.

From movements that abolished apartheid to more recent movements including the Women’s
March, BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, and Fridays for Future, protests have clearly played an
incremental role in ensuring and improving the integrity of human rights. Inspiring a sense of
shared humanity, protests can creatively drive progress in areas that require speculation. Change
to facilitate advancement in existing areas of inequality and discrimination is enabled by
protesting and demanding for accountability.

Democracy relies on the will of people, and people have the right to protest peacefully.
Protests enable citizens to practice their universal rights to life, to privacy,
to freedom of association, and to be free from arbitrary arrest and detention, and from torture
and other ill-treatment or punishment. When citizens can actively voice out their opinions and
participate in public affairs, it evokes and strengthens representative democracy. Protests allow
for people to speak their truth and it is absolutely essential to fuel powerful social movements
that paint a better future.

Main Conflicts
Many instances of governments and leaders violently suppressing demonstrators have occurred
since a few governments inevitably fight to retain power and deny citizens basic rights. One of
the main components of protesting is interfering with daily operations in order to draw attention
to the injustice, hence this is why governments occasionally choose to put an end to a protest.
Exercising the will of the citizens is an exemplary display of democracy, and authoritarian
governments through the act of militarization can use means of unjust power to cede a
protest.

Through the revolution of the internet and cybersecurity, along with the advancement in
artificial intelligence, protesting has become both easier and better accessible for surveillance.
Increased exposure to the cause of a protest through means of social media has brought forth
increased unity and understanding globally, however with facial-recognition, CCTV, and
tracking technology, it makes it easier for governments with access to information to
invade the privacy of their citizens. Due to the fear of their invasion of privacy and their
violation of their basic right to the freedom of association, most citizens also fear protesting.

Governments are tasked with the responsibility of facilitating protests, where their
responsibility lies in understanding crowd behavior, navigating their limits of authority, creating
mutual understanding while reducing tension in a protest, and developing strategies that better
clarify and open a channel of clear communication between citizens and the media. The
government can only be tasked with dispersing a protest if there is an imminent threat of
violence that overpowers the right to protest. However, with recent events unfolding around the
globe, many governments have used the means of force– where they have failed to
differentiate between the potentially lethal use and the intentionally lethal use of force.
Law enforcement has also failed to provide immediate assistance and medical aid at the
earliest possible opportunity.

An apt demonstration of the violations and predicaments mentioned above would be through
the death of Mahsa Amini and the protests that took place in Iran. This showcased the unlawful
use of power, where the government exercised lethal use of force, resulting in the death of more
than 200 people. Many states detain, stop and search, and arrest citizens participating in a
protest, while violating the protesters’ right to liberty. There should be no mass use of stop
and search powers. Any utilization of stop and search powers, including the looking and going
through electronic devices, and arrests and detentions of protesters must be on the basis of facts
and upon special circumstances.

The right to the freedom of peaceful assembly includes the right to hold meetings, sit-ins,
strikes, rallies, events or protests, both offline and online. The Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCR) was established to promote and protect
the right of peaceful assembly through the means of working on early prevention and warning of
protests, providing technical assistance, engaging with civil society and governments to address
root causes, and in a few cases, for protection. There are guidelines issued for the use of less
lethal weapons in law enforcement, which calls for the individual scenario and has to pass the
criteria to be weapon-specific. The adoption of less lethal weapons in law enforcement
when absolutely necessary as opposed to the utilization of lethal weapons has yet to be
tastefully exercised in protests.

A protest was held in Tbilisi, Georgia in March, where authorities in Georgia violently
dispersed a sizable number of protestors as well. Following the Georgian parliamentarians'
proposal to establish a "Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence," which required NGOs to
register as "Agents of Foreign Influence" if they received more than 20% of their funding from
abroad. With the law's resemblance to Russian legislation, that was passed in 2012 and was used
to violently crack down on dissent in the past decade. In 2022, the European Court of Human
Rights found Russia’s “foreign agents” law in violation of Article 11 of the European
Convention. The court ruled that creating a special status and legal regime for organizations that
receive funding from international or foreign sources was not justified, and that restrictions
interfered with their legitimate functions.
The proposed draft law immediately stirred debate in Georgia. Despite the clear opposition of
a large part of civil society, as well as the calls of Georgia’s international partners, the Georgian
Parliament adopted the legislation on the first hearing, on March 7th, 2023, with 76 votes in
favor and 13 against. Protests were organized the same night, almost instantaneously. The
government used tear gas and water cannons against the protesters. These series of protests were
unprecedented as the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, voiced her support for the
people gathered in front of the Parliament and publicly vowed to veto the legislation if adopted.

Key Actors
❖ United Nations: UN experts have voiced their concerns for the use of force in
undergoing protests in France(1). They called on authorities to undertake a
comprehensive review of their policing strategies and practices to enable protesters to
voice their concerns and to facilitate the peaceful protest and participation in public
affairs. They mandate monitoring, reporting and conducting advocacy regarding
measures taken for the management of protests. The UN is also actively engaging in
dialogue with Governments and civil society, including protestors and law enforcement
officials, and providing technical assistance.

❖ The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCR): Through the bodies of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate and Human Rights
committee, they gather and share information about global, regional and local trends and
issues relating to peaceful assembly and association. Recommendations are made on how
to ensure the promotion and protection of these rights, and reports on violations (2).
 ❖ Iran: Following the unlawful death of Mahsa Amini, hundreds of people have been killed
and thousands more have been detained in a violent crackdown by security forces, which
have portrayed the protests as foreign-instigated "riots”(3). The Population of the Islamic
Republic of Iran is 86 million people. The majority of the population are Persian (61%),
However there are sizable minorities in the country including Azeris (16%) and Kurds
(10%). According to Amnesty International, the local minorities report ethnic
discrimination.

❖ France: The French government is actively working to dissolve a climate activist group.
The process to shut down the group started in March, after a protest in western France
over proposed so-called “mega water basins” for farm irrigation led to violent clashes
with police. Police fired teargas and vehicles were set alight, with serious injuries among
both police officers and protesters, according to Reuters (4). In recent weeks, the
movement has organized protests across France, including against the concrete industry,
construction of a new rail line with Italy and a new road project in the southwest
(5).

❖ The Government of Georgia: Protests were organized on March 7th, the same night
the Georgian Parliament passed the bill with 76 votes in favor and 13 against at its
plenary session on the “Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence.” The civil unrest was
caused by the fact that the law resembled Russia's legislation that was used to crack down
on dissent. The protests were met by tear gas and force by police, and then Georgia's
ruling party stated it would withdraw a controversial draft law, in the face of mass
protests and widespread international criticism (6).

Research and Preparation Questions

❖ Concerning the ongoing protests in France, what are measures that can be taken to
reduce tensions between the French government and Soulèvements de la Terre?

❖ What guidelines can be used to ensure the proper use of “less lethal weapons” in a
protest?

❖ How do protests ensure change from a legal perspective, and how does the UN work to
facilitate this change if it is not met by a peaceful assembly?

❖ What statements have been made by the UNHRC regarding the ongoing French protests
and last year’s protests in Iran regarding the use of unlawful violence?

❖ How must the Georgian government abide by their duties to facilitate the right to protest
while avoiding participants fearing violence or violations of their fundamental human
rights? What are certain strategies they can adopt when it comes to understanding crowd
behavior and preventing violent protests?
Bibliography
Purpose
(1) https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
(2) https://www.ohchr.org/en/topic/freedom-assembly-and-association

Introduction
(1) https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/human-rights
(2) https://co-guide.info/mechanism/united-nations-human-rights-council-unhrc#:~:text=
Its%20main%20purpose%20is%20addressing,reports%20to%20the%20General%20Ass
embly.
(3) https://www.history.com/tag/protests
(4) https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/freedom-of-expression/protest/#:~:text=Pe
ople%20have%20a%20right%20to,safety%20and%20rights%20of%20others.

Main Conflicts
(1) https://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/38581/Right_to_protest_principles_f
inal.pdf
(2) https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/right/right-to-protest/
(3) https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjso.12328
(4) https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2012/09/violence-during-protests-not-protec
ted-international-human-rights-law-warns

Key Actors
(1) https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/06/france-must-respect-and-promote-ri
ght-peaceful-protest-un-experts
(2) https://www.ohchr.org/en/topic/freedom-assembly-and-association
(3) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-65682182
(4) https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-police-clash-with-protesters-opposed-fa
rm-reservoir-2023-03-25/
(5) https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/21/europe/french-government-ban-climate-group-in
tl/index.html
(6) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64899041