A/HRC/29/25 or as members of multilateral institutions. These obligations apply within the territory of the State and extraterritorially. Similarly, non-State actors have responsibilities in relation to human rights, as will be discussed below. 19. In many cases, the most egregious violations of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the context of natural resource exploitation are committed against groups and individuals inhabiting regions far from centres of power, who are often at risk or already marginalized within society. They may lack access to information or the means of effectively advocating for their concerns, or they may be confronted with authorities are that are unable or unwilling to address their grievances. The ability to freely associate and to peacefully assemble are indispensable in this regard. Some of the categories of persons that require special attention in the context of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and of natural resource exploitation are women (including women human rights defenders), Afro-descendants, indigenous peoples, peasant farmers, fisher folk and forest dwellers. C. International legal and regulatory framework 20. A complex web of binding international law and voluntary standards and principles regulate and inform the human rights obligations of States and companies in the field of natural resource exploitation. In general, States are bound by international human rights law, while companies adhere on a voluntary basis to standards and principles drawn up by Governments, multi-stakeholder platforms or business forums. Those laws and standards cover a broad range of interests, many of which have implications for the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. 21. The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association find expression at the global level in article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in articles 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 10 The International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, 1948 (No. 87), and the ILO Convention concerning the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, 1949 (No. 98), protect the rights of workers to freely establish, join and run organizations of their choosing without unjustifiable interference from the State. Workers are also protected from anti-union discrimination and guaranteed the right to collectively bargain. 22. Although States often refer to the permissible limitations embedded in the provisions and instruments cited above, the Special Rapporteur reiterates that the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association should be viewed as the rule and the limitations as the exception (see A/HRC/20/27, para. 16). States may only limit the rights in strictly defined circumstances necessitated by narrowly defined “legitimate reasons”.11 Such restrictions must be prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or 10 11 8 Common articles 1(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights guarantee the right of all peoples to freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources. There are also national, regional and international laws and standards relating to the rights of indigenous peoples, labour, the environment and natural resource exploitation activities, such as mining, forestry and fishing, which may impact the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association to varying degrees. More broadly, trade and investment agreements, commodity certification systems and the like may also present opportunities to encourage or undermine civil society participation in the processes related to natural resource exploitation. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, arts. 21 and 22 (2).