A/HRC/41/41 This means ensuring that the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are enjoyed by everyone, without discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status (article 2 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). 14 14. In the digital age, the positive obligation to facilitate the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association includes efforts “to bridge the digital divides, including the gender digital divide, and to enhance the use of information and communications technology, in order to promote the full enjoyment of human rights for all”.15 The obligation to protect requires that positive measures be taken to prevent actions by non-State actors, including businesses, that could unduly interfere with the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. 16 15. Where peaceful assembly and association rights are unduly restricted, the victim(s) should be able to exercise their rights to an effective remedy and obtain redress. The Human Rights Council has called on States to “ensure effective remedies for human rights violations, including those related to the Internet, in accordance with their international obligations”.17 16. Violations of the rights of peaceful assembly and association may also interfere with the enjoyment other human rights, both offline and online. These include the right to privacy and the right to freedom of opinion and expression, which are intimately related to the enjoyment of peaceful assembly and association rights. Other rights may also be affected, particularly economic, social and cultural rights. B. Role and responsibilities of business 17. In the digital age, the exercise of the rights of peaceful assembly and association has become largely dependent on business enterprises, whose legal obligations, policies, technical standards, financial models and algorithms can affect these freedoms. Online platforms and social media companies, in particular, wield significant power over how both the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of association are enjoyed and exercised, particularly in countries where the “offline” exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association is heavily curtailed. These platforms, however, have also become new tools for targeting and surveilling civil society actors. 18. The global framework for assessing digital technology companies’ responsibilities to respect human rights is provided by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.18 Guiding principles 11–24 recognize that business “should respect human rights” by avoiding infringing on the human rights of others and by addressing adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved. In order to fulfil this obligation, business enterprises should have in place human rights policies and processes – including a policy commitment to meet their responsibility to respect human rights; a human rights due diligence process to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for how they address, their human rights impacts; and processes to enable the remediation 19 of any adverse human rights impacts that they cause or to which they contribute. 19. In this regard, the mandate holder associates himself with the views of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and 14 15 16 17 18 19 See also article 26 of the Covenant. Human Rights Council resolution 38/7, para. 5. This is also reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which contains a commitment to “significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020” (target 9.C) and to “enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women” (target 5.B). See also A/HRC/35/9. See article 2 (2) of the Covenant; and Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 31. See Human Rights Council resolution 38/7. A/HRC/17/31. A/72/162, para. 86 (c). 5