A/HRC/26/29 deprived of their autonomy to exercise their voting rights and to choose who to marry, where to live and how to relate to others in the community because of perceived or actual deficiencies in mental capacity and decision-making ability. Persons suffering from cognitive or psychosocial disabilities, and often children and young persons with these disabilities, are most at risk of being deprived of their legal capacity and equal treatment under the law. The Special Rapporteur urges States to take measures to ensure that no one is at any time deprived of their legal capacity due to their disability. Instead, support should be provided to enhance their capacity to exercise the rights and duties that they hold as human beings. IV. Conclusions and recommendations 71. The Special Rapporteur emphasizes that the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are due to everyone without distinction, within the territories of States and subject to their jurisdiction, and may not be limited on any of the prohibited grounds that the Human Rights Committee has indicated are covered by article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Freedom from discrimination is also due to those who advocate and lobby on behalf of groups most at risk. 72. The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association play a key role in empowering individuals belonging to groups most at risk to claim other rights and overcome the challenges associated with marginalization. Such rights must therefore not only be protected, but also facilitated. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure that the voices of individuals belonging to groups most at risk are heard, and taken into account, in compliance with the principles of pluralism of views, tolerance, broadmindedness and equity. 73. In that regard, the Special Rapporteur calls upon States to: (a) Ratify all relevant international human rights instruments that protect the rights of individuals belonging to groups most at risk; (b) Take all necessary measures to ensure that discrimination on prohibited grounds is eliminated, including in legislation or in practice, whether perpetrated by the State or by non-State actors; (c) Take positive measures, including affirmative action measures, to ensure that all individuals belonging to groups most at risk have the ability to exercise effectively their rights, including to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; (d) Refrain from supporting limitations imposed by private parties on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, particularly those that disproportionately affect groups most at risk. A private contractual provision in which a contracting party waives the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association should be considered invalid and unenforceable as an infringement upon a fundamental right. 74. In relation to recommendations pertaining to the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, the Special Rapporteur reiterates all the recommendations contained in his previous thematic reports.27 They are all the more relevant for individuals belonging to groups most at risk whose rights are more likely to be violated or unduly restricted. In particular, he calls upon States to: 27 20 A/HRC/20/27 (paras. 84–100), A/HRC/23/39 (paras. 81–83) and A/68/299 (paras. 58–64).