A/HRC/44/50 (e) Rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are subject only to the limitations permitted by international law. B. Key areas of work and progress 1. Reaffirming core principles and promoting best practices 15. When the mandate was established in 2010, the normative content of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association was not clear to many. While recognized in most constitutions around the world, these freedoms were not fully understood, often overlooked by the international human rights discourse, and severely restricted by domestic laws and practices. The newly created mandate was aimed at filling that gap and leading efforts to articulate, reinforce and, where appropriate, expand the applicable international norms for the enjoyment of these two freedoms. This work was not academic or theoretical in nature. It was driven by the lived experiences and needs of civil society and ordinary people and by an understanding of the environment in which they exercised the rights to assemble and associate. 16. Many respondents to the questionnaire identified this as a key contribution of the mandate. As of April 2020, the mandate holders had submitted nine reports to the Council and seven to the General Assembly, covering a wide variety of thematic issues relevant to the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Through those reports, the mandate holders not only clarified key aspects of international law applicable to these freedoms, such as limited scope of permissible restrictions and the positive obligation to actively protect these rights,4 but it also set out progressive standards for their protection. For example, a report submitted to the Council in 2012 helped to advance the idea that prior authorization by authorities was incompatible with the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. In the report, it was stressed that assemblies should be subject, at the most, to a prior notification procedure, whose rationale is to allow State authorities to facilitate the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to take measures to protect public safety and order and the rights and freedoms of others.5 The Special Rapporteur posited that if the organizers failed to notify the authorities, the assembly should not be dissolved automatically and the organizers should not be subject to criminal sanctions, or administrative sanctions resulting in fines or imprisonment.6 Similarly, organizers should not bear any responsibility for the unlawful acts of others.7 17. The mandate has helped reaffirm the universality of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. In several reports, the mandate holders explored how these rights apply, inter alia, to minors, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, persons belonging to minority groups or other groups at risk, including those victims of discrimination because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, non-nationals including stateless persons, refugees or migrants, as well as associations, including unregistered groups.8 In a 2016 report to the General Assembly, it was stressed that workers were entitled to the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association regardless of their status within a country.9 18. The mandate was the first international mechanism to clearly recognize that the right to association protects the ability of civil society to access domestic, foreign and international resources, and it developed guidance to ensure that States facilitate, rather than restrict, access to funding.10 In a report to the Council in 2013, the mandate holder asserted that the ability to seek, secure and use resources was essential to the existence and effective operations of any association, no matter how small. In addition, it was noted that the right to freedom of association not only included the ability of individuals or legal entities to form and join an association but also to seek, receive and use resources – human, material and financial – from 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6 A/HRC/23/39. A/HRC/20/27, para. 28. Ibid., para. 29. Ibid., para. 31. A/HRC/20/27, para. 28. A/71/385, para. 95. A/HRC/23/39.