A/HRC/32/36/Add.1 102. The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are generally protected in Chile. Chileans exercise these rights routinely and vibrantly. However, there are areas for improvement, as in any country. It is important for Chile to address the remaining challenges, both for the consolidation of its own democracy and in order to take its rightful place as a global leader in human rights. 103. Chile’s most significant challenge lies in the fact that some vestiges of dictatorship remain. The transition has been gradual and not a radical break with the past, leaving remnants of yesteryear that have no place in the Chile of today. A central feature of the dictatorship era was the severe restriction of rights emanating from the securitization of the State. As a consequence, there is an urgent need for today’s police to change their mindset with regard to assemblies and protests. Under international law, this role is clear: they are there to facilitate and protect peaceful assemblies and protests. 104. This situation represents a significant — yet certainly surmountable — obstacle to the unhindered exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and weakens their effectiveness as a tool to peacefully address social conflict, precisely at a time when Chile needs them most. A democratic dispensation elevates and preserves rights and makes limitations the exception. It also fully embraces and encourages a plurality of voices from civil society whose contribution to the consolidation of democracy cannot be stressed enough. 105. The following recommendations are made bearing in mind where Chile has come from, but also where it is capable of going. The Special Rapporteur is confident that the country has the capacity, political will and maturity to see this transition through. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur stands ready to provide any technical assistance to the Government when deemed necessary. B. Recommendations 106. The Special Rapporteur calls on the competent authorities to: (a) Repeal Supreme Decree No. 1086; (b) Adopt new legislation that facilitates and protects the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and that requires, at most, prior notification of peaceful assemblies, with the exception of spontaneous assemblies; (c) Amend the police protocols with a view to ensuring their compatibility with international human rights norms and standards, including the joint report of the Special Rapporteur and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions on the proper management of assemblies (A/HRC/31/66); (d) Provide clear practical guidance to police officers on how to implement the revised police protocols and monitor their implementation; (e) Ensure that police officers apply non-violent means before resorting to force and, when force is unavoidable, they should exercise restraint in proportion to the seriousness of the offence and to objectives pursued with due respect to human lives; (f) Also ensure that police officers distinguish at all times between peaceful and non-peaceful protesters, extract the non-peaceful protesters from the protests and prosecute them in conformity with the rule of law; (g) Further ensure that all allegations of excessive use of force and sexual harassment against female and male protestors by security forces are promptly, 20