A/HRC/41/41/Add.4 27. Article 44 guarantees the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, stating that everyone has the right to freely organize and participate in peaceful and unarmed assemblies. Following the constitutional reforms, article 44 also includes provisions on notification, which should be prior and given within a reasonable period, and on outdoor assemblies. No notification is required for spontaneous assemblies. The law may prescribe restrictions on the exercise of this right for judges, prosecutors, investigators, servicemen of the armed forces, national security authorities, the police and other militarized bodies. Those limitations may be applied by law with the aim of protecting State security, preventing crimes, protecting public order, health and morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. Finally, article 44 provides that the conditions and procedures for exercising and protecting the freedom of assembly shall be stipulated by law. 28. In terms of the right to association, article 45 of the Constitution explicitly recognizes the right of everyone to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of labour interests, but no one is to be compelled to join any private association. Paragraph 2 of article 45 states that the creation and operation of associations shall be stipulated by law and paragraph 3 refers to the restrictions to the right to association that should be made only by law with the aim of protecting State security, the public order, health and morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. It also stipulates that the activities of associations can only be suspended or prohibited by a court in the manner stipulated by the law. 29. At the time of the visit, the rights to peaceful assembly and of association were governed by the law on freedom of assembly, adopted in 2011; the Civil Code; the law on NGOs, adopted in 2016; the law on the State registration of legal entities; the State recordregistration of separated subdivisions of legal entities, institutions and individual entrepreneurs; the law on foundations and the law on charity; the government resolution on humanitarian assistance and charity programmes; the law on trade unions; the Criminal Code; the Code on Administrative Offences; the Election Code and the Labour Code. 30. An important independent actor in the institutional framework is the Human Rights Defender, who has a mandate to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms if they are violated by central and local government agencies or their officials, pursuant to the principles and norms of international law. 31. The Office of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia was established in 2004 by the law on the human rights defender. It has A status, which indicates compliance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles) and is active on issues related to the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. III. The exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly A. Legal framework 32. The right to freedom of peaceful assembly is a constitutional right regulated by the law on freedom of assemblies adopted on 14 April 2011. 33. Peaceful assemblies can be held without requiring prior authorization and the law differentiates between assemblies that require notification from those that do not. The latter case would be when spontaneous and urgent assemblies are held or when participants do not exceed 100 persons. 34. The notification procedure is clearly determined in law. Article 11 of the law on freedom of assemblies provides that the head of the community (the “authorized body”) is the body which considers notifications and makes decisions. Upon the decision of the authorized body, a notification can be considered and a decision can be made by its authorized person. Once a notification is registered, it is sent to the police and the Ministry of Culture is notified if the assembly is planned to be conducted at or in the immediate vicinity of immovable historical monuments. Article 13 of the law on freedom of 5