A/HRC/41/41 V. Conclusions and recommendations 65. While the digital age has opened new space for the enjoyment of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, it has also brought a range of new threats and risks to these fundamental rights. Severe legal restrictions, and government practices in digital surveillance, for example, risk eliminating the space in which civil society can promote or defend collectively a field of mutual interest. Digital technology companies’ actions and inaction have exacerbated these risks or created complex new challenges for individuals and organizations that seek to exercise assembly and association rights online and offline. These challenges are likely to intensify in an increasingly digital future. 66. International law protects the rights of freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, whether exercised in person, through technologies of today, or through technologies that will be invented in the future. Existing international human rights norms and principles should not only dictate State conduct, but also be the framework that guides digital technology companies’ design, control and governance of digital technologies. 67. States should ensure that the rights of peaceful assembly and association are respected, protected and implemented in national legal frameworks, policies and practices, in accordance with international law. Digital technology companies must commit to respect freedoms of peaceful assembly and association and carry out due diligence to ensure that they do not cause, contribute to or become complicit in violation of these rights. In fulfilling their respective responsibilities, States and digital technology companies should comply with well-established principles of nondiscrimination, pluralism of views, transparency, multi-stakeholder participation, and access to justice. 68. A. To this end, the Special Rapporteur makes the following recommendations: Recommendations to States 69. States should ensure that any interference with the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association is “prescribed by law” and is “necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others”. 98 Restrictions on grounds of “national security”, “public safety” and “protection of morals” should be clearly and narrowly defined, so as to prevent their abuse by authorities. 70. States should promote and facilitate access to digital technologies, and should not put restrictions on their use for the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Policies and practices should address equal access to the Internet and digital technologies, the affordability, and participation in the digital age for all, so as to bridge the digital divide. 71. Online association and assembly play a particularly important role for marginalized groups, and interference with the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association can have a disproportionate impact on individuals and groups in vulnerable positions. In fulfilling their obligations, States should pay particular attention to the disparate impact that limitations on access to and use of digital technologies can have on racial and religious minorities, political opponents and activists, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons. 72. States should ensure that an effective remedy for violation of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association is available and accessible to all. Remedies should be accessible, affordable, adequate and timely, from the perspective 98 Human Rights Council resolution 15/21, para. 4. 17