A/HRC/19/40 I. Introduction 1. On 13 September 2011, during its eighteenth session, the Human Rights Council held a panel discussion on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests, with a particular focus on the ways and means to improve the protection of these rights in such contexts in line with international human rights law, pursuant to its decision 17/120. The Council further requested “the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to liaise with relevant special procedures, States and other stakeholders, including relevant United Nations bodies and agencies, with a view to ensuring their participation in the panel discussion”. The Office was also requested to prepare the present summary. 2. The panel discussion aimed to: (a) reaffirm the importance of the right of each individual to express his or her grievances and/or aspirations through peaceful protests; (b) draw the attention to the obligations of States, in the context of peaceful protests, bearing in mind that States have the primary responsibility for the promotion and protection of human rights; (c) identify ways and means, including best practices, to improve the protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests in line with international law; and (d) formulate recommendations on how to improve the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests at all levels, including by the Human Rights Council. 3. The panel discussion was moderated by the President of the Human Rights Council, Laura Dupuy Lasserre (Uruguay), and opened by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang. Mohamed Nasheed, President of Maldives, delivered a high-level keynote speech. The panellists were: Maina Kiai, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Santiago Canton, Executive Secretary, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; Michael Hamilton, Secretary to the Panel of Experts on the Freedom of Assembly, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR); Lake Tee Khaw, Vice-Chair of, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, SUHAKAM; and Bahey el-din Hassan, General Director, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. II. Statement by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, the President of Maldives and contributions of panellists A. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights 4. The Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, in her opening remarks, commended the Council for placing the important issue of the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests high on its agenda. She noted that the panel took place against the backdrop of a historical turn of events during the last ten months, which had seen brave women and men young and old peacefully taking to the streets in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and in other regions, prompted by a profound desire for increased respect for their fundamental human rights. However, their peaceful protests in far too many instances were met with brutal repression, through summary, extrajudicial or arbitrary executions; arbitrary detention; enforced disappearances; and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The Deputy High Commissioner highlighted that such human rights violations were 3