The Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Context of Peaceful Protests

A/HRC/RES/56/10View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2024.

What other versions does this mandate have?

8 versions · 2012–2024

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2024	A/HRC/RES/56/10	The promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests	4,638	50%Compare
2022	A/HRC/RES/50/21	The promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests	4,064	70%Compare
2020	A/HRC/RES/44/20	The promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests	3,413	64%Compare
2018	A/HRC/RES/38/11	The promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests	2,331	21%Compare
2016	A/HRC/RES/31/37	The promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests	891	21%Compare

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 20	Human rights	433

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 20	Human rights	433	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 subjects

Accountability Freedom of Association Guidelines Human Rights Law Enforcement Public Demonstrations Right of Assembly

What’s in this document?

37 operative paragraphs

Recalls that States have the responsibility, including in the context of peaceful protests, to promote and protect human rights and to prevent human rights violations and abuses, including extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, arbitrary arrest and detention, enforced disappearances and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and calls upon States to avoid the abuse of criminal and civil proceedings, or threats of such acts, at all times;

Calls upon all States to promote a safe and enabling environment for individuals and groups to exercise their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, of expression and of association, both online and offline, including by ensuring that domestic legislation and procedures relating to the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, of expression and of association at all levels are in conformity with their international human rights obligations and commitments to clearly and explicitly establish a presumption in favour of the exercise of these rights, and that they are effectively implemented;

Calls upon States to ensure that legislation relating to national security, public order and public health is in line with their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights law, in order to prevent undue criminalization of or restrictions or bans on peaceful protests;

Also calls upon States to cease using rhetoric that stigmatizes protesters, and to facilitate a dialogue with them in an inclusive manner when seeking solutions for resolving a crisis and addressing its causes;

Underlines the necessity to address the management of assemblies, including peaceful protests, so as to contribute to their peaceful conduct, to avoid unlawful or excessive use of force and to prevent injuries, including those that lead to disability, and loss of life of protesters, those observing, monitoring and recording such assemblies, bystanders, medical personnel and officials exercising law enforcement duties, as well as any human rights violation or abuse, to ensure accountability for such violations and abuses and to provide victims with access to a remedy and redress;

Encourages all States to give due consideration to the compilation of practical recommendations for the proper management of assemblies based on best practices and lessons learned,² which provides:

²A/HRC/31/66.

An evaluation of the human rights involved before, during and after an assembly, including peaceful protests, including the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, of expression, of association, and of religion or belief, the right to participation in the conduct of public affairs, the right to life, liberty and security of person, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as well as the right to an effective remedy for all human rights violations, and the respect for human dignity, bodily integrity, and privacy;

A tool for States on how to implement their obligations and commitments, including on how to operationalize them in their domestic laws, procedures and practices at all levels, and to promote and protect human rights in the context of assemblies, including peaceful protests;

Takes note with appreciation of the specific technical and practical toolkit based on international standards and best practices developed by the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to assist law enforcement officials in promoting and protecting human rights in the context of peaceful protests, in application of Human Rights Council resolution 50/21, and the Model Protocol for Law Enforcement Officials to Promote and Protect Human Rights in the Context of Peaceful Protests³ and its three supplementary components, comprising action-oriented checklists, guidance on the use of digital technologies by law enforcement in the context of peaceful protests, and an outline of a handbook on facilitating peaceful protests for law enforcement officials;

³See A/HRC/55/60.

Encourages all States to take into account the Model Protocol, which makes practical recommendations aimed at assisting them and their law enforcement agencies and officials in strengthening the required institutional capacity, rules, protocols, strategies and procedures and fulfilling their international human rights obligations, specifically in relation to respecting, promoting and protecting human rights while facilitating peaceful protests, and invites States to revise or adopt, as necessary, protocols for law enforcement for the human rights-compliant facilitation of peaceful protests, in line with international human rights law, standards and best practices, in order to improve accountability and protect human rights in the context of protests;

Calls upon States to facilitate peaceful protests by providing protesters, to the extent possible, with access to public space within sight and sound of their intended target audience, and by protecting them, without discrimination, where necessary, against any form of threat or harassment, and underlines the role of local authorities in this regard;

Underlines the important role that communication between organizers, protesters, local authorities and officials exercising law enforcement duties can play in the proper management of assemblies, such as peaceful protests, and calls upon States to establish such appropriate channels;

Urges States to pay particular attention to the safety and protection of women and girls, as well as of women and girl human rights defenders, in the context of peaceful protests, to develop systems to prevent and respond to acts of intimidation, harassment and violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, and to adopt protocols and ensure adequate and continuous training of law enforcement officials on gender-responsive policing of protests;

Reaffirms that States must take all appropriate measures for the safety and protection of children, including while they exercise their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, of expression and of association, including in the context of peaceful protests, and stresses the need to integrate full consideration of the rights of the child in guidance for law enforcement;

Calls upon all States to pay particular attention to the safety and protection of those observing, monitoring and recording protests, including human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists and other media workers, taking into account their specific role, exposure and vulnerability, even if the protest has been declared unlawful or is dispersed;

Calls upon States to take measures before, during and after protests to protect all individuals, and to pay special attention to those belonging to groups that are particularly vulnerable to violence, including to unlawful or excessive use of force by law enforcement officials;

Calls upon all States to refrain from and cease measures that violate human rights, including practices such as the disruption of communications through Internet shutdowns, or measures that unlawfully or arbitrarily block or take down media websites or social networks, and other widespread restrictions on Internet access, the dissemination of information online or from gathering in online spaces, or surveillance on the basis of group affiliation and the targeted use of spyware in the context of protests, as such actions may be incompatible with international human rights law, bearing in mind that protests should not be seen as opportunities for surveillance or the pursuit of broader law enforcement objectives through the use of digital technologies;

Urges all States to avoid using force during peaceful protests, to prioritize de-escalation tactics and to ensure that, where force is absolutely necessary, no one is subject to excessive or indiscriminate use of force, and also to ensure that assistance and medical aid are rendered to any injured or affected person at the earliest possible moment;

Calls upon all States, as a matter of priority, to ensure that their domestic legislation and procedures are consistent with their international obligations and commitments in relation to the use of force in the context of law enforcement and are effectively implemented by officials exercising law enforcement duties, in particular, applicable principles of law enforcement, such as necessity and proportionality, bearing in mind that lethal force may only be used as a last resort to protect against an imminent threat to life and that it may not be used merely to disperse a gathering;

Affirms that nothing can ever justify the indiscriminate use of lethal force against a crowd, which is unlawful under international human rights law;

Calls upon States to investigate any deaths or significant injuries, including those that lead to disability, incurred during protests, including those resulting from the discharge of firearms or the use of less-lethal weapons by officials exercising law enforcement duties or by private personnel acting on behalf of the State, and stresses the need to ensure full accountability;

Also calls upon States to ensure adequate initial and ongoing human rights-oriented and gender-, disability- and age-responsive training of officials exercising law enforcement duties and, where applicable, to promote such adequate training for private personnel acting on behalf of the State for the effective facilitation of protests, and that it is available to all, including commanding officers, and emphasizes learning practical skills and prioritizing facilitation, communication, negotiation, de-escalation and human rights-compliant crowd facilitation techniques that include tailored sessions on the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence and on the specific needs of individuals and groups in situations of vulnerability;

Encourages States to make appropriate protective equipment and less-lethal weapons available to their officials exercising law enforcement duties in order to decrease their need to use weapons of any kind, while pursuing efforts to regulate and establish protocols for the training in and use of less-lethal weapons, bearing in mind that even less-lethal weapons can result in a risk to life, serious injury or torture or other ill-treatment;

Underlines the importance of thorough and independent testing of less-lethal weapons prior to procurement and deployment to establish their lethality and the extent of likely injury, of monitoring appropriate training and use of such weapons, and of promoting accountability at all stages;

Calls upon all States to take, in line with the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, all appropriate effective legislative, administrative, judicial and other measures to prevent and prohibit the production, trade, export, import and use of law enforcement tools and equipment that have no practical use other than for the purpose of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including in the context of protests;

Stresses the importance of international cooperation in support of national efforts for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the context of assemblies, including peaceful protests, in order to raise the capacities of law enforcement agencies to deal with such assemblies in a manner that conforms to international human rights law and standards;

Calls upon States to refrain from the use of digital technology to silence, arbitrarily or unlawfully surveil or harass individuals or groups solely for having organized, taken part in or observed, monitored or recorded peaceful protests, or from ordering blanket Internet shutdowns and from blocking websites and platforms, including around protests or key political moments;

Affirms that before, during or after protests, digital technologies should not be used to categorize, profile or remotely identify individuals, particularly those belonging to groups in situations of vulnerability, in a manner inconsistent with international human rights law and the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality, including by the unlawful or arbitrary use of biometric means, given that they can be discriminatory and inconsistent with the obligation of law enforcement officials to facilitate peaceful protests, and urges States to refrain from such use to identify those peacefully participating in an assembly;

Calls upon States to refrain, in accordance with applicable national procedures and international norms and standards, from the export, sale or transfer of surveillance goods and technologies and less-lethal weapons when they assess that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that such goods, technologies or weapons might be used to violate or abuse human rights, including in the context of assemblies;

Also calls upon States to refrain from applying any undue restrictions to technical solutions to secure and to protect the confidentiality of digital communications, including measures for encryption, pseudonymization and anonymity online, given that these are important to ensure the enjoyment of human rights, in particular the right to privacy, in the context of assemblies;

Recognizes the importance of documenting and monitoring human rights violations and abuses committed in the context of peaceful protests, including casualty recording, and of the role that can be played by national human rights institutions, civil society, including non-governmental organizations, journalists and other media workers, Internet users, human rights defenders and lawyers in this regard;

Urges States to ensure accountability for human rights violations and abuses through judicial or other national mechanisms, based on law and in conformity with their international human rights obligations and commitments, and to provide all victims with access to a remedy and redress, including in the context of peaceful protests;

Encourages States to seek relevant technical assistance for the facilitation of assemblies, where appropriate, including from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and from other specialized agencies, from relevant special procedures of the Human Rights Council and from regional human rights mechanisms;

Invites all States to consider making recommendations, where appropriate, to States under review during the universal periodic review on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of assemblies, including regarding the facilitation of assemblies, such as peaceful protests;

Requests the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, to convene, before the sixty-second session of the Human Rights Council, a global consultation on the role of different stakeholders in promoting the application of the technical and practical toolkit developed pursuant to Council resolution 50/21;

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner, in collaboration with the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, to support country-level application of the practical toolkit for law enforcement officials, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 50/21, through technical cooperation in-country workshops and follow-up in each region, conducted with the agreement of a country, by the sixty-fifth session;

Decides to continue its consideration of the present topic.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents

Who cites this mandate in the budget?