CCPR/C/GC/37
bound by international law to recognize the right of peaceful assembly, the vast majority of
States also recognize the right in their national constitutions.3
4.
The right of peaceful assembly protects the non-violent gathering by persons for
specific purposes, principally expressive ones. 4 It constitutes an individual right that is
exercised collectively.5 Inherent to the right is thus an associative element.
5.
Everyone has the right of peaceful assembly: citizens and non-citizens alike. It may
be exercised by, for example, foreign nationals,6 migrants (documented or undocumented),7
asylum seekers, refugees8 and stateless persons.
6.
Article 21 of the Covenant protects peaceful assemblies wherever they take place:
outdoors, indoors and online; in public and private spaces; or a combination thereof. Such
assemblies may take many forms, including demonstrations, protests, meetings, processions,
rallies, sit-ins, candlelit vigils and flash mobs. They are protected under article 21 whether
they are stationary, such as pickets, or mobile, such as processions or marches.
7.
In many cases, peaceful assemblies do not pursue controversial goals and cause little
or no disruption. The aim might indeed be, for example, to commemorate a national day or
celebrate the outcome of a sporting event. However, peaceful assemblies can sometimes be
used to pursue contentious ideas or goals. Their scale or nature can cause disruption, for
example of vehicular or pedestrian movement or economic activity. 9 These consequences,
whether intended or unintended, do not call into question the protection such assemblies
enjoy. To the extent that an event may create such disruptions or risks, these must be managed
within the framework of the Covenant.
8.
The recognition of the right of peaceful assembly imposes a corresponding obligation
on States parties to respect and ensure its exercise without discrimination.10 This requires
States to allow such assemblies to take place without unwarranted interference and to
facilitate the exercise of the right and to protect the participants. The second sentence of
article 21 provides grounds for potential restrictions, but any such restrictions must be
narrowly drawn. There are, in effect, limits on the restrictions that may be imposed.
9.
The full protection of the right of peaceful assembly is possible only when other, often
overlapping, rights are also protected, notably freedom of expression, freedom of association
and political participation. 11 Protection of the right of peaceful assembly is often also
dependent on the realization of a broader range of civil and political rights, and economic,
social and cultural rights. Where individuals’ conduct places them outside the scope of the
protection of article 21, for example because they are behaving violently, they retain their
other rights under the Covenant, subject to the applicable limitations and restrictions.
10.
The way in which assemblies are conducted and their context changes over time. This
may in turn affect how they are approached by the authorities. For example, given that
emerging communications technologies offer the opportunity to assemble either wholly or
partly online and often play an integral role in organizing, participating in and monitoring
physical gatherings, interference with such communications can impede assemblies. While
surveillance technologies can be used to detect threats of violence and thus to protect the
public, they can also infringe on the right to privacy and other rights of participants and
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
2
A total of 184 of the 193 States Members of the United Nations recognize the right to peaceful
assembly in their constitutions. See www.rightofassembly.info.
Kivenmaa v. Finland (CCPR/C/50/D/412/1990), para. 7.6; Sekerko v. Belarus
(CCPR/C/109/D/1851/2008), para. 9.3; and Poplavny and Sudalenko v. Belarus
(CCPR/C/118/D/2139/2012), para. 8.5.
General comment No. 31 (2004) on the nature of the general legal obligation imposed on States
parties to the Covenant, para. 9.
General comment No. 15 (1986) on the position of aliens under the Covenant, paras. 1–2; and
CCPR/C/KWT/CO/3, para. 42.
CCPR/C/DOM/CO/6, para. 32.
CCPR/C/NPL/CO/2, para. 14.
CCPR/C/KOR/Q/4, para. 26.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 2 (1).
A/HRC/39/28, para. 14.