In it submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, APC acknowledges the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association to be together with the right to freedom of expression at the core of a democratic and open society and makes recommendations for how these rights can be promoted and protected online. APC also welcomes the establishment of a Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association in 2010,
This submission has three parts: (a) the conceptualisation of freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association on the internet, (b) country specific cases and (c) recommendations.
The submission highlights among others technology-related violence against women as a violation of the rights of women to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and calls for the protection of women's human rights defenders in an internet environment. It also recommends that:

the Special Rapporteur of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly actively seek opportunities for collaboration with other special mandate holders on issues in relation to the internet. In particular, the mandate holders on the right to freedom of expression, on violence against women, on the situation of human rights defenders, on the right to health and on the right to education, should all take into account the importance of addressing the online aspects of their work collaboratively.
states acknowledge that restrictions (whether due to state, family or cultural reasons) to women’s use of the internet and communication technologies adversely affect women and girls' rights to fully participate in cultural life and the full exercise of their citizenship within the evolving information society.

Year of publication

2012

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