Freedom of assembly

"Sammankomsten" ("The Meeting"), oil painting by Ester Almqvist, original at the Swedish National Museum. The painting was chosen by the UN as a motif for a stamp commemorating the establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, paragraph 20: the Right of Assembly
Janitorial workers striking in front of the MTV building in Santa Monica, California. Striking in a trade union is a way of exercising freedom of assembly and freedom of association.
Posted excerpt from the US Constitution, at an Occupy Oakland event, 2011

Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right or ability of people to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their ideas.[1] The right to freedom of association is recognized as a human right, a political right and a civil liberty.

The terms freedom of assembly and freedom of association may be used to distinguish between the freedom to assemble in public places and the freedom to join an association. Freedom of assembly is often used in the context of the right to protest, while freedom of association is used in the context of labor rights and in the Constitution of the United States is interpreted to mean both the freedom to assemble and the freedom to join an association.[2]

The United States Constitution explicitly provides for 'the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances' in the First Amendment.

Common constraints on the right to assemble are a class of time, place and manner regulations. A second type of constraint is the requirement to obtain a permit, where coordination may be needed to ensure public safety.

Human rights instruments

The freedom of assembly is written about in the following human rights instruments:

Examples of the national and regional constitutions recognizing the freedom of assembly are:

See also

References

  1. Jeremy McBride, Freedom of Association, in The Essentials of... Human Rights, Hodder Arnold, London, 2005, pg.18-20
  2. Freedom Of Assembly
  3. "Constitution of Bangladesh: Chapter III". Prime Minister's Office. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  4. "The Italian Constitution" (PDF). The official website of the Presidency of the Italian Republic.
  5. "Constitution of Russia: Article 30". Adopted at National Voting on December 12, 1993.

External links

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