Human rights defenders will monitor assemblies over the next six months

Over the next six months, human rights defenders will monitor assemblies throughout the country. Their observations will be compiled into a report that will be submitted to the authorities with the aim of further improving the legislative framework and respect for human rights and freedoms. The participants attended a five-day training course, organised by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) as part of a project on monitoring freedom of assembly in Moldova. At a news conference today Mark Guthrie, Deputy Head of ODIHR’s human rights department, expressed his hope that that the monitoring project, carried out in co-operation with the Human Rights Resource Centre CReDO, would help raise awareness in Moldova of the importance of freedom of assembly, a cornerstone of a democratic society and means for a diverse range of groups to make their views known in public. According to Serghei Ostaf, CReDO’s executive director, the monitoring network consists of 30 representatives from 12 NGOs based on the right bank of the Nistru alone. Yet the project is flexible and open to all the organisations willing to take part in the monitoring after a similar training course, Ostaf emphasised. This project builds upon the ODIHR “Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly”, which outline international standards and illustrate key principles with examples of good practice from the OSCE region. The Guidelines highlight the incontestable duty of the government to protect peaceful assemblies, including those exposing unpopular views, suggesting that organisers of peaceful assemblies should notify the authorities of their intention to hold a rally rather than request an authorisation for it. The authors also assert that the authorities should protect and facilitate any spontaneous assembly as long as it is peaceful in nature. The timing of the project coincides with the works on a bill concerning assemblies, drafted by the Ministry of Justice in partnership with civil society. Upon the Government’s request, OSCE/ODIHR has made some recommendations to the bill.