Guidelines
Accountability An obligation to explain one’s actions to another
Human rights defender
One or more individ-uals, groups or other organs of society who work or act to promote and protect soci-ety to resist and be pro-tected against hostile
Non-nationals Those, who are not citizens of the state concerned
Неграждане Лица, не являющиеся гражданами данного государства
Not-for-profit Not having the for the pursuit of one’s objectives
Political party A free association of persons, one of the aims of which is to par-ticipate in the
Protection of
Public order The capability to main-tain security and Public safety A broad notion
involv-ing the protection of
Endnotes
1 OSCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission, Guidelines on Political Party Regulation (War-saw: ODIHR, 2011), <http://www.osce.org/odihr/77812>.
2 OSCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission, Guidelines for Review of Legislation Pertaining to Religion or Belief (Warsaw: ODIHR, 2004), <http://www.osce.org/odihr/13993>.
3 OSCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission, Joint Guidelines on the Legal Personality of Re-ligious or Belief Communities (Warsaw: ODIHR, 2014), <http://www.venice.coe.int/web-forms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD(2014)023-e>.
4 OSCE/ODIHR, Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (Warsaw:
ODIHR, 2014), <http://www.osce.org/odihr/119633?download=true>.
5 A Consultation Seminar on “Freedom of Association and New Technologies” was held on 11 March, 2014, at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy; a Roundtable on “Funding, Independence, and Accountability of Associations” was held on 6-7 May, 2014, in Warsaw, Poland; and a Roundtable on “Enabling Legal Framework for Freedom of Association: Focus on Formation of Associations, Objectives and Activities, Liability and Sanctions” was held on 8-9 September, 2014, in Warsaw, Poland.
6 See Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimen-sion of the CSCE, 1990 (hereafter: Copenhagen 1990), para. 26: “The participating States recognize that vigorous democracy depends on the existence as an integral part of na-tional life of democratic values and practices as well as an extensive range of democratic institutions. They will therefore encourage, facilitate and, where appropriate, support practical co-operative endeavours and the sharing of information, ideas and exper-tise among themselves and by direct contacts and co-operation between individuals, groups and organizations in areas including the following:
— constitutional law, reform and development,
— electoral legislation, administration and observation,
— establishment and management of courts and legal systems,
— the development of an impartial and effective public service where recruitment and advancement are based on a merit system,
— law enforcement,
— local government and decentralization,
— access to information and protection of privacy,
— developing political parties and their role in pluralistic societies,
— free and independent trade unions,
— co-operative movements,
— developing other forms of free associations and public interest groups,
— journalism, independent media, and intellectual and cultural life,
— the teaching of democratic values, institutions and practices in educational institu-tions and the fostering of an atmosphere of free enquiry.
Such endeavours may cover the range of co-operation encompassed in the human di-mension of the CSCE, including training, exchange of information, books and instruc-tional materials, co-operative programmes and projects, academic and professional exchanges and conferences, scholarships, research grants, provision of expertise and advice, business and scientific contacts and programmes.
7 See, for example, Council of Europe, European Convention for the Protection of Hu-man Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as amended by Protocols Nos. 11 and 14, 4 No-vember 1950 (hereafter: ECHR), Article 11, <http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/Commun/
QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=005&CL=ENG>; UN General Assembly, International Cove-nant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol.
999, p. 171 (hereafter: ICCPR), Article 22, <http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinter-est/pages/ccpr.aspx>; UN General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1948, 217 A (III) (hereafter: UDHR), Article 20, <http://www.un.org/en/docu-ments/udhr/index.shtml>; and Copenhagen 1990, paras. 9, 10 and 26, <http://legisla-tionline.org/topics/organisation/3/topic/1>.
8 ECHR, Article 11.
9 Copenhagen 1990, paras. 9.3, 10.3, 26 and 32.6.
10 ICCPR, Article 22.
11 UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 993, p. 3, Article 8, <http://www.
ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/cescr.pdf>.
12 Organization of American States (OAS), American Convention on Human Rights, “Pact of San Jose”, Costa Rica, 22 November 1969 (hereafter: American Convention on Hu-man Rights), <http://www.oas.org/dil/treaties_B-32_American_Convention_on_Hu-man_Rights.htm>. See also Organization of American States (OAS), Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cul-tural Rights, OAS Treaty, Series No. 69, 1988; and Inter-American Commission on Hu-man Rights (IACHR), American Declaration of Rights and Duties of Man, Res. XXX, Final Act, Ninth International Conference of OAS, 1948, OR OAS/Ser.L/VII.23/Doc 21 rev. 6, 1979.
13 European Union, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, 26 Octo-ber 2012, 2012/C 326/02, Article 12, <http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/
ALL/?uri=OJ:C:2012:326:TOC>.
14 Organization of African Unity (OAU), African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“Banjul Charter”), 27 June 1981, CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, 21 I.L.M. 58 (1982), Article 10,
<http://www.achpr.org/files/instruments/achpr/banjul_charter.pdf>.
15 Article 24 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights adopted by the Council of the League of Arab States on 22 May 2004, states that “Every citizen has the right: […] 6. To freedom of association and peaceful assembly”. See League of Arab States, Arab Charter on Hu-man Rights, 15 September 1994, available at: <http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/
vtx/rwmain?docid=3ae6b38540>.
16 See Annex A for the relevant excerpts of International Labour Organization conventions.
17 Council of Europe, European Social Charter, 18 October 1961, ETS 35 (hereafter:
ESC). The European Committee of Social Rights rules on the conformity of the situation in states with the European Social Charter, the 1988 Additional Protocol and the Revised European Social Charter. Part 1, paragraph 5 of the Charter states that “All workers and employers have the right to freedom of association in national or international organisa-tions for the protection of their economic and social interests.”
18 UN General Assembly, Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, 28 July 1951, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 189, p. 137, Article 15, <http://www.unhcr.
org/3b66c2aa10.html>.
19 UN General Assembly, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 18 December 1979, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1249, p. 13 (here-after: UN CEDAW), Article 7, <http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/
CEDAW.aspx>, which states that “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country and, in particular, shall ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right […] (c) To participate in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country.”
20 UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereafter: UN CRC), 20 November 1989, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, p. 3, Article 15, <http://www.
ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx>. UN General Assembly, Interna-tional Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, 18 December 1990, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2220, p. 3, Arti-cle 29, <http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CMW.aspx>.
21 Ibid., Article 26.
22 Council of Europe, Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, 1 February 1995, ETS 157, Articles 7 and 8, <http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/
html/157.htm>.
23 UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 13 Decem-ber 2006, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2515, p. 3, Article 29, <http://www.ohchr.
org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/ConventionRightsPersonsWithDisabilities.aspx>.
24 See Annex C: Selected Reference Documents.
25 See Venice Commission, “Compilation of Venice Commission Opinions on Free-dom of Association” (3 July 2014) CDL-PI(2014)004, para. 2.2, which refers to: Venice Commission, “Opinion on the compatibility with human rights standards of the leg-islation on non-governmental organisations of the Republic of Azerbaijan” (14-15 Oc-tober 2011) CDL-AD(2011)035, para. 45; and Venice Commission, “Opinion on the Federal law on combating extremist activity of the Russian Federation” (15-16 June 2012) CDL-AD(2012)016 , para. 64.
26 See UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (hereafter: UN CERD Committee), General Recommendation No. 31: Prevention of Racial Discrimination in the Administration and Functioning of the Criminal Justice System, (Sixty-seventh ses-sion, 2005), A/60/18 (SUPP), paras. 9 and 17; and UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (hereafter: UN CEDAW Committee), General recom-mendation No. 25, on article 4, paragraph 1, of the CEDAW, on temporary special mea-sures, 2004, para. 2.
27 See UN CERD Committee, General recommendation No. 35: Combating racist hate speech, 26 September 2013, CERD/C/GC/35, paras. 36 and 43.
28 See, for example, Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Guidelines on national preventive mechanisms, 9 December 2010, CAT/OP/12/5, para. 16; UN Committee against Torture, Concluding ob-servation of the fourth periodic report of Belarus, 7 December 2011, CAT/C/BLR/CO/4, para. 14.
29 See UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (hereafter: UN CRC Committee), Gen-eral Comment No. 2: The Role of Independent National Human Rights Institutions in the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child, 15 November 2002, CRC/
GC/2002/2; and UN CRC Committee, Report of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 23 July 2004, A/59/41, para. 82.
30 See UN CRC Committee, General Comment No. 5 (2003): General measures of im-plementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (arts. 4, 42 and 44, para. 6), 27 November 2003, CRC/GC/2002/5, paras. 46 and 59; UN CRC Committee, General Comment No. 5 (2003): General measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (arts. 4, 42 and 44, para. 6), 27 November 2003, CRC/GC/2002/5, paras. 56 and 58; UN CRC Committee, General Comment No. 8 (2006): The right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment (arts. 19; 28, para. 2; and 37, inter alia), 2 March 2007, CRC/C/GC/8, para. 52;
UN CRC Committee, General Comment No. 9 (2006): The rights of children with dis-abilities, 27 February 2007, CRC/C/GC/9, para. 25; UN CRC Committee, General Com-ment No. 13 (2011): The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence, 18 April 2011, CRC/C/GC/13, para. 75 and UN CRC Committee, General Comment No. 16 (2013) on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights, 17 April 2013, CRC/C/GC/16, paras. 77 and 84.
31 Council of Europe, Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, 12 April 2011, ETS 210, Article 9, <http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/
standardsetting/convention-violence/convention/Convention%20210%20English.pdf>.
32 UN CEDAW Committee, General recommendation No. 14 (1990): Female circumcision, A/45/38 (SUPP).
33 UN General Assembly, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 15 November 2000, United Nations, Articles 6, 9 and 10,
<http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ProtocolTraffickingInPersons.
aspx>.
34 See UN Human Rights Council, The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of asso-ciation, 8 October 2013, A/HRC/RES/24/5 (hereafter: UN Human Rights Council Reso-lution 24/5), which states that “Recognizing the importance of the freedoms of peaceful assembly and of association, as well as the importance of civil society, to good gover-nance, including through transparency and accountability, which is indispensable for building peaceful, prosperous and democratic societies, Aware of the crucial impor-tance of the active involvement of civil society in processes of governance that affect the life of people”, as well as the recital to the UN Human Rights Council, Civil society space: creating and maintaining, in law and in practice, a safe and enabling environ-ment, 9 October 2013, A/HRC/RES/24/21 (hereafter: UN Human Rights Council Resolu-tion on civil society space), which states that “Recognizing the crucial importance of the active involvement of civil society, at all levels, in processes of governance and in pro-moting good governance, including through transparency and accountability, at all lev-els, which is indispensable for building peaceful, prosperous and democratic societies”.
35 UN CERD Committee, General recommendation No. 27 on discrimination against Roma (2000), 16 August 2000, U.N. Doc. A/55/18 (hereafter: UN CERD General Recommen-dation on Discrimination Against Roma), paras. 42 and 43. See also UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, 19 April 2013, UN Doc., A/HRC/23/50, paras. 34 and 46, <http://
www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session23/A.
HRC.23.50_EN.pdf>, which states that “For women to have the capacity to participate in political and public life on equal footing with men, including to build autonomous movements for their own empowerment, they must be able to exercise their rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, expression, movement and association. It is imperative to recognize and secure these rights as individual rights for women‘s effec-tive participation in political and public life.” See also UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Report on factors that impede equal political participation and steps to over-come those challenges, 30 June 2014, A/HRC/27/29, paras. 22-25, <http://www.ohchr.
org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session27/Documents/A_HRC_27_29_FRE.
doc>.
36 See UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 14:
The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12 of the Convention), 11 August 2000, E/C.12/2000/4, para. 59; UN CRC Committee, General Comment No. 15 (2013) on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health (Art. 24 of the Convention), 17 April 2013, CRC/C/GC/15, para. 120; and UN CRC Committee, General Comment No. 17 (2013) on the right of the child to rest, leisure, play, recreational activities, cultural life and the arts (Art. 31 of the Convention), 17 April 2013, CRC/C/GC/17, para. 58.
37 See UN CERD General Recommendation on Discrimination Against Roma, para. 14.
38 See UN CEDAW Committee, Concluding observation of the combined sixth and sev-enth periodic reports of Cyprus adopted by the Committee at its fifty fourth session (11 February – 1 March 2013), 1 March 2013, CEDAW/C/CYP/CO/6-7, para. 24.
39 See UN Human Rights Council, The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of asso-ciation, 11 October 2012, A/HRC/RES/21/16, Article 3; UN Human Rights Council Reso-lution 24/5, Article 4; and recital to UN Human Rights Council ResoReso-lution on civil society space.
40 See UN Human Rights Council Resolution on civil society space, para. 5.
41 See UN CERD General Recommendation on Discrimination Against Roma, para. 17.
42 Ibid., paras. 30 and 34.
43 See UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereafter: UN CESCR Committee), General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12 of the Covenant), 11 August 2000, E/C.12/2000/4, para. 65; UN CESCR Committee, General Comment No. 15: The Right to Water (Arts. 11 and 12 of the Cove-nant), 20 January 2003, E/C.12/2002/11, para. 60; and UN CESCR Committee, General Comment No. 17: The Right of Everyone to Benefit from the Protection of the Moral and Material Interests Resulting from any Scientific, Literary or Artistic Production of Which He or She is the Author (Art. 15, Para. 1 (c) of the Covenant), 12 January 2006, E/C.12/
GC/17, para. 54.
44 See UN CESCR Committee, General Comment No. 18: The Right to Work (art. 6 of the Covenant), 6 February 2006, E/C.12/GC/18, para. 42.
45 See UN CRC Committee, General Comment No. 4: Adolescent Health and Develop-ment in the Context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1 July 2003, CRC/
GC/2003/4, paras. 38-39.
46 See UN Human Rights Council Resolution 21/16, para. 4; and UN Human Rights Council Resolution 24/5, Article 5. See also UN Human Rights Council, Protecting human rights defenders, 12 April 2013, A/HRC/RES/22/6, in particular paras. 5 and 13 to 20. See also African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Concluding observation of the Af-rican Commission on Human and Peoples’ rights in respect of Egypt, 3rd Period Report, 27 April – 11 May 2005, para. 29.
47 See, for example, the UN CEDAW Committee, Concluding observations of the Com-mittee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in respect of Comoros, 8 November 2012, CEDAW/C/COM/CO/1-4, paras. 17-18); and UN CEDAW Committee, Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in respect of Panama, 5 February 2010, CEDAW/C/PAN/CO/7, paras. 20-21.
48 Copenhagen 1990, para. 26.
49 Ibid., para. 10.2.
50 European Court of Human Rights (hereafter: ECtHR), Gorzelik and Others v. Poland [GC]
(Application no. 44158/98, judgment of 17 February 2004), para. 88, <http://hudoc.echr.
coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001-61637>.
51 Venice Commission, “Opinion on the compatibility with universal human rights stand-ards of article 193-1 of the criminal code on the rights of non-registered associations of the Republic of Belarus” (14-15 October 2011) CDL-AD(2011)036, para. 72. See also the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Baena Ricardo et al. v. Panama, 28 November 2003, Series C no. 104, para. 166 and subsequent paragraphs.
52 Council of Europe, Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)14 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the legal status of non-governmental organisations in Europe, 10 October 2007, preamble, para. 2.
53 See, for example, International Labour Organization (ILO), Constitution of the In-ternational Labour Organization, 1 April 1919, <http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/
f?p=1000:62:0::NO:62:P62_LIST_ENTRIE_ID:2453907:NO>. See also the Preamble to International Labour Organization, Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, C87, 1948.
54 See ILO, Gender Equality and Social Dialogue: An Annotated Bibliography, 2012, <http://
www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/download/bibliogender.pdf>.
55 See ECtHR, United Communist Party of Turkey v. Turkey [GC] (Application no. 19392/92, judgment of 30 January 1998), <http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.
aspx?i=001-58128>.
56 See OSCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission, Guidelines on Political Party Regulation (Warsaw: ODIHR, 2011), para. 10, <http://www.osce.org/odihr/77812>.
57 Ibid., para. 84. See also OSCE/ODIHR, Handbook on Promoting Women’s Participa-tion in Political Parties (Warsaw: ODIHR, 2014), pages 15-17, <http://www.osce.org/
odihr/120877>.
58 See, for example, ECtHR, Refah Partisi (the Welfare Party) and others v. Turkey [GC] (Ap-plication nos. 41340/98, 41342/98, 41343/98 and 41344/98, judgment of 13 February 2003), paras. 87-88. See also ECtHR, National Union of Belgian Police v. Belgium, Appli-cation no. 4464/70, 27 October 1975, paras. 39-40; and Council of Europe, Recommen-dation CM/Rec(2007)14 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the legal status of non-governmental organisations in Europe, 10 October 2007, para. 5 which states that “NGOs should enjoy the right to freedom of expression and all other univer-sally and regionally guaranteed rights and freedoms applicable to them.” See also Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Huilca-Tesce v. Peru, 3 March 2005, Series C no. 121, paras. 69-71, < http://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/seriec_121_ing.pdf>.
59 “The right to freedom of association is intertwined with the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression. It is impossible to defend individual rights if citizens are unable to organize around common needs and interests and speak up for them publicly.” See Venice Commission, “Opinion on the compatibility with human rights standards of the legislation on non-governmental organisations of the Republic of Azerbaijan” (14-15 October 2011) CDL-AD(2011)035, para. 84.
60 See OSCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission, Guidelines on Political Party Regulation (Warsaw: ODIHR, 2011), para. 37. This approach has also been endorsed by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; see, for example, García y Familiares v. Guatemala, 29 November 2012, Series C no. 258, para. 122.
61 See OSCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission, Guidelines on Political Party Regulation (Warsaw: ODIHR, 2011), para. 11.
62 Council of Europe, Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)14 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the legal status of non-governmental organisations in Europe, 10 October 2007, paras. 2 and 22; and ECtHR, Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij v. Nether-lands (Application no. 58369/10, decision of 10 July 2012), <http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/
sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001-112340>.
63 ECtHR, Ouranio Toxo and Others v. Greece (Application no. 74989/01, judgment of 20 October 2005), para. 37, <http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.as-px?i=001-70720>. See also Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Huilca-Tesce v. Peru, 3 March 2005, Series C no. 121, para. 77; and Inter-American Court of Human Rights,
63 ECtHR, Ouranio Toxo and Others v. Greece (Application no. 74989/01, judgment of 20 October 2005), para. 37, <http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.as-px?i=001-70720>. See also Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Huilca-Tesce v. Peru, 3 March 2005, Series C no. 121, para. 77; and Inter-American Court of Human Rights,