Around the world, people are joining movements that stand up for important causes: the environment, women’s rights, children’s rights, racial justice and more. These movements increasingly rely on digital technologies to bring likeminded people and communities together – regardless of physical borders - and enable them to speak up for the justice they want to see. However, technology is also used to silence or target protesters and participants of assemblies, a trend which has increasingly worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recognising this trend, ECNL together with experts and national partners developed a Guide to Digitally-Mediated Assemblies and How to Monitor Them. The Guide aims to support CSOs to collect information on the ways digital technologies are used to organise and promote protests as well as how technology is used to silence them. With the evidence gathered, CSOs can prepare for advocacy to challenge restrictions to this right in their countries or regions. We piloted the Guide in four countries:
- in Armenia with the Helsinki Committee of Armenia;
- in North Macedonia with the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association;
- in Serbia with the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights YUCOM; and
- in Iran with Professor Azadeh Akbari from the University of Twente.
Following the pilot projects, ECNL and the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association held an online webinar on 28 February 2023 to discuss how we can safeguard digital assemblies and online protests. Panelists included representatives from regional human rights mechanisms in Latin America, Council of Europe and OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). More than 60 representatives of civil society, academia and governments worldwide attended the event, which offered a unique opportunity to share inspiring examples of digital activism, hear about the challenges and learn about the pilot projects’ findings. Below are some key messages from our speakers.
A safe digital space is especially crucial to hear the voices of children and young environmental defenders
Speakers pointed out how children and young people are most vulnerable in the context of the climate crisis. Their voices need to be represented and adequately protected in all those spaces where discussions take place, and the internet and social media are powerful tools to convey messages to many people. “I cannot imagine how it would be to face this fight without social media” said Francisco Javier Vera Manzanares, a Colombian climate activist. At the same time, social media should be a safe and free space for debate, discussion and integration of different voices of children, women, racial communities. Francisco also highlighted how the digital divide affects activism, particularly Latin America, where in remote places, such as villages it is very difficult to have access to good internet connection, or even any access at all.
Digital space enables pro-democratic resistance against authoritarian regimes...
Activists shared that the use of digital technologies help facilitate people’s awareness that change was needed in their countries. Often, young people too mobilise online for political and public issues they did not closely follow earlier. In Nigeria, for example, the #EndSARS movement was different from previous protests against police brutality and more successful because of the involvement of social media and technology, according to Patrick Allam, Legal Advisor at Spaces for Change. Social media like Twitter and Instagram also enabled Iranian activists outside the country to respond very quickly in solidarity with the protests in Iran after Mahsa Jina Amini’s death, as shared by Elaheh Kouhestani of Berlin's Woman* Life Freedom Collective.
...and authoritarian regimes promptly push back with restrictions to digital access
Sadly, the #EndSARS movement in Nigeria also received strong push-back from the government, trying to control certain digital technologies through law cases and new, restrictive legislation. Equally, systematic repression of access to the internet in Iran also affected the movement in Berlin, both through internet shutdowns and when content from human rights activists was filtered and blocked by the national authorities. Commissioner Joel Hernández García, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights shared three main challenges of digital assemblies he witnesses in the Americas: surveillance technologies that are used for illegal surveillance against journalists and civil society; biometric identification technologies such as facial recognition that are deployed for surveillance of the public spaces; and online intimidation and stigmatisation of human rights defenders.
“It is important to remember that having access to digital tools is an alternative for the global north, but for the global south it is often the only option to raise our voice and fight for human rights,” concluded Elaheh Kouhestani. Patrick Allam added that other ways to strengthen digital assemblies include putting restrictions on the supply chain of intrusive technologies, intensifying partnerships with national CSOs and measuring national legislation against international mechanisms and holding actors that do not comply with these mechanisms accountable.
Digital space challenges and benefits are shared across regions, so we need a coordinated response of human rights mechanisms...
The representatives of the UN and regional human rights mechanisms at the convening all agreed about the importance of digital technology as an indispensable tool at the core of our societies to communicate and access information and evidence. However, they acknowledged that some actors also use digital technologies to restrict freedoms: e.g., surveillance technology is deployed to violate the right to privacy of protesters, and digital assemblies are increasingly being silenced through internet shutdowns. According to UN Special Rapporteur Clément Voule, close cooperation between the United Nations and regional bodies on the topic of digital assemblies is necessary: “We are facing a global challenge and we need a global strategy.”
Stefano Montanari, on behalf of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights also urged the participants of the webinar to look at the underlying issues: “The systemic problem beneath all of this is the erosion of the rule of law and polarisation in many states.” To address these issues, Stefano Montanari argued that it is important to go beyond regular monitoring and global co-operation to address the challenges. Part of this means to ensure visibility of good practices to increase chances of success.
Orce Bonev, Human Rights Advisor on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly at OSCE/ODIHR shared various standards and documents developed by OSCE/ODIHR on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, which include a large part on using digital technologies for assemblies. These standards, he said, are good indicators for states to improve the facilitation of this right in the digital space. “We need to get back to all these standards and documents out there, and to see how we can improve the facilitation of assemblies in digital space. There are plenty of good examples we can draw inspiration from.”
...and civil society is a key ally for success
Civil society plays an indispensable role to protect digital assemblies, added the US Special Rapporteur, because they are in a unique position to monitor challenges and offences and provide the UN and regional mechanisms with information and evidence. Commissioner Joel Hernández García also emphasised the important role of civil society: “They are our eyes and ears and work directly with people and bring us useful information for our work, especially related to strategic litigation cases, which are needed to develop standards.” Stefano Montanari agreed that international organisations and civil society should work together as partners, especially since it is extremely important for mechanisms such as the Council of Europe to be informed timely about draft laws to be able to intervene successfully.
Monitoring freedom of assembly in the digital space is challenging and requires capacity investment to keep up with fast technological changes
Civil society partners Helsinki Committee of Armenia, Macedonian Young Lawyers Association and Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights YUCOM from Serbia have monitored several local protests and assemblies using the Guide to Digitally-Mediated Assemblies and How to Monitor Them. Based on their experience, in these countries almost all protests and assemblies have digital aspects, since various digital technologies are used to organise as well as restrict them. According to Rafael Ishkhanyan, Mariam Vardanyan, Goce Kocevski and Milena Vasić, the most challenging part of monitoring digital assemblies remains the collection of data. This is because governmental bodies or tech companies resist sharing useful granular information, such as how much content was removed, how many requests for content curation were received, by whom and why, etc. CSOs also require IT knowledge, funding and capacity to conduct meaningful ongoing monitoring, and these are not always available. Finally, the monitors shared that during their pilots they witnessed widespread online harassment, especially in cases of assemblies on gender-specific topics.
As a follow up
Following our jointly-organised convening, on 24 March 2023 the UN Special Rapporteur and the other Human Rights Mechanisms launched their Framework for Joint Action, which outlines their envisaged joint and coordinated actions to ensure the effective realisation of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association online and offline.
Dialogue and consultation with civil society is a key aspect of the implementation of this initiative. Therefore, it is even more critical to empower civil society organisations and movements with new monitoring tools, provide capacity and assistance in identifying challenges, help prepare strategies for responses and advocacy and facilitate connections both among regional actors and with the national and international human rights protection mechanisms.