ECNL is engaging with international and EU mechanisms to build argumentation on the protection of civic freedoms during emergencies. By collecting and analysing cases from different contexts we aim to advance the standards and support their use in litigation and advocacy.
Statements supporting civic freedoms in the context of COVID-19 pandemic
- UN experts warn of closing digital space amid COVID-19 pandemic, UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (July 30, 2020)
- Statement on derogations from the Covenant in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, UN Human Rights Committee Statement (April 30, 2020)
- Joint Statement on Digital Contact Tracing, COE (April 28, 2020)
- Joint statement on safety of journalists and access to information during the COVID-19 crisis, Groups of Friends (April 17, 2020)
- State responses to Covid 19 threat should not halt freedoms of assembly and association, UNSR Clément Voule (April 14, 2020)
- COVID-19 and Measures to Combat Illicit Financing, Statement by the FATF President (April 1, 2020)
- UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies call for human rights approach in fighting COVID-19 (March 24, 2020)
- COVID-19: States should not abuse emergency measures to suppress human rights (March 16, 2020)
Interpretive commentary of the treaty obligations
- General Comment No. 37 on Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – Right of peaceful assembly, Human Rights Committee (July 23, 2020)
Civic Freedoms Reports in the context of COVID-19
- Civic Space Watch Report 2020
- IDEA, The Global State of Democracy in Focus: Taking Stock of Global Democratic Trends Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic (December, 2020)
- CIVICUS, Solidarity in the time of COVID-19, Civil society responses to the pandemic (November, 2020)
- Money laundering and terrorism financing trends in MONEYVAL jurisdictions during the COVID-19 crisis, MONEYVAL (September 2, 2020)
- OSCE Human Dimension Commitments and State Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic (July, 2020)
- Ten years protecting civic space worldwide, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association (May 13, 2020)
- UN: COVID-19 and Human Rights We are all in this together (April 2020)
- Disease pandemics and the freedom of opinion and expression, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (April 23, 2020)
Guidance and toolkits
- ICNL Checklist COVID-19 and Human Rights - Assessing Compliance of Legal Measures with International Standards
- ICNL: International Legal Framework Governing Public Health Emergencies
- Checklist - Freedoms of peaceful assembly and of association during public health emergencies, UN (September 2020)
- UN: Civic Space and COVID-19: Guidance (May 2020)
- Respecting democracy, rule of law and human rights in the framework of the COVID-19 sanitary crisis, A toolkit for member states, Council of Europe (April 7, 2020)