GENEVA – The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association were heavily curtailed in many countries around the world during the 2023-2025 “super election” cycle, as part of a deliberate effort to restrict civic space and stifle democratic debate, a UN expert said today.
“These freedoms are essential for transparent, credible, and inclusive elections, representing people’s free will, and for sustaining democracy. Attacks or undue restrictions on them undermine public participation, electoral legitimacy and social peace,” said Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly in her first report to the UN Human Rights Council.
“Given their crucial role during elections, the threshold for imposing legitimate restrictions should have been higher than usual, but in practice it was below the minimum,” the expert said.
She underlined that civil society plays a key role in safeguarding electoral integrity, enabling free and pluralistic public debate, monitoring elections, preventing violence and promoting inclusion.
“Yet, it was stigmatised, suppressed and criminalised, including through repressive legislation. Civil society activists faced harassment, arbitrary detention, torture and killings, with justice systems weaponised to repress opposition,” Romero said.
Election observers, recognised as human rights defenders, also faced legal and physical threats, she said.
According to Romero’s report, opposition parties and candidates faced undue restrictions and political persecution, including burdensome registration, funding restrictions, unlawful disqualification and detention of candidates and dissolutions.
The ‘super election’ cycle saw widespread protests, as people denounced electoral misconduct and sought political participation, but assemblies were heavily curtailed through restrictions, arbitrary arrests, and excessive – sometimes deadly – force, and the misuse of less lethal weapons, the expert said.
Romero also raised concern about the way digital technologies, lacking transparency and oversight, such as of biometric voter registration, facial recognition and spyware, were used to suppress, persecute and repress activists and political opponents, creating chilling impacts on participation.
“These repressive acts created fear, severely limiting public freedoms and political pluralism, and undermined democratic processes and the right to vote,” the Special Rapporteur said.
Newly-elected governments further restricted civic activism through funding restrictions and repression, stigmatisation and criminalisation.
“Governments must facilitate fundamental freedoms prior, during and after the elections, and foster inclusive political participation, and tolerate criticism,” Romero urged.
“Governments must also guarantee pluralism; uphold the human rights of civil society actors, election observers and the opposition; repeal repressive laws like ‘foreign agent’ legislation; and ensure accountability and reparations for any violations.”
The Special Rapporteur also presented a report on the April 2024 visit to Bosnia Herzegovina by her predecessor, Clement Voulé.