The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and the right to free association are intrinsic to any democratic society. They allow citizens to come together either on an informal or formal basis by creating or joining associations or by organizing peaceful gatherings in order to express their views on matters of public concern.

Nonetheless, the implementation of OSCE commitments related to these two freedoms through national legislation and practices still poses a challenge.

Human rights defenders in some participating States continue to report difficulties in exercising their right to assemble and associate, either formally or informally. Overly broad interpretations of anti-terrorism legislation and vaguely formulated laws on freedom of assembly and freedom of association - as well as excessive powers enjoyed by local authorities in the implementation of legislation - mean that much still needs to be done within the OSCE region before these two freedoms can be exercised effectively.

Activities

• Legislative assistance
  ODIHR (usually in conjunction with the Council of Europe's Venice Commission) reviews draft and existing laws and - when so requested by OSCE participating States and OSCE field operations - prepares legal commentaries, with recommendations. These can be found on ODIHR's legislationline.org database. The reviews analyze draft laws in terms of their compatibility with relevant international and regional standards and OSCE commitments. They also draw upon relevant case law and international good practice relating to freedom of association. 
   
• Capacity-building
  ODIHR conducts capacity-building sessions aimed at enabling human rights defenders to improve their knowledge of standards on freedom of assembly and skills in monitoring and reporting on freedom-of-assembly and -association issues. Such skills are vital when engaging in dialogue with national authorities on ways to strengthen the protection and promotion of freedom of assembly at both the national and local level.

Panel of Experts on Freedom of Assembly

Under the auspices of ODIHR, a Panel of Experts on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly was established in 2006. The Panel acts as an advisory and consultative body to ODIHR on the promotion of freedom of peaceful assembly in the OSCE area.

The Panel consists of 10 independent experts from OSCE participating States selected on the basis of their expertise, experience, integrity and objectivity.

The Panel represents a unique resource in terms of legal expertise and practical knowledge on assemblies. The expertise of the Panel members combines knowledge of a variety of legal systems with a strong professional interest in the freedom of assembly as scholars, practitioners, and/or human rights advocates. They provide significant collective input into ODIHR’s legal opinions on draft legislation and follow-up discussions of these drafts and recommendations with relevant national stakeholders.

One of the Panel’s major contributions to ODIHR’s work was the publication of the Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, in co-operation with the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission. The guidelines serve as a practical reference for legislators and practitioners responsible for implementing laws by drawing on examples of good practices from national legislation in OSCE participating States and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights to illustrate existing legislative options. They demarcate parameters for implementation consistent with international standards and illustrate key principles with examples of good practice from individual states.