“About this Checklist The ability to assemble and act collectively is vital to democratic, economic, social and personal development, to the expression of ideas and to fostering engaged citizenry. Yet despite the increasingly prominent role that assemblies play in today’s world, there is sometimes a lack of clear understanding of the applicable international human rights law and standards. 

To provide more clarity, in 2014 the Human Rights Council requested that the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, to prepare a joint report on the proper management of assemblies. That report (A/HRC/31/66) was published in March 2016, and compiled a series of practical recommendations - based on consultations with over 100 experts and more than 50 UN Member States - for the management of assemblies. 

This checklist is a companion publication to that report, designed as an easy-to-use tool to: (1) determine which practical recommendations contained in the report are already in place at the domestic level, and (2) help assess how well domestic and local authorities manage assemblies. This is an important preliminary step for actors wishing to promote the operationalization of these recommendations. A second companion document, Using the Compilation of Practical Recommendations on the Proper Management of Assembly (A/HRC/31/66): A Guide for Civil Society (forthcoming), offers suggestions, tools and methods for gathering relevant evidence, and achieving change in State policy and practice.” (p.2)