Comment: Maldives introduces landmark UN Resolution on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
07 Oct 2010, 8:59 AM
Yap Swee Seng
The Maldives played a key role in recent weeks for the fruition of this new resolution which was adopted by the UN Human Rights Council without a vote last Thursday. The resolution, which was jointly introduced by the United States, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Indonesia and the Maldives, reaffirms that “the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are essential components of democracy … to, inter alia, express their political opinions, engage in literary and artistic pursuits and other cultural, economic and social activities, engage in religious observances or other beliefs, form and join trade unions and cooperatives, and elect leaders to represent their interests and hold them accountable.”
“Only a few years ago, these rights (to freedom of assembly and association) were strictly curtailed and there were no legal channels to hold leaders accountable. The current leadership of His Excellency President Mohamed Nasheed began as an opposition movement where he was regularly arrested while trying to assert his rights”, said Ambassador Iruthisham Adam, Permanent Representative of the Maldivian Mission in Geneva, when she introduced the draft resolution at the UN Human Rights Council last week, which decided to create the first-ever Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association.
The efforts at the UN level by the Maldives, which has made progressive strides in the transition from an essentially autocratic state after the fall of former President Maumoon Abul Gayoom’s 30-year term, have been widely welcomed amongst human rights groups.
In view of this landmark development contributed by the Maldives, the country should continue to lead in this initiative by ensuring that the provisions for the rights to assemble in peaceful demonstrations are consistently represented in the Maldivian legislation, to address the incidents of the violations of freedom of assembly and association in practice by law enforcement authorities.
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