On October 15, 2019, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and Association, Clement Voule, presented a thematic report to the UN General Assembly. The report considers “the impacts of violations to the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association on sustainable development.” It emphasizes how civil society is better able to…
Over the past year, Azerbaijan has experienced 57 politically motivated court trials, an increase over the previous annual reporting period, according to a report released on September 14, 2019, by the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDS). Civil society organizations in Azerbaijan have long urgently called for reform of the judiciary, but this report…
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Clement Voule, ended his 10-day visit to Zimbabwe on September 27, 2019, and issued a statement calling for the government to do more to reduce the recent series of attacks on civil society activists and to encourage dialog between political…
Nicaragua On June 10, 2019, the government of Nicaragua began releasing dozens of political prisoners, including individuals featured in #SetThemFree—Amaya Coppens, Irlanda Jerez, Miguel Mora, and Lucia Pineda. The government has promised to pardon all political prisoners by June 18, 2019, with the passage of a new amnesty law. However, the law also pardons human…