Regional Consultation on the Guidelines for the Policing of Assemblies (ACHPR)

On 26th and 27th of September 2016, PHRP attended the third of a series of regional consultations convened by the African Police Civil Oversight Forum (APCOF) and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) on a draft text of Guidelines for the Policing of Assemblies commissioned by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The conference, which took place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, was attended by representatives from governments, police, human rights institutions and civil society from a range of West-African countries.

The very constructive discussions covered a broad range of issues in relation to the policing of assemblies. For Amnesty International, it was crucial to ensure that the Guidelines give due emphasis to the fact that Freedom of peaceful assembly is a right, an entitlement, and not a simple privilege that can be restricted or even taken away at will. This has considerable impact on how policing of assemblies should be done, in particular establishing a police duty to do everything possible to facilitate assemblies, without placing undue burdens on organizers, with restrictions being an exception and not the rule, prohibition or dispersal being a means of very last resort and utmost restraint in the use of force.