Four international human rights organizations have sent letters to over 3,500 mayors and city council members in the US, urging them to review laws and practices before the November 3 general election to protect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. In a separate letter to governors released Tuesday, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International-USA, Physicians for Human Rights, and Human Rights First were joined by the Center for Civilians in Conflict.
Between May and September, the five organizations documented law enforcement agencies throughout the country repeatedly interfering with the right to peaceful assembly. Often, this has resulted in the excessive use of force and “mass arbitrary arrests.” Between May 26 and June 26, Amnesty International USA documented 125 separate incidents during which police used excessive force, including beating protestors, using tear gas and pepper spray, and firing “less-lethal” projectiles. Law enforcement also often targeted the media, legal observers, and medics not participating in the protests.
The rights groups sent the letters asking the local governments to ensure they comply with their obligations under international human rights law. This included obligations to “respect, protect, and fulfil the exercise of the human right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to ensure that law enforcement agencies…do not subject protestors to unnecessary or excessive use of force or arbitrary arrests.”
The rights organizations encouraged the mayors and city council members to order temporary special measures to protect peaceful and voters from “intimidation and violent disruptions by third-party actors.”
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, ssid:
The freedom of peaceful assembly is a cornerstone of democratic governance and the human rights standards the United States has helped to shape. City and state officials have an obligation under domestic and international law to enable peaceful assembly and ensure that law enforcement officers are trained to protect that right.
