Right to protest under threat around the world

The right to protest is under unprecedented and growing threat across all regions of the world, Amnesty International said today, as it launches a new global campaign, “Protect the Protest”.

“States are widening and intensifying efforts to erode this fundamental human right,” Amnesty International South Africa Executive Director Shenilla Mohamed said.

“In South Africa, the right to peaceful protest, which is enshrined in the Constitution, is constantly threatened by the excessive use of force and the use of rubber bullets by police. This has resulted in injuries and, in some cases, death.”

We cannot forget people such as Andries Tatane who died after being shot with rubber bullets during a service delivery protest in the Free State in 2011. More recently in 2021 Mthokozisi Ntumba, an innocent bystander, died when police fired rubber bullets on protesting university students and he was caught in the cross fire.

In both cases, police officers alleged to be responsible for the deaths were acquitted by the courts.

“There needs to be better investigations so that those responsible for the unlawful killing of protestors are held to account,” Shenilla Mohamed said.

“The heavy-handed response by police during protest action is a global phenomenon and not limited to South Africa and is in violation of international law and the principles of necessity and proportionality that should always guide the use of force.”

While governments have long relied on aggressive tactics to police protests, security forces have increased the amount of force they use in recent years. 

So-called less lethal weapons, including batons, pepper spray, tear gas, stun grenades, water cannons, and rubber bullets are routinely misused by security forces. And, since the early 2000s, Amnesty International has documented a trend towards the militarisation of state responses to protests, including the use of armed forces and military equipment.

“In South Africa the police will argue that they are forced to use ‘less lethal’ weapons for crowd control and during protest action, but less lethal does not mean non-lethal and nobody should die from the use of these,” Shenilla Mohamed said.

The right to protest has also been under siege across the African continent, from Angola to Zimbabwe, Ethiopia to Sudan and Lesotho to Eswatini.

Protesters across the globe are facing a potent mix of pushbacks, with a growing number of laws and other measures to restrict the right to protest. These include the misuse of force; the expansion of unlawful mass and targeted surveillance; internet shutdowns and online censorship; and abuse and stigmatisation. Meanwhile, marginalised and discriminated groups are subjected to even further barriers.

“In recent years we have seen some of the biggest protest mobilisations for decades. Black Lives Matter, MeToo, and the climate change movements have inspired millions the world over to take to the streets and online to demand racial and climate justice, equity and livelihoods, and an end to gender violence and discrimination. Elsewhere, people have stood up in their thousands against police violence and killings, state repression and oppression,” said Shenilla Mohamed.

“Almost without exception, this wave of mass protest has been met with obstructive, repressive and often violent responses by state authorities. Instead of facilitating the right to protest, governments are going to ever greater lengths to quash it. This is why, as the world’s biggest human rights organisation, we have chosen this moment to launch this campaign. It’s time to stand up and loudly remind those in power of our inalienable right to protest, to express grievances, and to demand change freely, collectively and publicly.

Restrictive legislation, blanket bans, and emergency powers

A range of issues including the environmental crisis, growing inequality and threats to livelihoods, systemic racism and gender-based violence have made collective action ever more necessary. Governments have responded by introducing legislation imposing illegitimate restrictions on the right to protest. For example, we have seen blanket bans on protests, as seen in Greece and Cyprus during the Covid-19 pandemic. In South Africa gatherings were also prohibited during the Covid-19 pandemic, under the National State of Disaster regulations.

Governments of all kinds are also increasingly using emergency powers as a pretext to clamp down on dissent. This was seen at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a government-imposed ‘state of siege’ has provided military and police officers with extensive powers to restrict protest in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu since May 2021.

Demonisation of protestors

Governments across the world are justifying restrictions by arguing that protest constitutes a threat to public order and by stigmatising protesters, branding them “troublemakers”, “rioters”, or even “terrorists”. By casting protesters in this light, authorities have justified zero-tolerance approaches: introducing and misusing vague and draconian security laws, deploying heavy handed policing, and taking pre-emptive deterrent measures. 

Inequality and discrimination

People who face inequality and discrimination, whether based on race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, disability, occupation, social, economic or migratory status are also more affected by restrictions on their right to protest and face harsher repression.  

For example, women, LGBTI and gender-non-conforming people are facing different types of gender-based violence, marginalisation, social norms and legislation. In countries including Sudan, Colombia and Belarus, women have been sexually assaulted for participating in protests, while in Turkey, for example, pride marches have been banned for years. 

“Our campaign comes at a critical juncture. The precious right to protest is being eroded at a terrifying pace, and we must do all we can to push back,” said Shenilla Mohamed

“Countless protesters have been killed in recent years, and it is partly on their behalf that we must now raise our own voices and defend our right to speak truth to power through protests in the streets and online.”

Listen to Amnesty International South Africa Executive Director Shenilla Mohamed speak about the right to protest

Background

Amnesty International’s “Protect the Protest” campaign, which will be running for the next four years, will challenge attacks on peaceful protest, stand with those targeted and support the causes of social movements pushing for human rights change.

The briefing, Protect the Protest!: Why we must save our right to protest, is available here.

International human rights law protects the right to protest through a number of separate provisions enshrined in various international and regional treaties which, taken together, provide protests with comprehensive protection. Even though the right to protest is not codified as a separate right in human rights treaties, when people engage in protests, whether individually or collectively, they are exercising a variety of rights, which can include the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.