Freedom Of Peaceful Assembly And Of Association In 2022 And Beyond: Contemporary Challenges And Opportunities
A Side-Event at the Human Rights Council 50th Session
Remarks by Ambassador Michèle Taylor
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Your excellencies, ladies, and gentlemen: it is a pleasure to welcome you to this event on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. On behalf of the core group—including the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Lithuania, Maldives, Mexico, and my own country the United States—I would like to thank you for your attendance and your interest in this important issue.
The United States has always and will always support and defend the right to peacefully assemble and to associate. In the face of recent global challenges, including a global pandemic, climate change, and unjustified wars, now it is more important than ever that the international community work together to safeguard this human right.
Given the importance of safeguarding this and all human rights, we naturally strongly support the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on FoAA, and thank special rapporteur Voule for his tireless—and even fearless—work exploring the promotion and protection of this right in an unbiased, impartial, and cross-regional manner.
No country is perfect, including my own, and there is always room for improvement in the promotion and protection of all human rights.
For that reason, we welcome and look forward to hearing from our panelists and from you, our audience, about the opportunities and challenges related to FoAA today, and looking toward the future. We are eager to participate in the discussion on how we can work together as a global community to protect and promote the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.
Thank you.