WUS HKUB

The Right to protest But what gives us the right to protest? While no human rights instrument or national constitution grants the absolute right to protest, this term is perceived as a manifestation of the right to freedom of assembly, the right to freedom of association, and the right to freedom of speech, of which the latter three has been recognized as a human right, a political right and a form of civil liberty in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. With the progression of social advocacy of human rights, more of such declarations contain clear enunciations of the right of protest, especially when it comes to the defense of human rights. The notable example is to the 1998 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, where most nations on earth agreed to take all necessary steps to ensure the protection of those who defend human rights.

This right applies to protest marches and demonstrations, press conferences, public and private meetings, counterdemonstrations, ‘sit-ins’, motionless protests etc. Up to this point, the right to protest becomes the guardian of other human rights and their implementation.