Brussels, 12/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) published, on Thursday 12 December, on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, a regional study on the freedom of assembly in the Euro-Mediterranean region, including the EU. According to those who drafted the report, it gives an overall view of the laws that affect human rights in the region. A long series of recommendations are made to the EU to promote respect of freedoms in this common area.
The table that results from over 200 pages of detailed facts and analyses covers a wide range, depending on the situations in each country, between those countries where transition is struggling to take place, those where the crisis remains latent, and also the fate of occupied territories. In European countries, the study reports, security laws voted several years ago as part of counter-terrorism, the development of methods and surveillance files on citizens, and the extension of private use of public areas have increased the number of legal risks and obstacles facing citizens when they peacefully exercise their right to freedom of assembly. A second chapter, to be published next year, will cover the implementation of law and the exercise of freedom of assembly and practical demonstration. (FB/transl.jl)