Dr Anja Bienert works for Amnesty International’s Police and Human Rights Programme in the Netherlands. She has developed a set of Guidelines on The Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly so that people in Amnesty and the wider human rights movement feel confident enough to hold authorities in their country accountable when the right to protest comes under threat.

In this Q&A, she shares more about her role at Amnesty, the importance of protecting the right to protest and why these guidelines are more timely than ever.

How did you become an expert on police and human rights?

I am a lawyer with a PhD in criminal proceedings. My passion for travel meant I worked for organizations in different countries, focusing on internal violence and disturbances. In these difficult situations, I often had to engage with police and other security agencies, observing how they operate, the challenges they were facing, the choices they made, and what shaped their decisions. More often than not, I had to observe the discrepancy between the practical policing reality and what the seemingly theoretical human rights framework says. I was always trying to find ways to convince authorities that they could very well do their job without violating the rights of the people they are supposed to serve and protect.

What was it about the topic that interested you?

It is the great variety. Policing is different in each and every country around the globe and whatever we do or say with regards to police, we need to look at each context. It is the desire to demonstrate that – despite all the challenges, risks and dangers – policing that respects and protects human rights is possible and that it is actually the only way to do good policing.

What does your role involve?

Within our programme we provide advice to anyone from our organization working on policing issues. We might examine a video of a police intervention during a protest and assess whether there were any violations of human rights; or we could analyze a new piece of legislation related to the police to see if it is in line with human rights. We also carry out training for colleagues and produce tools that help those working on policing issues.

Can you tell me what a typical day looks like?

When I log on, I check if there are any overnight requests. Where possible, we try to answer questions immediately so colleagues can move on with their work with the help of our input or advice. Then I have a look at a selection of news articles to see what is going on in policing around the world. For instance, what new weapons are they using? How is the situation evolving in a country shaken by protests and heavy police intervention? Whenever needed, our team will also catch up on priorities for the day or discuss how to address tricky questions.

Then I will work on drafting tools or other publications for Amnesty, such as our freedom of peaceful assembly guidelines, short papers, as well as providing input on Amnesty reports and press releases. The wonderful part of this work is that you never know what the day will bring, but that for sure, you know you are working together with the right people who share the same passion for human rights.

Can you briefly explain the Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly?

The guidelines summarize the obligations of governments and state officials in relation to the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. It consists of 16 guidelines that examine the key aspects: from the need to guarantee the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in domestic legislation to the way police should facilitate peaceful assemblies in the streets.

Why have you produced these guidelines – and why now?

The right to freedom of peaceful assembly is under threat across the globe. People taking to the streets are increasingly perceived as a threat and protests are restricted, prohibited and repressed in all regions of the world. This was why at Amnesty we started our global campaign, Protect the Protest. We realized that authorities – be they lawmakers or the police – show increasing disregard for the obligations of their country under international human rights treaties. They sometimes even do not seem to know what these obligations are.

For instance, obligations arising from the “sight and sound principle” are often not considered by authorities who prohibit assemblies in certain areas, even though people should be able to be seen and heard by those they want to reach through their protest. Some police feel that the slightest hindrance to traffic allows them to disperse an assembly, even though public assemblies are a legitimate use of the streets.

We felt we needed clear guidelines on key aspects of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly that could be used as a benchmark to assess the situation in any country.

Protest has always been a driver for the protection of human rights. We have seen so many brave people, who despite the great personal risks they face, are taking to the streets to demand their rights, the rights of others and justice.

Dr Anja Bienert

What can people learn from these guidelines – and who are they for?

A lot of international documents have been produced on this topic, however we have produced a short, easy to access document that covers the most relevant aspects. It should be used by Amnesty colleagues and the wider human rights community to know how to call upon authorities to respect, protect and uphold the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

What’s your relationship with protesting? Why are you passionate about it?

Protest has always been a driver for the protection of human rights. We have seen so many brave people, who despite the great personal risks they face, are taking to the streets to demand their rights, the rights of others and justice. We must support these people as much as we can to continue to raise their voices whenever they feel the need to do so – without fear of repression and violations of their human rights.

What does ‘Protect the Protest’ mean to you?

‘Protect the Protest’ is the very essence of what we are about at Amnesty. We want people to be able to exercise their rights without fear: without fear of being arrested arbitrarily, being beaten up, tortured or even killed – and this is merely for raising their voices. Through this campaign we are reaching out to all these people, showing that we stand by their sides and that we demand governments and authorities live up to the promises they made when signing up to international human rights treaties.

What do you hope these guidelines will achieve and how should people use them?

I hope human rights defenders across the globe will use them to hold the authorities in their country accountable in light of these obligations. And I also hope lawmakers, politicians and police will have a look at them and understand that they should not see protests as a threat, but as an important part of public life they have to respect, protect and facilitate.

Learn more

Amnesty’s Guidelines on the use of force by law enforcement officials
Europe: Under Protected and Over Restricted: The state of the right to protest in 21 European countries

Header image © Nastia Maksimova