The Impact Of Emerging Technologies On The Right To Freedom Of Assembly

Abeer Shrivastava, Jindal Global Law School

INTRODUCTION

At the outset of the discussion of this paper, it is most pertinent to establish that by virtue of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all rights thus mentioned in the document are categorically deemed to be ‘inalienable’ and any ‘disregard’ of the same shall be deemed contemptuous of the sanctity of the declaration and the spirit of the ‘human family’. Article 20 of the UDHR mandates that “everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association”1. Barring extraneous situations like the COVID pandemic, wherein such a human right if considered indispensable, would invariably encroach upon the right to life of other people; the right to peaceful assembly is still a human right and shall be enjoyed by everyone. This right evidently furthers a healthy democratic environment; it is also a supplementary right to the right of freedom of expression however one does not need to delve into matters of such gravitas to understand that the freedom to assemble peacefully is inherent and an indivisible element of simply, liberty2. Although in early English jurisprudence, the freedom of assembly was considered as a mere liberty, i.e. not as pivotal to the state as a ‘right’ however that changed after the development of German and French jurisprudence which regard it as a ‘freedom right’, thereby obliging the state to not intervene with the free exercise of the same.2