Factsheet: United States of America country visit (July 2016)

The Special Rapporteur’s factsheet summarizing his official visit to the United States of America in July 2016 highlights issues surrounding the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and is presented in an easy-to use “yes/no” format, with hyperlinks to source materials.

This factsheet draws heavily from the Special Rapporteur’s report on the United States visit, which was presented to the Human Rights Council in June 2015. It provides details and analysis of:

• • Problems related to the United States extensive use of a permit system for authorizing peaceful assemblies
• • The increasingly militarized police response to peaceful assemblies
• • Discriminatory policing of assemblies held by minority communities
• • The effect of so-called “right to work” laws on workers’ ability to exercise their association rights in the workplace
• • Restrictions on migrant workers’ ability to exercise their assembly and association rights
• • The US election campaign finance system’s impact on association rights
• • The United States Government’s response to the report
• • And more

The factsheet also gives background information on the United States, including vital statistics and its “scorecard” on ratifying key UN human rights treaties.

For the Special Rapporteur’s full factsheet series, please see: http://freeassembly.net/factsheets/