NEW YORK – United Nations Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai will appear before the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly on October 20 to present his final report to the body – a study examining the exercise of assembly and association rights in the workplace. Kiai, who is has served as the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association since 2011, is scheduled to present at the General Assembly’s 71st Session on October 20, at 12 p.m. noon local (EST) time. The session will be broadcast live on http://webtv.un.org/. Kiai’s report – which is available here – scrutinizes the exercise and enjoyment of assembly and association rights in the context of labour, with a focus on the most marginalized workers, including global supply chain workers, informal workers, migrant workers, domestic workers and others. Although labour rights are sometimes seen as distinct from more general human rights, the Special Rapporteur emphasizes at the outset of the report that this thinking is false. The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are in fact the foundation for the exercise of all labour rights, since are the vehicle that protects workers’ ability to meet, organize and have a collective voice. “Labour rights are human rights, and the... Continue reading →
(NAIROBI/NEW YORK) – Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai has been chosen to receive the United Nations Foundation’s 2016 Leo Nevas Human Rights Award, and will travel to New York to accept the prize at the Foundation’s Global Leadership Dinner on Oct. 19. Fellow honorees at the event will include United States President Barack Obama – who will receive the foundation’s Champion for Global Change Award – and Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the World Food Programme. The Leadership Dinner is co-sponsored by the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA). The award honors Kiai’s work advancing civil liberties worldwide as UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Kiai has served in the position since May 1, 2011. “I am honored and humbled to receive the 2016 Leo Nevas award for my work as Special Rapporteur,” Kiai said. “But in truth, this award recognizes something far beyond me personally: it is a validation of our collective global fight to restore civil society to its rightful place at the center of democracy and development. And it is an opportunity to spotlight this fight, because it is far from over. Peaceful protests continue to be put brutally down; members of civil society continue to be harassed,... Continue reading →
United Nations Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai told the UN General Assembly yesterday that vibrant freedoms of assembly and association are absolute prerequisites to “genuine elections” that reflect the will of the people. The remarks came yesterday in New York, where Kiai presented his first report to the General Assembly in his capacity as the Special Rapporteur on the freedoms of assembly and of association. The report documents worldwide threats to the freedoms of assembly and of association in the context of elections – before, during and after the vote. “Electoral periods are a key period in the life of any nation,” Kiai told the UN body. “But simply holding an election is not enough: the quality of the process has a significant impact on the legitimacy of the outcome.” Kiai said that international election monitoring efforts tend to focus solely upon what happens during the vote, and do not always take into account the entire human rights landscape. A press release is available here. Video of the event is available here via the UN. Kiai's portion starts at approximately 1h 24m... Continue reading →
United Nations Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai will appear before the UN General Assembly on Oct. 29 to present a key report on worldwide threats to freedom of assembly and associations during election periods. Kiai’s presentation will begin at 3 p.m. (US Eastern Standard Time), and will be broadcast live on the UN website, webtv.un.org. The report documents a growing crackdown on assembly and association rights during election periods, and contends that such measures threaten to “indelibly stain” the legitimacy of democracy in some countries. It concludes that genuine elections cannot be achieved if the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are curtailed. “Election periods are a time for people to express the collective will and confer legitimacy on governments,” said Kiai, who is the UN Special Rapporteur on the freedoms of peaceful assembly and of association. “But if people are not allowed space to express that will, it undermines the legitimacy of the process. And that calls into question the legitimacy of the government itself.” The report calls upon UN member states to improve efforts to facilitate and protect assembly and association rights during election periods, and to be particularly vigilant in relation to the needs of groups which are at greater risk... Continue reading →
