This joint opinion was prepared by the experts of the Venice commission, The Directorate of Human Rights (DHR) of the Directorate General of human rights and rule of law (DG1) of the Council of Europe and the OSCE Office for democratic institution and human rights (OSCE/ODIHR) on the draft law "On guarantees of freedom of peaceful assembly" (№3587) and "On guarantees of freedom of peaceful assembly in Ukraine» (№3587-1).
Recall that, by a letter of 31 May 2016, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament), Mr Andrii Parubii, requested the opinion of the Venice Commission on the compatibility with international standards on human rights and fundamental freedoms of two draft laws on “Guarantees for Freedom of Peaceful Assembly”.
Although for the moment this is the fifth Commission opinion of the draft laws dedicated to freedom of assembly in Ukraine, the experts stated that they believe the present legislative initiatives to be a genuine attempt to fill the existing legislative lacuna in this area.
The experts acknowledged that both drafts, submitted for assessment, are largely in line with international standards. In particular, the document states that: " The present Draft Laws may be seen as a step towards adopting a specific law in this area. Subject to further improvements, both draft laws would form a good basis for a future legal framework.”
They listed, however, several general recommendations pertinent to both drafts as well as expressed separate comments to the certain provisions of the drafts.
Link to the document:http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/?pdf=CDL-AD(2016)030-e
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