UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai launches FOAA Online
UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai launches FOAA Online! – a web-based collection of legal arguments related to assembly and association rights
NAIROBI – Special Rapporteur Maina
Kiai today announced the launch of FOAA Online!, a web-based
legal research tool billed as the world’s most
user-friendly compilation of legal arguments on assembly and
association rights.
The ready-made legal arguments, which
are based on international law, standards and principles,
will assist lawyers, activists and judges involved in
freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association
(FOAA) cases to uphold the exercise of these rights.
FOAA
Online! – which is available at http://freeassembly.net/foaa-online –
is initially being launched with limited content for beta
testing. Additional content will be added regularly, with
the complete research tool available expected to be
available in late June 2017.
The tool is organized by
thematic topics and sub-questions in order to direct users
as straightforwardly as possible to relevant legal
arguments. The set-up allows users to link the facts and
incidents in their cases to pertinent legal questions.
Themes and questions are focused on the most widespread
issues experienced by those exercising their assembly and
association rights around the globe.
The idea for FOAA
Online! grew out of the Special Rapporteur’s litigation project, which was started in
2014 to advance the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly
and of association through the use of litigation in national
and regional courts. Experience from that project, Kiai
said, showed that lawyers, judges and litigants were often
not that familiar with international law and standards
relevant to assembly and association rights.
“Our hope
is that FOAA Online! will make it easier for lawyers to use
international law in cases related to assembly and
association rights, and that more judges will eventually
take this law into account,” the Special Rapporteur said.
“The arguments are ready to use and cover a fairly
comprehensive range of topics. Lawyers simply need to adapt
them to their case facts.”
“I encourage everyone not
only to use FOAA online!, but also to spread the news about
its existence in order to help enhance the promotion and
protection of assembly and association rights worldwide,”
Kiai added.
The Special Rapporteur also expressed his
gratitude to the Open Society Justice Initiative and the
American Bar Association’s Justice Defenders Program for
their contributions to the compilation.
A side event to
publicly launch FOAA Online! is planned for the week of June
5 in Geneva. Keep an eye on the Special Rapporteur’s Twitter and Facebook for more details.
Maina Kiai
completes his term as Special Rapporteur on April 30, 2017.
His successor, Ms. Annalisa Ciampi of Italy, begins her term
on May
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