WASHINGTON — A United Nations human rights expert is recommending changes in the way protests are handled in the United States, saying the process of issuing permits for demonstrations is “arbitrary” and could lead to discrimination against groups.
Maina Kiai of Kenya, U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, offered preliminary findings Wednesday from his visits this month to seven U.S. cities — including the sites of this year’s Democratic and Republican political conventions — to investigate how the U.S. upholds its citizens’ rights of assembly and association. Kiai’s full report to the United Nations will be completed and published in June 2017.
The first issue Kiai addressed involved permits set by the government in order to protest. Such restrictions, he said, should meet standards set by international law, which recommends a system by which citizens notify the authorities when they will assemble, rather than the government having to grant permission.
“When you require permits, when you require permission, then you turn the right into a privilege,” Kiai said. “Rights do not need permission from anyone to be exercised.”
