Gina Romero published a Joint Declaration with the IACHR and ACHPR on the growing global criminalization of protest and human rights defenders.

On 15 September 2025, the International Day of Democracy, together with the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the Commissioner Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders of the IACHR, and the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and focal point on reprisals in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), I published a new Joint Declaration on protecting the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association from criminalization amid intensified existential threats.

A Global Wave of Criminalization After the 2024-2025 Election Cycle

The Declaration documents how, following the 2024-2025 “super election” cycle, criminalization of political and civic activism deepened across much of the globe as democratic governance declined. Thousands of human rights defenders have been arbitrarily detained, deported, forced into exile, or subjected to unlawful economic sanctions, while scores of associations have been dissolved or defunded.

Principles to Stop Criminalization

The Declaration sets out 29 principles and recommendations addressed to States, businesses, the international community, and bodies such as the FATF. Among the central points:

• The peaceful nature of an assembly should be presumed; violence by a few participants must not be attributed to the entire assembly.
• Vague or overly broad laws on terrorism, “foreign agents,” or money laundering cannot serve as a legal basis for restricting these rights.
• Preventive detention or imprisonment as punishment for the legitimate exercise of these freedoms constitutes arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
• States must protect activists from transnational repression, including deportation, unlawful extradition, and strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs).

Why This Declaration Still Matters

Stigmatization, criminalization, and the lack of accountability reinforce one another and generate a deep chilling effect on democratic participation. Reversing this trend requires States to treat civil society as a partner, not a threat.

Download the full Joint Declaration Here.