Submission to the United Nations: stigmatising narratives and implications on the right to freedom of assembly
MALS is proud to publish our recent submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in response to their call for input to inform a thematic report on stigmatising narratives and implications on the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
The submission outlines the factors that contribute to stigmatising narratives about protesters and protest movements and their impact on the increasing repression of the right to protest in Australia, focusing specifically on discursive containment (shifting the way protests are talked about to stigmatise protesters, discredit their causes, and delegitimise protest actions) and structural containment (changing how protests are governed and legislated to monitor, contain and criminalise protest).
Highlighting climate justice activism and the pro-Palestine protest movement as case studies, our submission illustrates how the agenda-setting power of the media serves to amplify stigmatising narratives about certain groups of people, damage the social legitimacy of protest, and manipulate the public to build support for the legislative and practical repression of the right to freedom of assembly in Australia.
The Special Rapporteur’s thematic report will be presented at the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, which opens on 10 September 2024.
Read our submission here:
