10/ POLICING ASSEMBLIES IN AFRICA: Guidelines for the Policing of Assemblies by Law Enforcement Officials in Africa PART 2 ORGANISATIONAL AND OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO THE POLICING OF ASSEMBLIES 3. General principles 3.1. Law enforcement officials as representatives of the State are under an obligation to respect and protect the right to assembly. For the purpose of these Guidelines, law enforcement officials are all officials or other competent persons or authorities directly or indirectly authorised by the State to exercise policing powers in the context of an assembly operation. 3.2. As a general rule, the military should not be used to police assemblies and must only be used in exceptional circumstances and only if absolutely necessary. Military personnel deployed to assembly operations must be subordinate to, and under the command of, the police authorities; be fully trained, in and be bound by, regional and international human rights standards, as well as any national law enforcement policy, guidelines and ethics; and be provided with all necessary instructions, training and equipment to enable them to act in full respect of this legal framework. 3.3. The primary role of law enforcement officials in policing assemblies is to ensure the safety of the public and to safeguard human rights of all persons. This role should be clearly articulated in national legislative and regulatory instruments governing assemblies. 4. Regulatory framework governing the policing of assemblies 4.1. All regulatory instruments and information about law enforcement procedures relating to assemblies must be made accessible in accordance with the right of access to information as expressed in the African Charter and other regional and international human rights standards. Information includes records held by a public body at any level or by a private body performing a public function. 4.2. Law enforcement agencies should have in place, make available, and promote, in the public domain, enforceable standards of conduct for law enforcement officials. Such standards should be consistent with regional and international human rights standards of conduct for law enforcement officials. APCOF Guidelines on policing assemblies TEXT.indd 10 12/04/2017 17:07:43