16. In 2018, the UN General Assembly in its resolution on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association called upon “all States to ensure that the same rights that individuals have offline, including the rights to freedom of expression […] are also fully protected online, in accordance with human rights law, particularly by refraining from Internet shutdowns and content restrictions on the Internet that violate international human rights law.”17 Accordingly, the UN Secretary General also confirmed in May 2020 that blanket internet shutdowns and generic blocking and filtering of services are considered by the UN human rights mechanisms to be in violation of international human rights law.18 17. In May 2019, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to peaceful assembly and association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, in his annual report to the Human Rights Council, characterized the digital technologies “both as tools through which these rights can be exercised ‘offline’ and as spaces where individuals can actively form online assemblies and associations.”19 He expressed concern that “[g]overnments are ordering Internet shutdowns more frequently [...] ahead of critical democratic moments such as elections and protests.”20 He added that “network shutdowns are in clear violation of international law and cannot be justified in any circumstances,” and called for “repealing and amending any laws and policies that allow network disruptions and shutdowns, and refraining from adopting such laws and policies.”21 18. In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, multiple UN bodies are even more urgently calling on States to refrain from internet shutdowns, since the pandemic made people more dependent on the internet in their daily lives. 19. Thus, in April 2020, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on states to end “any blanket Internet and telecommunication shutdowns and denials of service” during the pandemic.22 20. Similarly, the UN Human Rights Council, in its July 2020 Resolution on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests, calls on States to 17 UN General Assembly, Resolution on promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association (8 January 2019), UN Doc. A/RES/73/173, para. 4, https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/73/173. 18 UN General Assembly, Road map for digital cooperation: implementation of the recommendations of the High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation (May 29, 2020), UN Doc. A/74/821, para. 41, https://undocs.org/A/74/821. 19 UN General Assembly, Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, (17 May 2019), UN Doc. A/HRC/41/41, para. 21, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/41/41. 20 Id., para. 3. 21 Id., para. 73. 22 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, COVID is “a colossal test of leadership” requiring coordinated action, High Commissioner tells Human Rights Council (9 April 2020), https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25785&LangID=E. Page 5 of 13