Pillar II: Policy Recommendations

Recommendation #5: Establish a multilateral task force to develop R2A.

• Democratic governments should establish a multilateral task force to assess the feasibility of advancing an internationally recognized right to assistance, potentially under the auspices of the G7 or another entity comprised of leading democracies.

• Democratic governments should launch formal multistakeholder dialogues on the potential design, adoption, and implementation of a right to assistance , involving and seeking input and comment from governments, international nongovernmental organizations (advocacy and philanthropy), CSOs, diaspora groups, and activists. The principals administering these dialogues should be adequately resourced so as to be able to proactively reach out to groups, substantively interact with them, and seek their comments; and be able to allocate research funds when needed to support the development of international legal, strategic, or other aspects of designing, adopting, and implementing a right to assistance.

Recommendation #6: Renew commitment to key international human rights laws and norms.

• Democratic governments should renew and expand their efforts to defend international human rights law and norms, in particular those relating to the freedoms of association, assembly, and expression. Moreover, such governments must actively defend civil resistance and provide support to it, as consistent with internationally recognized and protected human rights.

• Democratic governments should increase their engagement with multilateral organizations that create and uphold international human rights norms and provide mechanisms to raise the diplomatic and reputational costs when those norms are violated by authoritarian states.