From Cıvıc Space to the Internet: Legıslatıng rıghts to peaceful assembly durıng pandemıc

With the social distancing measures in place due to Covid 19, many peaceful assemblies have sought to creatively restructure, equip, and empower themselves for physical and online survival throughout the pandemic. The incident has also highlighted the importance of digital tools, such as the Internet and ICTs, in exercising peaceful assembly and association online. However, implementing the rights to peaceful assembly online comes with several limitations, such as placing severe legal constraints and government policies in digital surveillance risk obliterating the space in which civil society can collectively promote or defend a shared interest. Moreover, the acts and inaction of digital technology corporations have exacerbated these concerns or created complicated new obstacles for individuals and organisations seeking to exercise their right to assembly and association online and offline. Given the above, this article attempts to deliberate on transforming rights to the peaceful assembly from offline to online and the legal challenges attached. This paper adopts a doctrinal research methodology employing systematic legal reasoning. The authors argue that the right to peaceful assembly and association is vital to ensuring enhanced transparency and accountability in implementing development and poverty-eradication policies and efforts, notably better services and resource allocation. Regrettably, the Pandemic Covid 19 has closed civic space, and authorities are restricting civil society, harming individuals and organizations' rights to peaceful assembly. The digitization of the internet era has opened new avenues for peaceful assembly and association. 
Keywords: Online; Peaceful Assembly; Fundamental Rights; Covid 19; International Law. 
eISSN: 2398-4287© 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. 
DOI: