We explain what freedom of association is, why it is important for society and how it is included among Human Rights.
What is freedom of association?
The Liberty of association or the right to free association is a fundamental human right, which is that any person or group of people can join freely to form associations, organizations or groups (or freely withdraw from them).
This right defends those groups that have lawful purposes and respectful of the fundamental human rights of others. In other words, this right does not protect those who associate to commit crimes.
Freedom of association is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of the Human rights, in its article 20, which reads:
- Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
- No one may be forced to belong to an association.
As stated right there, this fundamental freedom guarantees that only our own desire is what commits us to a certain group: we can join it if we want to (and if we meet its entry requirements), and we can abandon it if we want it that way. No one can compel us to do otherwise by force or coercion.
The right to free association is key to a society healthy, in which plurality and individual freedoms dominate, where people can join forces to achieve a goal or support an initiative, either for profit, or not. Political parties, Business commercial, ecological activists, support groups, community organizations and a long etcetera are examples of the types of association that this right guarantees.
There are notorious exceptions, related to the public sphere and the responsibility individual professional, such as professional tuition, institutions of Condition and other similar associations whose membership is mandatory for some or all of the citizens.
For example, the formal exercise of the legal profession usually requires the supervision of the bar association, in order to ensure the ethics and responsibility in the exercise of the profession. Even so, a person can freely unsubscribe, but must assume the consequence that their professional practice of the law will not be formally recognized.