Not only must the State abstain from actively interfering with the right to civic participation, it must also ensure that the right to civic participation is guaranteed in other ways.
The obligation of the State to guarantee the right to civic participation permeates all stages of the implementation of the right, meaning that the State must ensure necessary safeguards before, during, and after decision-making. In addition, it must also ensure that the right to civic participation is being observed outside of the framework of state policies. This entails a multitude of proactive steps that states must continuously take in order to ensure that the right to civic participation is both protected by law and enabled in practice.
What do states need to do?
In order to comply with its obligation to guarantee the right to civic participation, a State must, amongst other things, provide:
- A legal framework: ensure that the law provides for the right to participate in public affairs (for example, by acceding to international human rights treaties)
- Information: provide clear and accessible information on civic processes (for example, through informative campaigns)
- Protection: guarantee that legal and practical safeguards are in place for particularly vulnerable or disadvantaged members of the public to be able to participate in public affairs (for example, by allowing voting from a hospital or by ensuring that poll stations are accessible for disabled persons)
- Freedom: review and, where possible, remove legal or practical restrictions prohibiting or restricting certain groups of people from exercising their right to civic participation (for example, by allowing prisoners to vote)
- Review: regularly review its practices regarding the involvement of the public in public affairs
- Co-ordination: ensure that all policies strengthening public participation are efficiently and effectively working together
- Resources: allocate enough money and people to implement its policies on civic participation
- Data: support the collection of data and the production of research on participation in political and public affairs
- Redress: provide effective redress mechanisms to enable complaints when a right to civic participation is violated (for example, by instituting an Ombudsman and enabling an effective court system)
Good governance
In addition to the specific obligations for civic participation, the State also has a duty to ensure good governance. This means that it must be transparent towards individuals and the public, ensure data protection, implement fair public administration procedures in reasonable time, and carry out other provisions aimed at ensuring that the State respects the rights and legal interests of individuals.
Public officials who do not act in accordance with good governance may be subject to disciplinary, civil, and criminal liability. If a decision is made within the administrative process which is contrary to good governance and it is established that this violation had both a significant impact on the decision made and caused a breach of an individual’s rights or legal interests, then this decision must be revoked.