On December 11, 2024, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) released their report recognizing citizen and international election observers as human rights defenders. The Venice Commission, through this report, recognizes the work of election observers as critical to the protection of human rights, including political and civil rights, as well as assessing a state’s compliance with international human rights law.

The historic Venice Commission report was issued in response to an initial request made in March by the Organization of American States for the Commission’s opinion on the election observers as human rights defenders, and follows similar statements by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and on the situation of human rights defenders. Notably, the report references the Declaration of Global Principles for Nonpartisan Election Observation and Monitoring by Citizen Organizations (DoGP), GNDEM’s guiding principles.

In their report, the commission states that as human rights defenders, election observers protect fundamental rights and freedoms while also being entitled to protections of their own. The report advises that states “include in their national legislative framework protections and guarantees of the rights of both national and international observers.” Guarantees such as access to electoral information, procedures, and personnel and clear accreditation processes and systems of appeals allows observers to contribute to carry out their work promoting human rights and civil liberties worldwide.

Similar to the IACHR resolution issued in May 2024, the report not only recognizes the importance of election observers in “enhancing the protection and enjoyment of human rights” but informs states on how to better “enable independent and impartial election observation by all monitors” by  “adopting the necessary national legislation.”

GNDEM and the wider election observer community are encouraged by this explicit recognition of the importance of the work of election observers and their role in safeguarding human rights and democracy. This report provides observers timely support and evidence of their important role in advancing electoral integrity amid efforts to curtail their rights around the world.