Freedom of association, not to be confused with free association, is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests. The right to freedom of association has been included in a number of national constitutions and human rights instruments, including the United States Bill of Rights, European Convention on Human Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Freedom of association in the sense of workers' right to organize is also recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Labor Organization Conventions, and the latter also protects collective bargaining in the conventions on freedom of association.
The right to freedom of association is sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of assembly. More specifically the freedom of assembly is understood in a political context, although depending on the source (constitution, human rights instrument, etc.) the right to freedom of association may be understood to include the right to freedom of assembly.
Read more about Freedom Of Association: Organized Labour
Famous quotes containing the words freedom and/or association:
“The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do. It is the freedom to refrain, withdraw and abstain which makes a totalitarian regime impossible.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“It is not merely the likeness which is precious ... but the association and the sense of nearness involved in the thing ... the fact of the very shadow of the person lying there fixed forever! It is the very sanctification of portraits I think—and it is not at all monstrous in me to say ... that I would rather have such a memorial of one I dearly loved, than the noblest Artist’s work ever produced.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)