Northern Ireland's Orange Order were told today they do not have an absolute right under European law to parade.
The message came in a Human Rights Commission report which examined the guidance to be drawn from international standards in the parades issue.
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The Commission said the conclusion of Parades, Protests and Policing was the freedom of assembly included the right to parade but that it had to be balanced against the rights and freedom of others.
The report said, if nothing else, its study had revealed the complexity of the issue.
There were few simple answers and on occasion case law generated by the European Convention on Human Rights "appears contradictory".
It added: "Human rights legislation will not provide easy solutions to political and community relations problems.
"However, human rights legislation should make a contribution to providing structures within which disputes can be justly resolved."
The report came ahead of the resumption of the Drumcree Orangemen's regular Sunday protest against being blocked from marching down the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown, and ahead of the Easter start to the traditional marching season.
Showing just how difficult it is to interpret European legislation, the report said the right to assembly included the right to:
- Peaceful protest;
- Annoy and give offence to opponents;
- Parade;
- Counter demonstrate;
- A degree of protection from the state to exercise the right to assembly;
- Peaceful protest even if a counter protest threatens disorder;
- Impede vehicular traffic and pedestrians.
However, it said the right to assembly did not include the right to:
- Assemble for an indefinite length of time;
- Assemble for purely social reasons;
- Provoke others to violence;
- Hold a parade or protest if "hangers-on" threaten disorder;
- Offend religious sensibilities;
- Offend public morality.
And the report said assembly could be reasonably restricted if there was a fear of public disorder - whether by those demonstrating or opponents - if there was a recent history of violence at the location, or if the state felt it could not control disorder.
PA