conditions that caused the temporary suspension of the Internet had died down, on 20 April 2017, the Head of State instructed the re-connection of the Internet in the said Regions. The constant checking of such excesses and some developments warranted the NCC organising a seminar on 11 September 2017 on hate speech on the media. 101- Some injured persons chose to petition against media professionals before the courts in addition to the NCC. C: Judicial Sanctions 102- An analysis of proceedings initiated against media professionals shows the commission of press offences of ordinary law54 thereby increasing the impact not only on the individual but also on the entire community as indicated above in the contexts of crisis. The courts before which individuals for the most part, brought matters relating to their honour and reputation and, sometimes by public authorities for concerns relating to collective interests of peace and social cohesion, either discharged and acquitted media professionals or convicted and sentenced them in accordance with the legal provisions especially of the Penal Code in force which was not amended with regard to the contextual elements mentioned above (Rec 4). Section 9: Freedom of Association (Article 10) 103- The legal framework in the exercise of freedom of association was contained in the previous Reports55. During the reference period, the association drive was consolidated thereby reflecting the different levels of the organizational capacity of the people to act on various issues of interest. Sometimes it was necessary to supervise the association drive in order to maintain cohesion and social balance. 104- Thus, regarding the declaratory system, some 100 associations are formed every month and are managed freely. In a bid to support associations involved in Human Rights, the NCHRF opened a register in which 433 associations were entered as at February 2017 against some 500 in 2013. 105- With regard to associations governed by the authorization system, the number of foreign associations increased from 306 in 2011 to 478 in 2014, and 488 at the end of June 2018. The number of authorised NGOs stood at 99 at the end of June 201856. Freedom of association was also reflected at the political level with an increase in the number of political parties from 274 in 2011 to 298 in 2014, 303 in 2016, and 309 in 2017. 106- Regarding trade unions, their number stood at 812 in 2014. In a bid to enhance the quality of social dialogue, a reform of the trade union card index was initiated in October 2015 after a series of 14 meetings with professional organizations of workers and employers with the aim of making an inventory of the problems that undermine the functioning of trade unions and identify sustainable solutions. 54 The most recurrent offences were as follows: conditional threats, insults, defamation, false report, false pretences, and false news. Concerning community interests, the following offences were committed: spying, failure to report acts of terrorism, justification of acts of terrorism, resistance. 55 See third Report, §121. 56 The Technical Commission in charge of examining applications for membership to the status of NGO held 3 sessions every year in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2 sessions in 2017. Out of the 262 applications received and examined by the competent services of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, 127 were approved by the Commission. At the end of the sessions, 16 NGOs were granted authorization. The most recurrent grounds of rejection of the other applications were as follows: failure to fulfil the conditions for obtaining the status of NGO, a recognised association not functioning for 3 consecutive years, non-transmission of files by channels recognised by the law, and incomplete application files. 23