Georgia’s Public Defender has issued a statement in connection with a gathering held outside the Government Administration building by parents of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The Public Defender is calling on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to safeguard the right to peaceful assembly for parents of children with Duchenne syndrome in the vicinity of the Government Administration building. The Ombudsman has further noted the importance of Ministry representatives engaging in active, substantive dialogue with the parents taking part in the protest.

“The Public Defender of Georgia is closely monitoring the progress of the assembly being held outside the Georgian Government Administration building by parents of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, whose participants are demanding that their children be provided with the medications they urgently need. According to information disseminated through the media and communicated directly to the Office of the Public Defender, those taking part in the assembly are being prevented from erecting temporary structures or displaying various items of protest material in the square in front of the chancellery.

The Public Defender emphasised that the right to freedom of assembly encompasses the freedom to determine the form of the assembly, including the right to utilise temporary structures and related materials. The state is, moreover, obliged to facilitate the holding of peaceful assemblies and to demonstrate tolerance towards the forms of protest chosen by their participants.

The Public Defender has on numerous previous occasions drawn attention to restrictions of this kind placed upon assembly participants, and has made clear that the confiscation of protest materials is unjustifiable where their use does not result in the blocking of building entrances, does not disproportionately harm the lawful interests of others, and does not disturb public order. In the present case, given the prevailing meteorological conditions, access to such materials is directly connected to the ability to exercise the right of assembly and significantly impacts the effective enjoyment of that right.

Accordingly, the Public Defender calls upon the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to guarantee the right to peaceful assembly for those gathered in the vicinity of the Government Administration building.

Furthermore, in view of the acute and particularly sensitive nature of the matter at hand, the Public Defender underlines the necessity of Ministry representatives engaging in active, substantive dialogue with the protesting parents, taking into account weather conditions and other relevant factors, with a view to resolving the difficulties that have arisen,” reads the statement issued by the Office of the Public Defender.