On October 5, 2023, the Parliament of Georgia adopted the Law of Georgia “On Introducing Amendments to the Law of Georgia ‘On Assemblies and Manifestations’”. The Law is currently awaiting the approval of the President of Georgia. The new analysis from ECNL and the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) found that, if adopted, the Law will violate multiple Georgian commitments in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), as well as Georgia’s constitutional obligation to guarantee freedom of assembly. Our analysis was conducted at the request of the USAID Civil Society Engagement Program.
The Law’s drafters proposed the Law in response to a statement of the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG). According to this, an SSSG investigation yielded information that a certain group of individuals operating within and outside of the Georgian territory is planning to destabilise and instigate civil unrest in the country between October and December 2023. The SSSG informed that this group is planning to detonate explosives in the so-called “tent city” to target law enforcement and the peaceful protesters, among other “illegal actions.”
The Law prohibits participants of an assembly from installing tents and temporary constructions if these threaten assembly participants, interfere with the protection of public order and security by the police, or cause disruption of the normal functioning of an enterprise, institution or organisation. The organiser of an assembly is obliged, within 15 minutes of being warned by law enforcement authorities, to call on the participants and to take all reasonable measures to take down the temporary construction. The organisers and participants of the assembly will be penalised if they fail to meet this obligation.
Any permissible restriction on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly must be:
- prescribed by law;
- necessary in a democratic society and proportionate to the risk; as well as
- in pursuit of a legitimate aim.
Our analysis provides more details on just how the Law fails to meet these requirements.