it, given that it is an instinctual right whose practitioners must enjoy a measure of freedom in
putting it into effect, whether circumscribing them by any rules impinging its essence, which is
something that makes it binding on the state to facilitate and protect peaceful gathering, which are
two fundamental responsibilities represented in placing suitable mechanisms and procedures to
assure the practical exercise of the right and not subjecting its bureaucratic procedures restricting
its exercise, and at the same time not allowing its impinging on the rights of others, in addition to
the right of the state to achieve security and peace.
8. To confirm the justifications advanced by the submitters of the proposal, it is the view of the
National Institution that the right to peaceful gathering faces a challenge connected to the culture
and awareness of society in dealing with it, whether insofar as the concept and the nature of the
right, or the method of practicing it or the rules arising to it, given that the characterization of public
gathering connotes that all the practices accompanying it are utterly distant from manifestations
of violence or counter-violence perpetrated by any party, or all that may affect or impinge on the
right of others to enjoy rights and other freedoms, which called for legislative intervention aiming
to laying down rules for practicing it while not arbitrarily use it or abuse it, and on the other hand
obligate the state to provide protection for the sake of its practice.
9. Moreover, it is the view of the National Institution that it would not be possible to face this
challenge except by placing integrated awareness raising plans, whether in the field of media or
training, to spread awareness about the right to peaceful gathering which various quarters partake
in implementing, such as the Ministry of Information Affairs, the Bahrain Institute for Political
Development, the National Institution for Human Rights, and the civil society organizations,
such through preparing and presenting media programs and materials which address the diverse
segments of society, alongside holding symposiums, lectures and conferences with focus on this
right to elucidate its conceptual content, nature, the rules for practicing it and the restrictions which
may arise to them for purposes of regulating it.
10. Based on the foregoing, the National Institution concurs with and supports the proposal to lay
down a media plan to spread the culture of the right to peaceful gathering given that it fully accords
with its role in the field of promoting human rights through spreading information and knowledge
about this right among the general public, or particular target groups, such with a view to instilling
a societal culture that is based on converting knowledge of this right to a practical skill that is
exercised in actual reality based on organizational rules and parameters in accordance with the law.
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