Sixth: Proposal of a wish to lay down a media plan to spread the culture of the right to peaceful gathering 1. The National Institution submitted its advisory opinion concerning the proposal of the wish to lay down a media plan to spread the culture of the right to peaceful gathering, and the National Institution emphasized that the right to peaceful gathering is considered one of the most important rights which are harmonious with the democratic foundations and principles of the modern state anchored in unlocking the freedom of individuals to express their intellectual and ideological opinions in accordance with a legal system that governs exercising them and which guarantees their protection. 2. The right to peaceful gathering is represented in the freedom of individuals or groups or legal entities to gather at a specific public place for a specific period of time, such to express public or private opinions towards a particular position or to defend common interests for purposes of persuading others thereof and to endeavor to achieve those interests. This right is linked to other rights and freedoms, such as the right to organize and establish and join societies, associations and unions, and the freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to participate in public affairs, where these rights in their totality constitute a single agglomeration which signifies a confluence between all human rights. 3. Actually, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain guarantees the right to peaceful gathering, where Article (28) thereof Paragraph (b) provides that: “Public meetings, parades and assemblies are permitted under the rules and conditions laid down by law, but the purposes and means of the meeting must be peaceful and must not be prejudicial to public decency.”. 4. At the level of national legislation, the Decree-law Number (18) of 1973 concerning public meetings, demonstrations, and gatherings as amended, where it tackles the provisions related to organizing public meetings, march, gatherings and the conditions for carrying them out. 5. At the level of international instruments and convention which guarantee the right to peaceful gathering Article (21) of the International: International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights to which acceded the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain pursuant to Law Number (56) of 2006 provides that: “the right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”. 6. The National Institution believes that the exercise of rights and freedoms is not absolute, whereby exercising them is subject to restrictions and rules that guarantee the rights of others, while at the same time not impinging on the right and emptying it of its substance. 7. Accordingly, the national legislation, in line with the relevant international standards, emerged to subject the right to peaceful gathering to guidance principles regulating the methods of practicing 34