Public discussion of constitutional amendments on “family values”, “protection of minors” to start on Monday

Public discussions of amendments on “family values” and “protection of minors” to the constitution of Georgia, initiated by the ruling Georgian Dream party, will start on Monday, the Georgian Parliament said.

The first meeting of the organising commission of the discussions will be held on Monday in the western city of  Kutaisi, with the development coming after the party initiated a broad amendment to “protect family values” in late March.

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the head of the party in the Parliament, said it was the ruling team’s “responsibility” to protect individuals’ constitutional rights and freedoms “no matter how unconventional and different their lifestyle may be”, while also “protecting family values in a very principled way”.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said the ruling party’s legislative initiative to “protect the public from pseudo-liberal ideology” should be developed in accordance with constitutional principles of human rights.

Kobakhidze claimed the presence of unspecified “severe trends in different states, as reflected in statistics”, and said the parliamentary majority wanted to “protect the public from the possible development of such processes” with the bill.