Lockdown measures should be flexible and provide exemptions to restrictions on movement for women who are experiencing violence, to allow them to leave the home to protect their safety, as well as that of children or other family members. Emergency measures that restrict freedom of movement should be accompanied by clear public messages about when movement is permissible. This was done in Italy, where the media reported that women survivors of violence were permitted to go to the nearest support services and would not be sanctioned by the police.132 Strict shielding and self-isolation requirements should be based on evidence of risk factors, and not enacted solely based on age. When lockdown measures are imposed, the impacts on adolescent girls and young women, in terms of excessive restriction of their movement, should be taken into consideration. Initiatives to mitigate the possibility of increased control by families, should accompany the easing of lockdown measures, such as ensuring girls return to school, providing safe spaces for young women to meet outside the home, empowering young women, and providing public service messaging about what types of movement are permitted and safe. 5.5. PROHIBITION OF OR RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLIC GATHERINGS Restricting public gatherings is a means of enforcing social distancing in response to a health crisis, and for controlling crowds during times of political or social unrest. Across the OSCE region, states have prohibited various political, social and cultural gatherings, some with limitations based on the number of attendees and others temporarily banning public events completely for a specific period of time. Different participating states have approached civic activism differently. On one hand, some countries (e.g., Kyrgyzstan, Latvia) have banned all public gatherings, including demonstrations, rallies and strikes, without exceptions for socially-distanced forms of peaceful assembly. In contrast, Denmark explicitly exempted meetings with an “opinion-sharing purpose”, such as demonstrations and political meetings, from the ban on gatherings of more than ten people. 132 FRA, “Coronavirus Pandemic in the EU – Fundamental Rights Implications”, Bulletin #1”, op. cit., note 82, p. 32. 39