Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association echoes the incident in Batumi and expresses concerns "over the actions of the Head of the Adjara Department of the MoI Valerian Telia, who has physically and verbally insulted GYLA employees" – says GYLA's statement.GYLA demands timely, impartial and effective investigation, as well as to impose respective official responsibility on Valerian Telia. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge 

Tbilisi. ISFED has examined the staff changes taking place in local self-governments in the aftermath of the parliamentary elections. "Pursuant to the obtained public information that the organization has requested from all municipalities of Georgia, 1790 employees were dismissed from 1 October 2012 until 28 February 2013. Staff changes have affected 54 Gamgeobas and 25 Sakrebulos out of 69 municipalities", – says the information released by the organization.For the full text –Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association has released another statement on the dismissal of employees from the National Agency of Public Registry. "Developments in the Public Registry prove once again that the current Code does not ensure the protection of rights and interests of the employees during the termination of a labor contract. At that, this Code is inconsistent with the standards of labor rights protection set under international acts", says the statement. GYLA addresses the Ministry of Justice to restore justice with respect to its own illegally dismissed employees, before the justice is restored in respect of numerous violations committed by others throughout years. For the full text:  Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. NGO "Identity” releases a statement concerning the book published by the print house of the Ilia State University – "Genetics and the Society”. The statement says that the publication is scientifically inaccurate and unethical. The organization addresses the Academic Council of the Ilia University to examine the work and prohibit the use of this textbook in the curriculum. For the full text. Source:identoba.com

Tbilisi. The Charter of Journalistic Ethics calls on any person to address the Charter if they believe that the information disseminated by a member of the Charter contains wrong facts. The Charter will discuss together with them the accuracy of the information and an impartiality of a journalist. For the full text. Source:media.gea

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association has made a statement on the dismissal of employees from the National Agency of Public Registry. GYLA believes that the requirements of the legislation of Georgia have been violated in respect of the former three employees of the National Agency of Public Registry. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Democratic Initiative of Georgia and the Fund "ALPE" have released a joint statement on March 18, concerning the dissemination of information by various officials last week on the health status of high officials and private persons. Authors of the statement offer the public to review the legislation on the protection of private secrets of a person. For the full text.

Tbilisi. On March 11, the new NGO – "Law-Enforcers’ Protection League” was presented, which unites former representatives of the law-enforcement structures. The organizations aims to protect human rights, establish justice and fairness and safeguard the reputation of the power structures.Source: the organization’s page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Coalition for Independent Life has released a statement on the President’s decree. The Coalition welcomes the announcement by the President of 2013 as the year for protection of rights of persons with disabilities."Obviously, we do not have an illusion that this initiative will resolve all disability-related problems, but through our efforts it should definitely have a positive impact on the processes. This requires the civil sector to be more active so that public awareness is raised and the interests and needs of persons with disabilities are taken into maximum account at all levels in the decision-making processes”, says the statement.Source: disability.ge

Tbilisi.The South Caucasus Regional Bureau of Heinrich Boll Foundation has released the web-dossier, which describes a different picture of the situation and trends in the South Caucasus countries - the state of LGBT persons. The research of journalist Silvia Shtober demonstrates that following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all three countries have underwent various difficult stages of development against the background of political, cultural or religious events. As the examples brought in the research illustrate, the sexual minorities living in the former Soviet Union republics encounter number of difficulties until now. In English. In Georgian.

Tbilisi. Public Defender of Georgia has presented the report on the human rights situation in the institutions with persons with disabilities. The report reflects the results of monitoring carried out in the resident institutions of persons with disabilities by the special prevention group of the Public Defender of Georgia, as part of the national prevention mechanism mandate on 12-29 June 2012. Monitoring was carried out in 13 institutions in partnership with the international organization "Disability Rights International" and with the support of the "Open Society – Georgia" Foundation. For the full text. Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association echoes the wrong application of the Law of Georgia on Amnesty in the judicial practice. GYLA focuses on the cases of convicted for swindling, in which case the law was not interpreted fairly. "The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association considers it necessary to remind as the law-enforcement agencies as well as the courts that they should use the Law on Amnesty in view of its purpose and the individual's interests, with observance of requirements of legality and fairness", says the statement posted on the web site. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Article 42 of the Constitution has published recommendations on the draft law initiated in the Parliament of Georgia concerning the regulation of cases with participation of jury trials. The Recommendations. Source: article42.ge

Tbilisi. "Transparency International - Georgia" has activated the hot line for free legal aid in Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi and Zugdidi. Those who think that the state violates their rights, they were deprived of the property illegally, experienced problems when legalizing the property or cannot benefit from the rights guaranteed by the state insurance, can call the hot line for free legal aid at: Tbilisi: (32) 260 15 08; Batumi: (422) 29 44 88; Kutaisi: (431) 29 26 54; Zugdidi: (415) 22 37 20.Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Kakheti. On February22, the amendments to be made to the Labor Code were discussed in the Telavi Office of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association.Interested persons, NGO and media representatives have attended the discussion. According to the meeting participants, to improve the Labor Code, it should be amended in a way that the rights of the employed are protected to the maximum extent.

Tbilisi.Article 42 of the Constitution has released a statement concerning the shots aired by the televisions on February 19. The statement says that "along the right to disseminate information, television companies and individual journalists bear an important responsibility – to treat with extreme caution the broadcasting of materials that may infringe upon the human rights and freedoms."In its statement the organization focuses on specific circumstances, which make it believe that the "disseminated shots are incomplete and inconsistent with reality." The Statement. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi.NGOs have released an appeal to inmate torture victims and their family members. "We, NGOs, appeal to the tortured inmates, former inmates, probationers and their family members and call on them to initiate active measures aimed at restoring infringed rights and dignity. We, on our side, express readiness to render assistance in this or that form and support a fair decision of the  problem", says the statement. To secure effective investigation of facts of torture and ill-treatment, NGOs call on the inmate torture victims to address independent forensic expert examination in order timely describe and document the signs and traces of torture and violence. 8 NGOs have signed the appeal. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The organization "Women's Fund in Georgia" has implemented the project –"Women's Rights – Art in Action”, which aimed at raising public awareness increasing the sensibility on women's issues. As part of the project, the organization has carried out street performances on February 14, 16 and 17: One Billion Rising, Break The Chain and the exhibition of works of Georgian women artists „Auto Nomos" on the topic of sexual rights and experiences. The project was implemented with the support of the Estonian Embassy. For the full text. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Kakheti. A meeting was held in the Telavi Office of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association concerning the mass dismissal of public servants from offices.According to the Head of the Telavi Office MarekhMgaloblishvili, the newly appointed officials abuse their authority and ignore the requirements of the law. NGOs call on the citizens to publicize the facts of pressure, while they urge the authorities to probe into the qualification of their cadres and the lawfulness of their activities.

Samegrelo. "A minor and a crime" was the topic discussed by the police and NGO representatives on February 19 in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Chief Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the Deputy Head of the Chief Department KobaTsertsvadze, to prevent crime among the minors, public participation in the preventive measures along with the police officers should increase. The psychologist of association "Atinati" MakaGogokhia believes that more complex work is required for reducing the juvenile delinquency. "Similar meetings are necessary, but everyone should do much more in this respect. Even doing a small thing may become so important for these juveniles", - the psychologist said.

Guria. A round table was held in the Ozurgeti Office of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association on February 15 concerning the issues of appointment-dismissal of public servants. According to the information provided by the Ozurgeti Municipality Gamgeoba to GYLA, 25 persons were dismissed from the Municipality's structural units. Out of these, the agreements of 12 employees have expired, 4 of them were dismissed due to liquidation of structural units, and 8 of them were dismissed based on personal applications.According to the Head of GYLA's Ozurgeti Office TamazTrapaidze, the fates of public servants should not be linked to a political setting. "We should offer local self-governments to set up the competition commission in a rapid manner, which will always get rid of political inconveniences by observing the relevant laws. If this sector is not depoliticized, we will end up with the same results that we had before."

Tbilisi.The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy have released a statement on February 15 concerning the developments in the local self-governments. The organizations have echoed the dismissal of public servants in the Gurjaani Municipality. "We call on the authorities to probe into the mentioned cases and react adequately to ensure that no political discrimination is allowed, human rights are protected and the rule of law is guaranteed. Any illegal action (pressure, threat, intimidation) that may take place on behalf of or against the self-government authorities or employees must be timely, effectively and impartially examined, which, when needed, should entail the respective legal response”, says the statement. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge