Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center publishes a critical appraisal of the working version of a Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy (for 2021-2030 years). The appraisal has been prepared jointly with the Partnership for Human Rights (PHR) and the Georgian Association of Social Workers (GASW). “Regardless important areas underlined in the document, there are a number of challenges and barriers in the field of mental health that are completely missed or inadequately highlighted in the working version of the strategy, while addressing these issues should become an undisputed priority for the Government. Such issues include restoration of rights of people living in institutions, implementation of a legal capacity reform, family strengthening matters, awareness raising, and etc. It is important to make sure that identification of these and other problems in the draft strategy as well as refinement of this document are carried out, first of all, with active involvement of people with psychosocial needs and organizations working on the issue”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), there has been prepared a guidebook on rights-based social service to be used for undergraduate and graduate academic programs in social work. “The purpose of the guidebook is to assist social work practitioners, lecturers and students in enactment of a new approach in social work practice, which is based on human rights”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. According to the information of the Public Defender, on December 10, 2021, on the occasion of the Human Rights Day, a human rights forum was held to discuss inequalities that jeopardise democracy in Georgia and hamper Georgia’s progress towards a fair and just society. “The message of this year’s Human Rights Day is: "All human, all equal". The forum discussed three main areas where pandemic has particularly deepened social and economic challenges: 1. gender equality, 2. legal and social protection of the LGBTQI+ community, and 3. inclusion of ethnic and religious minorities”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group (WISG) launches a new project: “Advocacy of gender and sexuality issues in digital and academic spaces”. “Within the framework of the project, we aim to problematize discrimination on the grounds of gender identity/sexual orientation and the so-called “conversion therapy” practice in the field of mental health, as well as to introduce LGBTQI+ affirmative approaches through facilitation of ethical practice and research”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. In connection with International Human Rights Day, the Social Justice Center publishes an annual report on the human rights-related situation.  “The country entered the year of 2021 on the background of a continuous political crisis, which had not been defused by either the April 19 political agreement, signed through the mediation of international partners or the 2021 local self-government elections. In the agenda based on a political crisis, there appeared to be completely missed out the following issues: alarming human and social consequences of the pandemic; the dire social and economic situation existing in the country, which further aggravated on the background of an unprecedented scale of inflation; reforms aimed at protection of human rights and equality”, - is stated in the report. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. “Georgian Democracy Initiative” presents a report – “Human Rights in Georgia 2021”. The report contains a review of the situation in terms of protection of human rights in Georgia in 2021. In the document, there is a thematic overview of main developments and occurrences of the current year, which expose the extent to which the Government of Georgia fulfills its obligations in the field of human rights and the rule of law. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. In connection with the Human Rights Day, GYLA publishes an appraisal of the situation related to protection of human rights in Georgia in 2021. “On December 10, the International Human Rights Day is observed. This date relates to the fact that took place 73 years ago when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. GYLA traditionally presents main challenges identified in the field of human rights during the current year”, - is stated in the document, which contains a review of human rights in the country in socio-economic, educational, freedom of assembly and expression, environmental and electoral terms. Read more… Source: rights.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) publishes a study on “Sexual harassment in public spaces”. “Based on requested public information, GYLA studied the frequency of detection of cases of sexual harassment in public spaces, substantiation of decisions made by common courts, as well as the issue of imposing respective responsibility for facts of sexual harassment”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Kvemo Kartli. Part of civil society organizations responds to the case of alleged political harassment of Ramiz Ramazanov. The organizations call on the Government to take all measures to protect his safety and dignity. “Ramiz Ramazanov has been missing from home for 2 days already. There are mobilized police forces around the vicinity of his house. According to his family members, Ramiz Ramazanov is in contact with them, however, they do not know of his whereabouts and exactly what is happening to him. So far, neither the Ministry of Internal Affairs nor any other agency have given an official explanation”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) publishes a study - “Chronology and legal review of July 5-6 developments”. “The study revealed that on July 5, 2021, the state did not take appropriate measures to protect public safety and health”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Lusine Dostibegian has been awarded a runner-up prize of the local Human Rights Tulip by the Ambassador of the Netherlands. “Lusine is an activist from Tetritskaro. She works hard every day to change the lives of people in her municipality for the better. Lusine has many other plans for her municipality and we hope the embassy prize inspires her to keep up with the great work”. Read more… Source: Embassy’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center publishes an article written by Salome Kajaia: “Labor beyond employment”. “The labor market is not divided only into formal and informal sectors, contracted and self-employed workers. A number of forms of labor and labor relations are among these categories, or even beyond them." Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. According to GYLA, the Committee of Ministers has called on the state to take more active steps to conduct an effective investigation into the July 5 cases and finalize legal proceedings related to the Identoba group. “The Committee is deeply concerned about developments of July 2021 (“Pride March”) and urges the authorities to demonstrate strong political will to combat hate crime as well as to safeguard the right to freedom of assembly via conveying a clear message regarding zero tolerance”. The Committee calls on the authorities to take all necessary measures to ensure smooth materialization of the right to peaceful assembly by the LGBTI community and activists, including through provision of adequate security, and inform the Committee about consequences”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. MAC Georgia is pleased to present you movie ‘Twelve Lessons’, directed by Giorgi Mrevlishvili. “Filmed in Guria, Georgia, Twelve Lessons follows the life of Valeri Kotrikadze as he seeks to prepare Vako, his grandson with Autism, to be an active and productive member of society. Faced with tremendous challenges and the absence of services and local support, Valeri fights on, determined to teach Vako the lessons he needs in order to succeed”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. On December 2, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Georgia awarded the winners of the Local Human Rights Tulip 2021. The HRC Shida Kartli regional office coordinator, lawyer and human rights defender Aleksi Merebashvili received the second award of the Embassy. “The women – victims of the gender violence, internally displaced people, inhabitants of the villages alongside the ABL and victims of the harassment from the side of the law enforcement bodies managed to fight for their rights against the state institutions and harassers”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) publishes a study: “The right of disabled children to education during COVID-19”.  “The document aims to:  assess access of children with special educational needs to the right to education and its effectiveness;  identify existing challenges on the basis of analysis of the legislation of the country and international acts;  overview steps taken by the state to materialize the right to education in the conditions of the pandemic”.  Read more…  Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Part of civil society organizations responds to the fact of creation of the mechanism for implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the Government. “We call on the executive authority to spend maximum efforts to ensure effective functioning of this institution and its further refinement. Undersigning organizations are critical about creation of this mechanism with the seven-year delay so that there have not been provided proper guarantees for its effective functioning”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. Hurie Abashidze was nominated for this award by the Rondeli Foundation. “Hurie is a really outstanding human rights activist from Khulo. She defends rights of Muslim women, supports them in employment, works on protection of cultural heritage and development of a regional community, as well as takes care of community mobilization of young people living in local villages and their participation in self-government”, - is stated on the website of the Netherlands embassy in Tbilisi on a social network. Read more... Source: The website of the embassy on a social network

Tbilisi. With the assistance of “Rights Georgia”, a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran, won a dispute with the Public Service Development Agency (PSDA) regarding a short-term residence permit. Read more... Source: rights.ge

Tbilisi. The Partnership for Human Rights (PHR) publishes a document, which is designed for girls with disabilities (hereinafter referred to as “disabled”), their parents, care takers and families who face challenges while identifying needs related to the age of maturity of disabled children. Download the document... Source: phr.ge

Tbilisi. Equality Week was held in Georgia on November 15-24, 2021, with the aim of informing the public of the importance of equality and the available legal mechanisms to combat discrimination. “Within the framework of the event, the Eastern Georgia Division and the Equality Department of the Public Defender's Office held 30 information meetings with students of higher education institutions, schoolchildren, teachers and young people living in Tbilisi and 5 regions of Georgia (Kakheti, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Shida Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli). At the meetings, Public Defender’s representatives spoke about the forms of discrimination, as well as the regulations and mechanisms available in the country for the protection of rights. It should be noted that in the regions populated by ethnic minorities, meetings were held in the languages of ethnic minorities”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. On November 27-28, a seminar on child rights for parliamentarians and the Permanent Parliamentary Council on Child Rights was organized by the Parliament of Georgia and UNICEF. “The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, its basic principles, and general implementation mechanisms were discussed at the seminar”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network