Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition responds to the fact of injury caused to a cameraman of TV Company Kavkasia. On November 29, while covering a rally taking place in front of the Tbilisi City Court, a cameraman of TV Company Kavkasia lost consciousness. According to him, he had allegedly been sprayed with pepper spray in his eyes. “Unfortunately, representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have again failed to perform their duties properly and it still remains a problem to have police ensure security of the media during coverage of rallies. Media Advocacy Coalition calls on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to take into account the high public interest in the process and provide appropriate conditions for representatives of the media thus allowing them to perform their professional duties freely, without harm to their health or having their rights violated”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. The Public Defender and an organization “Rights Georgia” have published a special report, which demonstrates results of monitoring of legal proceedings carried out at Tbilisi and Rustavi city courts. Project researchers monitored interrogation of women victims of domestic violence in 30 criminal cases. “Insufficient awareness about rights and support services is one of the complications that women victims of domestic violence face during interrogation in court”. Read more… Source: rights.ge

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Center publishes an analytical document: “The right to a fair trial in cases of administrative offenses”. “The present document identifies and appraises the problems that have been revealed by the Human Rights Center during its monitoring of trials related to cases of allegedly politically motivated administrative offenses”. Read more… Source: hrc.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a study, which contains a review of the legal environment regulating personal data protection and cybersecurity in cyberspace. “The study provides evidence-based recommendations referring on the best European legal frameworks”. Read more... Source :idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Every year, the Public Defender of Georgia joins the 16 Day sof Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which has been marked since 1991 and aims to raise public awareness of the elimination of violence against women and domestic violence. Unfortunately, the Covid 19 pandemic has further exacerbated the problematic and covert nature of domestic violence and femicide. Femicide - gender-motivated killings of women – remains a particularly serious problem. The rate of this crime has sharply increased compared to previous years. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. “The Social Justice Center considers that the existing policy of the state should be substantially improved and based on more multi-layered vision and approaches in regard to the elimination of violence. It is important to enhance significantly working on real needs and long-term empowerment of women victims, on the one hand, while on the other hand, to establish a systemic policy based on inter-disciplinary knowledge and inter-agency (police, justice, social and penitentiary fields) coordination, which will address structural causes of violence, create conditions for real change of behavior, awareness and attitudes to perpetrators of violence, and manage introduction of more prompt and refined methodologies for measuring risks of violence”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, one of the main landmarks of the Georgian capital, the TV tower, was lit up in orange once again. “With this symbolic gesture, the capital of Georgia joined the global campaign against gender-based violence. The campaign started on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and will last for 16 days. The initiative, which has already become a tradition, has been implemented by UN Women with the support of Tbilisi City Hall since 2016”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.  “Violence against women is a widespread problem. In Georgia, 1 in 5 women report having experienced sexual violence and/or sexual harassment at least once in their life - including sexual abuse as a child”. Find out more… Source: eu4georgia.eu

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center responds to a statement of Irakli Garibashvili in regard to tightening of a drug policy. “We consider that use of a repression and punishment-oriented rhetoric by the Prime Minister is extremely problematic. Instead of promoting a care-oriented policy, the statement of the Prime Minister causes stigmatization of drug users and their further exclusion from the society, while opinions expressed in the context of so-called prescription drug addiction are not aimed at elimination of root causes of the problem”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. An organization “Sapari” publishes a study: Human rights defenders needs assessment in Georgia. “Human rights defenders play an important role in the democratization process and often experience violence, imprisonment, torture, defamation, expulsion from workspace, restriction of freedom of movement, while in certain countries death and enforced disappearance. They confront numerous risks and dangers in recent years. Often threats posed to human rights defenders are not accidental; in most cases, violent attack is a deliberate and well-planned response to their activity. These challenges require introduction of comprehensive and dynamic strategies for security in the daily work of human rights defenders. It is no longer sufficient to give a simple piece of advice to human rights defenders “to take care of themselves”. Good management of their security and a specific strategy is needed”. Read more… Source: sapari.ge

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center publishes an analytical document: Parental leave before and after the labor reform 2020. “The main problem for those employed is remuneration of a parental leave, which envisages one-time payment of GEL 1 000 by the state for the entire duration of the leave. It is obvious that in the circumstances of minimum remuneration parent is unable to provide adequate care for child, which fact ultimately results in incomplete use of a parental leave, return to work as quickly as possible, and, as a matter of fact, restriction of the right to a parental leave. The 2020 reform allowed fathers to take a paternity leave to care for child, however, at present, mother and father of child are unable to take a parental leave simultaneously. Despite small positive improvements entailed by the labor reform, the legislative standard of a parental leave still fails to ensure adequate protection and execution of the right to fair labor, as well as equality of those employed”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. On November 15, 2021, the Public Defender of Georgia, for the first time in the history of the Public Defender’s Office, has started fulfilling the duties of a member of the Board of Directors of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI). The Public Defender’s Office will represent the European region in the Board. The Office was elected a member of the European region in 2019. The Board of Directors oversees the organization's activities and makes decisions about its future activities. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by ISFED, two citizens have been reinstated to their jobs and got compensated for the forced loss with the help of the organization. “As plaintiffs state, their alleged political persecution started right after they rejected a proposal of Giorgi Tatuashvili, Mayor of Dmanisi Municipality, to be involved in the pre-election campaign. The decision was made unjustifiably and without proper study of legal grounds". The organization continues to provide free legal assistance to those dismissed unlawfully. Read more…  Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. The undersigned civil society organizations express grave concern regarding the frequent verbal assaults against the Ombudsperson of Georgia. “The office of the Public Defender of Georgia is the only independent constitutional institution in the country, which, in these circumstances of the ongoing state capture, is beyond the control of the ruling party. All impartial observers recognize that the activities of the Public Defender adhere to the highest standards of independence and professionalism. A clear testimony of this are the recent statements by the US State Department , Members of the European Parliament or Amnesty International. We, the undersigned civil society organizations, call on the government and the ruling party to stop their attacks against the Public Defender of Georgia and create all conditions necessary for its continued and unhindered work”.  Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center has prepared a brochure that aims at informing society about legal restrictions and penalties related to narcotic drugs. “A number of legislative changes aimed at introducing liberal approaches have been implemented in recent years in the field of drug policy, in line with the decisions made by the Constitutional Court. The amendments concerned, inter alia, the regulation of marijuana consumption. Regrettably, however, public perceptions pertaining to drug-related crimes or offenses often are not in conformity with the current legislative framework”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. With the assistance of “Rights Georgia”, a citizen of the Arab Republic of Egypt, won a dispute with the Public Service Development Agency (PSDA) regarding a Short term Residence Permit. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. In March 2021, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), in collaboration with the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia and with the support of USAID/PROLoG, started implementation of a pilot project that aimed at providing legal assistance to prisoners.  “In accordance with preliminarily elaborated criteria, there were selected cases of a total of 10 prisoners, who got subjected to various measures of disciplinary responsibility. In the court, prisoners were represented by GYLA. By this time, hearings of 5 cases have already been completed in Rustavi and Tbilisi city courts. In all five cases, courts satisfied claims and, respectively, imposition of disciplinary sanctions on prisoners by specific penitentiary institutions was declared unlawful. Legal proceedings on the other five cases are continued so far. The Office of the Public Defender and GYLA anticipate that the pilot project they launched and positive outcomes achieved, as well as standards set by court, will have a positive impact on the existing practice of applying disciplinary measures against prisoners in penitentiary institutions”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia would like to respond to the statement made by Irakli Kobakhidze, Chairman of the Georgian Dream political movement of citizens, in which he speaks about the possible responsibility of the Public Defender and doctors invited by her. This rhetoric goes beyond the legal framework, represents an attempt to attack and intimidate an independent constitutional body and its experts, and contradicts national and international human rights obligations. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by the Social Justice Center, on November 18, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development refused to transfer a mosque, located in Marneuli, to a religious organization - an unregistered union “Imam Ali Mosque” for its use. “The Ministry once again based this decision on the unfair and discriminatory argumentation that within the Muslim community, the only religious organization, recognized by the state, is LEPL “The Highest Administration of all Muslims in Georgia” (hereinafter referred to as the Administration), which has the legitimacy to acquire rights to historic religious buildings and enter into legal relations with the state. Given the fact that the Administration has neither legal and nor actual connection to the Imam Ali Mosque, this decision is another example of arbitrary and discriminatory interference of the state into the area of freedom of religion”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. With the financial support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, Mariam Natroshvili collected oral stories of people becoming homeless and published them in a book. “It is one step, one story from a roof over your head to homelessness in Georgia. Some of the heroes of stories gathered here once had a house, but today they live in a shelter. We have collected these stories there. Shelters scattered on the outskirts of the city enclose a lot of different and, at the same time, similar adventures”. Read more… Source: The website of the Open Society Georgia Foundation on a social network

Tbilisi. According to IDFI’s assessment, the case of Mikheil Saakashvili is being considered in violation of the right to a fair trial. “Mentioned harms not only the accused, but the reputation of the Court and the principle of publicity of trials, as well as establishes a dangerous precedent”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Public Defender states restricting the 3rd President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, from participating in his own trial grossly violates the right to a fair trial enshrined in the Constitution of Georgia and the European Convention. “The Public Defender calls on the Special Penitentiary Service to properly and conscientiously perform its rights and duties and ensure that Mikheil Saakashvili is brought before court, by providing appropriate guarantees for his health and safety. The Public Defender also calls on the court to give the accused the opportunity to state his position, participate in the examination of evidence and protect his rights within the framework of all three ongoing cases”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge