Tbilisi. According to the review made by the Social Justice Center, the ten-year document of the State Strategy for Civic Equality and Integration does not envisage substantially new and crucial perspectives in terms of legislative, institutional and political changes that would contribute to creation of a more equal and equitable political and social environment for non-dominant ethnic groups. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. On October 7-8, 2021 a two-day training was held for the personnel of the State Inspector’s Service within the frame of the joint project of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and the State Inspector’s Service - "Promoting Personal Data Protection in Georgia”. The main goal of the project is to strengthen personal data protection regime in Georgia, and within it, IDFI and the State Inspector's Service have already carried out a number of important activities. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Rights Georgia, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Social Justice Center, Georgian Democracy Initiative and the Human Rights Center, with the support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, implement a joint project – “Legal aid network for activists”. The goal of the project is to protect civil activists from repressive measures and unlawful persecution carried out by the state, as well as to provide legal support to them. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. With the Assistance of “Rights Georgia”, Kazakh National Won a Dispute with the PSDA Concerning the Annulment of a Permanent Residence Permit. “Rights Georgia” represented the beneficiary to the Court of Appeals in the framework of the IOM-funded project “Establishment of the Network of CSOs tacking the migration issues and provision of legal assistance to foreign migrants in Georgia”. Read more… Source: rights.ge

Tbilisi. Part of civil society organizations in Georgia respond to the fact of detention of Mikheil Saakashvili, the third President of Georgia. “On the background of the fact that the judiciary is characterized by clan governance, loyalty to the Government and implementation of defective justice, as well as that confidence in this institution is on a dramatically low mark, it is doubtful, in such circumstances, to ensure the right of Mikheil Saakashvili to a fair trial is protected. In turn, the responsibility for all the above lies with the current Government, which encourages such a practice through its own political decisions and legal mechanisms. We call on the Government and the President of Georgia to use legislative mechanisms at their disposal to prevent administration of political justice against Mikheil Saakashvili”, - is noted in the joint statement. Read more… Source: www.gdi.ge

Tbilisi. On January 2, 2015, there took place an accident near the village of Marani in Abasha Municipality - a passenger train collided with a minibus crossing an unprotected railway junction. The accident claimed 3 people, while the others received various injuries. “Tbilisi City Court basically considered arguments of plaintiffs and, by its decision of October 7, 2021, ordered defendants JSC Georgian Railway, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Abasha Municipality City Hall to pay reimbursement of material (compensation, medical expenses, funeral expenses) and moral damages in favor of plaintiffs". In the court, interests of those affected were defended by The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Center has published an interim report: “Monitoring of trials of allegedly politically motivated cases”. “The interim report reflects results of monitoring of trials of allegedly politically motivated criminal and administrative cases that took place from February 1 to August 10, 2021. The report also incorporates results of monitoring of court hearings on the fact of attack on a media representative due to his professional activities (allegedly on political grounds)". Read more… Source:www.hrc.ge

Tbilisi. Partnership for Human Rights (PHR) publishes an article about sexual and reproductive health and rights of people with intellectual disabilities. “Restriction of sexuality, sexual self-expression and reproductive rights of people with disabilities has a long history. Nowadays, there are restrictive views about sexual life of people with disabilities remaining within society. According to these views, people with disabilities, and especially people with intellectual disabilities are perceived as “permanent children” who have no sexual desire. One of the best ways to change these views is to conduct public discussion of conclusions that are part of scientific sources and touch upon sexual as well as reproductive rights of people with disabilities”. Read more… Source: phr.ge

Tbilisi. Public Defender expresses sorrow over the Batumi tragedy and offers her condolences to the families of the deceased. „The horrible incident showed the importance of civil responsibility, as well as the tightening of state regulations, elimination and supervision of illegal constructions. The causes of this great tragedy, which may be caused by seemingly insignificant negligence, are yet unknown. That is why it is the duty of every citizen to be careful and not to act only in their own interests, which may put them and others around them at risk“. Read more… Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Adjara. Social Justice Center responds to the tragedy occurred in Batumi and extends its condolences to families of those deceased and their relatives. The organization considers that at the initial stage it is important to provide legal and social support to the affected families, as well as to seek fair and decent ways necessary for compensation of material and moral damage. "Collapse of a five-story residential building in Batumi is likely to be a consequence of poor construction regulation and technical supervision. While improper fulfilment of their obligations by agencies responsible for agreement of construction permit conditions is a systemic problem”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge Photo: Batumelebi.ge

Tbilisi. On October 5, 2021, Public Defender Nino Lomjaria and Deputy Public Defender Ekaterine Skhiladze met with representatives of the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities - Senior Political Adviser to the High Commissioner Mark Fumagal, Project Officer Edin Elgsaeter and National Programme Coordinator Nino Gogoladze. “The situation of the rights of national minorities, including issues related to access to and implementation of the right to education, as well as access to information and low participation and activity of representatives of national minorities in the political life of the country were discussed at the meeting”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. With the assistance of "Rights Georgia", Mexican national to be granted the right to temporary stay in Georgia. „On September 5, 2021, JK, a citizen of the United States of Mexico, applied to “Rights Georgia” for legal assistance. The beneficiary wanted to apply for a Georgian residence permit. On October 1, 2021, The Public Service Development Agency granted a residence permit for a citizen of the United Mexican States“. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. On October 4, 2021, the UN Association of Georgia in partnership with the World Federation of United Nations (WFUNA) commenced a five-day training course “Human Rights in Action” for the new cohort of participants. “The first stage of the program delivers training sessions in human rights and project management to 20 young participants from Azerbaijan and Georgia. Throughout the training, participants will have the opportunity to interact with key actors in the human rights field”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities #UNCRPD is a critical tool to ensure social, economic, and legal protection. It is the legal protection of people with disabilities and supports their inclusion and integration in society. “Georgia is establishing an Inter-Agency Committee to serve as a responsible agency and coordination mechanism in the UNCRPD implementation”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) has submitted an application to the Prosecutor General’s Office on behalf of 9 affected journalists demanding to investigate actions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during developments that occurred on July 5-6. “Despite the fact that GYLA has been calling on the Prosecutor’s Office so far to assess how effectively mobilization of police forces was planned and implemented in order to avoid/prevent violent developments, the investigation in this regard still does not take place. Up to this time, the investigative body works just to reveal criminal acts committed by certain individuals, which is insufficient”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. On September 23, 2021, the Constitutional Court announced its decision in the case “Giorgi Tsertsvadze v. the Parliament of Georgia”. With this decision, the court satisfied the lawsuit and declared the disputed normative content of Article 33, Part 6, Subparagraph “a” of the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia unconstitutional. The disputed norm gave the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia or a person entitled by him the authority to seize a criminal case from one investigative body, despite the investigative subordination, and transfer it to another body that was compromised by the reasonable complaint filed against its employee (police officer) due to the fact of encroachment on the right guaranteed by Article 9, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution. In the opinion of the plaintiff, mentioned authority endangered independence of the investigation and was not limited by guiding principles. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. With the help of UN Women, Georgia has joined the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) and once more has underlined the need for #equalpay for equal work. „It is noteworthy that with this step, the country reaffirmed its readiness to fulfil the obligation to eliminate the gender pay gap“. Read more… Source: georgia.unwomen.org

Tbilisi. The Tolerance and Diversity Institute publishes a research – “Racial profiling in Georgia – Existing policies and practices of the police system towards ethnic minorities and migrants”. “The problem of racial profiling is current in the daily activities of police institutions in different countries. The police often use human visual characteristics and other personal data while performing routine procedures. In such a case, there occurs a risk that this data may make given group of society more relevant for the police, i.e. police officers may pay more attention to people with certain visual characteristics, unconditionally considering them as those posing increased risk”, - is stated in the introductory part of the research, - “The present research is the first that aims to study the current practice of racial profiling in Georgia based on experiences of police officers, migrants and ethnic minorities. We hope that this research will make a significant contribution to launching of public debates on the issue of racial profiling, while it will help the state to pursue appropriate policies”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. The Public defender of Georgia published a report – ‘Impact of COVID 19 pandemic on conflict-affected women and girls.   ‘The present report provides results of research conducted by the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on conflict-affected women and girls, to evaluate local safety policy in this regard, and to identify the needs of women and girls living in collective centers, near the dividing line and in the occupied territories , - we rad in the information spread by the Public Defender’s office, - ‘As part of the monitoring, interviews and focus groups meetings were held with the conflict-affected women and girls, representatives of international organizations and, international missions; also with the non-governmental organizations, working on the peacebuilding process.  Read more… https://www.ombudsman.ge/eng/akhali-ambebi/covid-19-pandemiis-gavlena-konfliktit-dazaralebul-kalebsa-da-gogoebze  Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Public defender of Georgia published a report - ‘Findings and Recommendations of Monitoring of Implementation of 2018-2020 National Action Plan for Women, Peace, and Security.   ‘The present report provides results of the Public Defender’s monitoring of the implementation of the 2018-2020 National Action Plan for Women, Peace, and Security. The purpose of the monitoring was to evaluate the implementation of the measures provided for in the Action Plan and the results achieved to identify shortcomings and main gaps’, - we rad in the information spread by the Public Defender’s office, - ‘As part of the monitoring, information was requested from state agencies implementing the activities under the Action Plan. Focus group meetings were held with women living in the IDP settlements and villages along the dividing line in various regions of Georgia. Meetings were also held with representatives of non-governmental organizations and self-governing bodies. Due to the limitations of the Covid Pandemic, the above-mentioned meetings were held online’.  Read more…  Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Religious Associations of Public Defender’s Council of Religions and Tolerance Center Express Protest against Released Secret Materials. ‘We are astonished and express our extreme protest against the released secret materials and information contained in them’, - It is said in their statement, - ‘Members of the Council of Religions are considering what legal and international mechanisms we can apply to protect our rights and freedoms, our security. At the same time, we urge everyone: the Georgian Government, opposition parties, human rights organizations, religious associations, the media, and private individuals to exercise extreme caution relating to secret information, as it may inflict the most serious, completely undeserved, and irreparable harm on the security and reputation of each person, including minors, which is particularly alarming’. Read more…  Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) responds to the documentary material posted on the Internet space and sent it to the media on September 13. The material is allegedly created by the State Security Service via processing of information obtained as a result of covert surveillance among other means. “The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia should immediately inform society whether the spread materials are authentic or not. At the same time, the Parliament should apply authorities granted to it by the Constitution and law and intervene in the investigation of circumstances related to the spread materials, especially in the light of alleged signs of systemic unlawful surveillance”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge