Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center has prepared a study – Labour Inspection Service Assessment 2021. “The purpose of this study is analyzing the effectiveness of the Labor Inspection Service in the wake of the increased mandate and institutional strengthening as a result of the labor reform. This study, for the first time since its inception in 2015, will assess the performance of the Labor Inspection Service in order to identify existing challenges and measures that have to be taken for the improvement of the system. At the end of the study recommendations are presented to the relevant agencies, the implementation of which will help to improve the Labor Inspection system as well as to raise labor rights and safety standards in the country”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) publishes a blog post: Political advertisements on Facebook and Instagram during the period of the 2021 elections. “According to the Facebook Advertising Library, political parties and their representatives/ candidates, participating in the elections, posted 8 126 political advertisements on Facebook and Instagram for the 2021 local self-government elections within the period from August 9 through November 6. Not less than USD 524 602 and not more than USD 536 086 were spent for this activity”. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia is extremely concerned about the draft law initiated by the Members of Parliament of Georgia, which abolishes the State Inspector’s Office in an expedited manner. “The bill was prepared in a non-transparent manner and without prior consultation with stakeholders. We believe that this decision contradicts the Constitution of Georgia and human rights and aims to interfere with the activities of an independent institution”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes an analysis of local self-government budgets. “In 2021, the largest share of expenditures - 37% (GEL716,3 million) planned by municipalities comes on subsidies that are mostly released to finance N(N)LEs. In 2020-2021 years, a total of GEL 212 million was provided in the Tbilisi budget to subsidize public transport of the city. The share of remuneration expenses in total costs in municipalities ranges from 8% to 50%, while that of social assistance - from 2% to 17%. In 2021, as a result of budget changes made prior to the local self-government elections, the figure of planned total expenditure has increased by GEL 292 million”, - is stated in main findings of the analysis. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Media Development Foundation (MDF) has published its annual report – “Hate speech - 2020”. “The purpose of the study is to identify various forms of hate speech in the media and public discourse and to reveal their sources”. Read more… Source: mdfgeorgia.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia publishes a special report on the legal status of the children of the St. Nino orphanage in Javakheti Ninotsminda. "The results of the study showed that despite the steps taken after the events of spring 2021, the boarding school still faces a number of challenges, both in terms of producing documentation for the institution and caregivers, as well as assessing and meeting the individual needs of minors, including bio-psycho-social needs. The issue of communication and exchange of information between agencies and institutions working with children is problematic and ineffective, which has a negative impact on the process of meeting the needs of minors and is against their interests," the study said. Read more…  Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center publishes an evaluation: Security sector, law enforcement system and repressive criminal policy-2021. “Institutional reforms of the law enforcement system, the prosecutor’s office and the police have been substantially suspended this year. Closed style of these agencies and lack of cooperation with civil society organizations continue to be a challenge. The major problem remains instrumentalization of the prosecutor’s office and the police for political purposes as well as use of these bodies to suppress public or political protests”, - is stated in the document. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by Transparency International Georgia, the commitment to adopt the Law on Freedom of Information still remains unfulfilled. “The Government of Georgia should have submitted the bill on Freedom of Information to the Parliament in 2015, however, this obligation, committed within the framework of the Association Agreement signed with the European Union, is still unfulfilled. It is necessary to urge both the Ministry of Justice and the Government to resume/start the process of initiation of the bill with the involvement of all stakeholders in order to fulfill commitments as soon as possible”, - is noted in statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) considers that developments occurred in regard to approval of budgets for Batumi and Zugdidi for the year of 2022 raise doubts about legality of decisions made in conjunction with these processes in material terms. “Such a practice contradicts both democratic principles and the essence of local self-governance, reinforced by the Constitution, thus endangering perspective of democratic governance to be performed by population at the local level”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. On December 16, 2021, the Public Defender of Georgia published a special report – “Human Rights Education at the Higher Education Level in Georgia”. “The report reflects the results of the monitoring of the quality of human rights education in undergraduate law programmes and provides relevant recommendations to address shortcomings. The study showed that in most of the undergraduate programmes, basic human rights and freedoms are taught in only one compulsory subject. In addition, as a rule, the content of the subject is limited to the study of the rights reflected in the second chapter of the Constitution of Georgia, and in this process students are almost not required to analyze the rulings of the Constitutional Court”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Samtskhe-Javakheti. According to the information of the Transparency International Georgia Companies belonging to Georgian Dream members and donors, as well as family members of current and former public officials, receive state procurement in addition to the subsidies from the state program. “In 2018-2020, 17 such entities within the framework of Enterprise Georgia received approximately GEL 2,240,794 (one third of the amount spent in the region within the program). Among them, 9 entities received GEL 4,733,891 from state procurements at various times. 7 out of 17 entities donated 594,400 GEL to Georgian Dream”. Read more... Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On December 15, representatives of the IDFI, CTC and MSDC presented the National Assessment of Georgian Municipalities 2021. “According to the results of the 2021 National Assessment of Transparency and Accountability of Georgian Municipalities, the average score of municipalities is 28% (on a 100% rating scale), which is equal to the 2019 assessment score. It can be thus said that, according to the data of 2021, the rate of transparency and accountability of municipalities has remained practically unchanged”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

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. A new report by Transparency International Georgia indicates that undeclared business assets of Parliament members and incompatible activities with their status is a problematic issue in the Parliament of Georgia of the 10Th Convocation.  'We do not have the capacity to establish whether the undeclared companies are actually engaged in entrepreneurial activities and The Civil Service Bureau should be interested in this issue. As for the conflict of interests, this needs to be examined by the Parliamentary Committee of Procedural Issues and Rules', - is mentioned in the document. The information about MPs’ asset declarations and their shares in companies is given in the report as 16 September 2021. Read more…  Source: The webpage 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. International Anti-Corruption Day is celebrated on December 9. “This day is crucial for governmental institutions and non-governmental organizations, as well as for the whole society, to be reminded that joint cooperation is essential for the prevention of corruption. IDFI continues to actively promote the fight against corruption and works to raise the attention of relevant actors on important Anti-Corruption issues”. Learn more about IDFI's anti-corruption activities here… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. According to an article of the IDFI: most of the Anti-Corruption rankings published by international organizations in 2021 indicate that the corruption situation in Georgia is worsening. “In order to respond the existing challenges, it is important for Georgia to pay more attention to the fight against corruption; to adhere to the recommendations of international Anti-Corruption institutions". Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. December 9 is the International Anti-Corruption Day. Due to this day Transparency International Georgia releases a statement. “At one time, Georgia was recognized as a country successfully combating corruption. Progress made in the fight against bribery (petty corruption) is maintained to this day, which is an important achievement. However, at the same time, the country is seeing an alarming increase in more complex manifestations of corruption, such as: High-Level Corruption – participation of high-ranking officials or influential individuals associated with the ruling party in corruption-related violations; and State Capture – a situation when state institutions are not accountable to the country and its citizens and are, instead, serving the interests of influential private individuals". Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in the process of Open Government Partnership (OGP), express concern about continued inaction on the part of the Government of Georgia, due to which the OGP process in Georgia has been suspended for over two years.  “We, the member NGOs of the Open Government Georgia Forum and the Coordination Council, call on the Government of Georgia to immediately restore the process of open government partnership and ensure effective involvement of NGOs in this process. Otherwise, it will become clear to everyone that the open government process, its mission and values are no longer a priority for the Government of Georgia. We also call on the OGP Secretariat (the Support Unit) to become actively engaged in resolving this lengthy crisis and to call on the Government of Georgia to take effective steps with the aim of restoring this process”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: civilin.org

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia has outlined enforcement of the “Law on Conflict of Interest and Corruption in Public Service” in practice referring to the example of ministries of Georgia. According to main findings: “In 2016-2020 years, there were not detected cases of corruption-related offence, conflict of interests, possession of unjustified property, acceptance of an offer prohibited by law and violation of restrictions related to gifts at ministries. Which fact signifies that detection of violations is not performed in practice. Only 1 case of position mismatch was identified. Development of a national anti-corruption policy, monitoring and coordination of implementation, as well as functioning of the Anti-Corruption Council have been suspended. The Secretariat of the Anti-Corruption Council does not really exist”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: transparency.ge