Tbilisi. Documentation received by Social Justice Center in the form of public information reveals that the company “Enka” has got an extension of the deadline for submission of construction documentation for the Kvemo Namakhvani HPP from the Ministry of Economy for another year. “We consider that this decision of the Ministry is another unjustified concession granted to “Enka”, which proves that statements regarding proper study of the project are false and unfounded. Besides, this process explains the real motive of announcement of a 9-12-month “moratorium” on construction of the dam. The delay in construction of the dam building is, in fact, connected not to the compromise of both the government and the company, but to the fact that the company delayed submission of complete project design related documentation itself and requested an extension of the deadline from the state for the same period of time”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. How can Georgian business benefit from becoming ‘greener’? - Find out on the e-Cards produced with the support of the UNIDO and EU4Environment programme… Source: www.euneighbours.eu

Imereti. Social Justice Center examined main demands of participants of the protest in Shukruti and reasons of their disagreement with the company, on the one hand, while on the other hand, circumstances, preconditioning this extensive social and environmental crisis, which preceded the protest in Chiatura Municipality. “Residents and representatives of the company assessed damage differently - in terms of both methodology and coverage of different types of damage. It is important to direct efforts of state agencies and knowledge of industry accumulated therein towards assessment of damage associated with mineral extraction as in case of specific owners, as well as in conjunction with the natural environment of the municipality as a whole. This intervention should be carried out in the form of elaboration of a common standard for damage assessment, which would position possible negative impact of the mining sector more sustainably, fairly and methodically in the area of regulation". Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center (formerly EMC) responds to a statement of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia in regard to conducted studies about economic benefits of the Namakhvani HPP, which was released by the Ministry to confirm the existence of a cost-benefit analysis of the project. “The content of the statement of the Ministry confirms that at the stage of preparation of the project, the cost-benefit analysis of specifically the Namakhvani HPP project was not carried out, which fact is a gross violation of requirements of Georgian legislation. The organization calls on the Government and relevant agencies repeatedly to publicize the conclusion of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia on the Namakhvani HPP project and the cost-benefit analysis of the project immediately". Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center (formerly EMC) responds to announcement of expression of interests in regard to the Namakhvani HPP project by the Ministry of Justice, according to which the Ministry will have to select an international law firm to evaluate the agreement. “We consider that this decision is one of those initiatives, by which the Government avoids to acknowledge the problem and tries to cover up agreement related existing main problems with illusory and fragmentary initiatives, which fact not only fails to shift the focus to real solution of the issue, but rather leads to prolongation of the conflict”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center (formerly EMC) responds to an incident occurred between police and protesters during a rally held by guards of the Rioni valley at the police checkpoint in the village of Gumati, which resulted in detention of 8 participants of the rally. The organization calls on the Government to start a dialogue with organizers of the protest rally in a timely manner and lift unjustified police restrictions that are still in force in the valley. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center believes that the conclusion of the Ministry of Justice verifies that by signing the Namakhvani agreement the Government gave upstate interests. As the Social Justice Center informs, the conclusion of the Ministry of Justice highlights problematic nature of those specific issues, which have become the subject of intense criticism of the organization right after publicizing the agreement, and demonstrates extreme imbalance of interests of the state and the private company under the agreement. Taking into consideration the extremely high public interest, the Social Justice Center demands to immediately make public the following: “Version of the agreement, which the Ministry of Justice of Georgia referred to while preparing its conclusion; Conclusion of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia; Cost-benefit analysis of the project; Explanatory statement of the Ordinance of the Government of Georgia of April 23, 2019 (by which the agreement on Namakhvani HPP was approved), together with full materials of administrative proceedings”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. Georgia is preparing a national strategy for low-emission development. „The strategy will focus on transforming the economy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and will include specific low-carbon development scenarios for key sectors. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture is taking the lead in this effort with support from the European Union in Georgia and UNDP Georgia. The EU and UNDP assistance draws on the EU-funded #EU4Climate programme“. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center (formerly EMC) has presented a document appraising police measures applied during protest rallies carried out against construction of the Namakhvani HPP. The document analyzes how lawful and proportional police coercion measures used by the state were during protests. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center publishes a video about violations related to the Namakhvani construction. “Environmental and construction permits for the cascade of Namakhvani hydropower plants were issued under specific conditions without mandatory examinations and thorough study, as stipulated by law. More than a year has passed since permits were issued, however, the company has not completely submitted additional inspections to the state yet. With works carried out on the site, Enka violates conditions of both environmental and construction permits”. Read more… Source:socialjustice.org.ge

Imereti. On May 13, a representative of the Kutaisi branch of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association visited the village of Shukruti in Chiatura Municipality, where local population have been protesting for 87 days against irreversible damage that mining activities of the company “Georgian Manganese” cause to the natural and social environment of the village. “During this time, three locals have exercised an extreme form of protest and sewn their mouths shut due to neglect of demands of participants of the action by both the state and mentioned company. According to explanation of residents of Shukruti, the environment has been polluted irreversibly as a result of activities of the company “Georgian Manganese”. Living in the village has become dangerous for locals, as their houses have turned uninhabitable due to damage caused by activities of the company, besides, they cannot use plots of land under their possession for agricultural purposes any longer, thus remaining without income”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center presents an article by Mariam Devidze – “Visible or invisible: Climate change and work of rural women”. “Climate change is a global problem that confronts all countries around the world with a lot of challenges. According to a statement made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the consequences of climate change hamper the implementation of agricultural activities and water supply, which has an impact on such issues as food safety, availability, and retention of prices. It should be noted that the main contributors to climate change are rich countries and populations, while its detrimental consequences affect mostly poor countries (including Georgia) and marginalized as well as vulnerable groups of the population, and there are also women among them. As a result, social and global inequality is furthermore exacerbated”, - is stated in the article. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Imereti. According to information released by the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), on April 28, the Tskaltubo Magistrate Court announced an operative part of the decision, according to which “Enka Renewables LLC”, a construction company that builds the Cascade of Namokhvani HPPs, was found guilty under Part 1 of Article 798 of the Code of Administrative Offenses that implies non-compliance of an implementer of activities with terms stipulated by the environmental decision. The court imposed a fine of GEL 5000 on the company as an administrative charge. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center (formerly EMC) publishes an analysis of an environmental decision made in regard to the Namakhvani hydropower plant. “The environmental decision concerns only one part of the two interdependent cascades of Namakhvani hydropower plants - the Lower Namakhvani HPP and does not evaluate the Upper Namakhvani HPP. Separation of permits for interdependent hydropower plants in any form and partial, segregated assessment of the environmental impact of two hydropower plants is a violation and neglect of environmental principles, environmental impact assessment standards. In turn, the environmental decision of the Lower Namakhvani HPP is conditional and contains an obligation of additional submission of important environmental studies. It is prohibited by law to issue an environmental decision without substantive researches, while the existence of studies that must be submitted mandatorily, confirms that the decision was made without conducting a thorough assessment of environmental impact. The environmental impact assessment report does not meet the standards stipulated by law. Geological, seismological and hydrological surveys of the hydropower plant are incomplete and unable to assess the situation on the ground”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes an interview with Nino Chkhobadze, an environmental defender, Co-Chair of the Greens Movement of Georgia/Friends of the Earth - Georgia. “The Chernobyl disaster contradicted a narrative about Soviet power or predominance in the field of science, threatened the politics of the Soviet Union. That is why, for a long period of time, they tried in the USSR to hide information about Chernobyl. “Even today, cases of the high level of lead [in the blood] in western Georgia, in our opinion, maybe the result of the Chernobyl disaster”. Read more… Source:idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center has highlighted in the video all those major problems that the agreement signed between the state and the company on the Namakhvani HPP project has. “The agreement was signed in 2019, behind closed doors, and just two years later was made public. Under this agreement, the state concedes its interests in favor of a private company”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more on this topic... Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. Women’s Fund in Georgia responds to current developments in the Rioni Valley and expresses its solidarity with guards of the Valley. “We consider that by restricting freedom of assembly and expression, the Government of Georgia grossly violates constitutional rights of its citizens, applies a disproportionate, repressive police force against participants of a peaceful protest, restricts the right of citizens to movement, and escalates the situation in the Valley. Besides, it is completely unacceptable and outrageous to demolish tents of guards of the Valley, cultivate the gathering place, erect a wall, and apply unethical attempts to harm the reputation of guards in order to discredit them. We address relevant agencies to immediately stop violence against people in favor of the company “Enka”... Read more... Source: The website of the organization  

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center states that the Government does not leave a space for dialogue around Namakhvani HPP. “Developments that took place yesterday were not the first case of demonstration of force against participants of a rally opposing construction of Namakhvani HPP. The Government, in official statements, declares its readiness for dialogue, on the one hand, while on the other hand, by mobilizing numerous police forces in the valley, imposing unjustified restrictions and violating rights of local population grossly, it contributes to escalation of the process itself and does not leave a space for substantive, constructive dialogue”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. The Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF) responds to developments that take place in the Rioni Valley. “We respond to developments, taking place in the Rioni Valley, and consider that it is not understandable and justifiable to set “block posts” in the direction of the village of Namakhvani and restrict freedom of movement for citizens of Georgia on the territory of the country. Besides, police dismantled tents of activists and the local population, where there was held a continuous, peaceful protest for 169 days. The argument, presented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to justify this, does not meet basic requirements for interference with the right that is stipulated by the Constitution of Georgia and human rights standards”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) releases a statement in regard to developments around the Namakhvani HPP project. “It is almost six months now that there takes place a continuous peaceful protest in Georgia against the Namakhvani HPP project. During the last period of time, the state has intensified the use of various policy measures, including blocking the road from Kutaisi to Namakhvani. Almost 10 days have passed since the restriction of freedom of movement. The State has not presented any convincing argument so far to substantiate the legality of the restriction. Developments evolved alarmingly on April 11, when police dismantled tents of participants of the protest and, at the same time, restricted lawyers/human rights defenders and journalists to enter the area”, - is noted in the statement. Read more…  Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. By TI, the actions taken by the state in the Rioni gorge grossly violate constitutional rights and freedoms namely, freedom of movement and freedom of expression. “Other than this, the state has not yet pursued a proper policy and has not conducted an adequate dialogue with the population. It is alarming that the repressive police force has again been chosen as a way to address the issue. The police and the protesters have again been left face to face. By taking such steps, the state further deepens distrust of law enforcement agencies and damages their reputation in the eyes of the public. We call on the authorities to end the unjustified, disproportionate, and arbitrary restrictions on the freedom of expression and freedom of movement, to give the “Rioni Gorge Defenders” the opportunity to protest peacefully, and to choose a way of dialogue with the protesters to address the issue”, - Is mentioned in the information TI spared. Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. The Public Defender makes a statement on events developed in Rioni Gorge. The Public Defender calls on the Ministry of Internal Affairs: To immediately give the protesters an opportunity to continue their rally at the alternative place suggested by them and if there is a justified reason for refusing to do so, allocate the kind of alternative place close to the desired location, which will not make the rally pointless. To provide the public with detailed information on the reasons and duration of the road closure in the village of Namokhvani. The Public Defender’s Office continues to examine the ongoing events and alleged human rights violations in the Rioni Gorge in detail. Information of the results of the examination will be additionally provided to the population. Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organization