Tbilisi. Tbilisi City Court has accepted the appeal of claimant Roland Bladadze regarding the disputed property with Giorgi Papuashvili for proceedings. Archil Kaikatsishvili, the Attorney and the Head of the Organization ''Young Barristers'', has called the court decision on the case of high public interest as ''one more courageous and independent step''. In full... Source: barristers.ge

Tbilisi. The Ministry of Justice has drafted the law, which will protect the rights of children, appearing and working at the street. The bill has been approved at the session of the Government today. ''The children, living and working at the street, are the pain of all of us - the State and the society. Every child has the right to development, that is why we have developed, together with partner organizations and counterpart ministries, the package of the amendments, which has been unanimously approved by the government today, and which serves to better protect the children, appearing and working at the street'' - has been declared by Tea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Justice. In full... Source:www.ginsc.net

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organizations respond to the attack on journalists of "Tabula". ''We are extremely concerned regarding the fact of the attack on journalists of TV Company "Tabula", motivated with the hate due to the different point of view, and call on the law enforcement authorities to investigate the incident quickly and effectively. Besides, it is important to qualify the fact respectively and, in accordance with the instruction #47, issued by the Minister of Interior on December 23, 2014, to urge investigation, while describing circumstances of the crime, to indicate existence of the signs of crime, motivated with the hate, in the case, as stipulated by the section 31of the article 53 of the Criminal Code'' - is stated on the web-page of the organization. In full... Source:www.tdi.ge

Tbilisi. The ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC) will protect the interests of the three plaintiffs at the Constitutional Court. ''Constitutional claim has been prepared within the framework of a joint project of the "Georgian Harm Reduction Network'' and EMC. The claim challenges those norms of the Georgian law on the ''fight against drug crime'', on the basis of which, the individuals, convicted in drug crime, will automatically be, for a pre-determined period, restricted in certain rights, including permission for driving a vehicle, activities at a public service and educational institutions, etc.'' – is stated on the web-page of the organization. In full... Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Civil Society Institute has completed the course of the online learning program on "Election Law”. More than 200 representatives of qualified and unqualified parties have participated in the learning process. 100 successful participants have received a certificate. Within the framework of the program the representatives of parties have improved their knowledge of the election issues through the video lectures, reading material and tests. Online platform allows the representatives of various regions to be involved in the learning process, respectively, the residents of different regions have attended the course of "Election Law” without interrupting their work. Civil Society Institute has established learning program on "Election Law" via financial support of the Legal Entity of Public Law - "Center of Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Trainings". Those who are interested in the election law, have the opportunity to listen in a free listener mode to 13 video lectures, created especially on these issues. Video lectures…

Tbilisi. The article was writen in the framework of the project ''Strategic Plan Georgia 2020 - Strengthening Public Involvement'' and was published on the blog ''Georgia 2020''.  ''According to Government of Georgia (GoG), civil service reform is one of the most important priorities. According to strategic plan ‘Georgia 2020’ ‘facilitate the development of a human resources management system as part of efforts to ensure the stability of public service provision and the recruitment of qualified staff through relevant material and career motivation'', is noted in the statement.  In full... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Justice was closely observing the process of selection of candidates for the 61 vacant judicial positions taking place at the High Council of Justice. ''We would like to voice our findings and once again indicate the significant gaps revealed during the interviews with the candidates. On the one hand, these gaps make the judicial selection process unreliable and on the other hand, they raise important questions on whether the process is objective and free of political bias'', is noted in the statement.  In full... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. On December 22, the Parliament has registered amendments into the law on gender equality. "The package of amendments into the law on gender equality considers introduction of the institutional mechanisms of gender equality on a local self governance level, on a city council level establishment of a gender equality council, while under subordination of a governor the appointment of a person, in charge of gender equality” – is stated on the web-page of the organization. In full… Source:www.ginsc.net

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organizations respond to the statements of the current and former Chairmen of the Pardon Commission, in which they talk about the pressure, performed by politicians. ''It is clear that the declarations on this type of pressure represent the statements about malfeasance of particularly dangerous nature and require to carry out an investigation in limited deadlines and to answer the questions existing in public'' – is noted in the joint statement. In full… Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Parliament of Georgia approved through the third reading the law on restriction of juvenile marriage registration. ''According to the amendment, the marriage of the minor individual, reaching 16 years age, shall be allowed only with the consent of the court and in the case of having such reasons, as pregnancy and child birth'' – is stated on the web-page of the organization. In full… Source:www.ginsc.net

Tbilisi. Young Barristers publishes the statement regarding already existing impact on legal proceedings of suspended norms, related to the immediate enforcement by the court. "Court decision already has negative impact on relations, arisen from contractual disputes. …The decision, made by the court, generates negative impact on legal disputes, because suspended norms have affected, in whole, both civil and administrative cases, ongoing at the courts. The decision evolves negative impact on disputes, related to contracts, among others” – is noted in the statement of the organization. In full… Source:barristers.ge

Tbilisi. The head of ''Young Barristers'' requests a meeting with Mamuka Akhvlediani, the Chairman of the Tbilisi City Court. ''Archil Kaikatsishvili in his official letter, sent on December 9 to Mamuka Akhvlediani, the Chairman of the Tbilisi City Court, requested the Court not to transfer the resonant case for the review to the judge, who made previous decisions. On December 14, the Court confirmed that the case was transferred to the same judge for the review. Archil Kaikatsishvili requests a meeting with the Chairman of the Court'' – is stated on the web-page of the organization. In full… Source: www.barristers.ge

Tbilisi. Young Barristers responds to the ongoing public discussion regarding the commission for pardon and the cases of release via amnesty in December 2012. ''The transparency of the activities of the commission for pardon has always been a subject for debates because there are no justified and well-defined solutions on certain cases, however, the campaign, which regards to the existence of lobbying the cases of prisoners with self-interest, goes beyond the basis of healthy criticism of the issue and requires legal and political appraisal'' – is noted in the statement of the organization. In full... Source:www.barristers.ge

Tbilisi. The Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the organization ''Young Barristers'' and the Legal Affairs Commission of the City Council. ''Within the framework of the presented Memorandum, the organization undertakes the responsibility to provide free legal consultancy service to all addressable citizens. According to its Head, the organization is currently implementing two projects, which regard to the legal consultancy of migrants, returned back to the country, and the advocacy of women at the June 13, 2015 disaster affected families'' – is noted in the statement of the organization. In full… Source:www.barristers.ge

Tbilisi. The Coalition responds to the statements made by the representatives of the governing political power, the vice-speaker of Parliament Manana Kobakhidze and the Parliamentary Majority Leader Zviad Kvachantiradze, as well as the Minister of Justice, Thea Tsulukiani, regarding the Constitutional Court of Georgia. ''These statements are saturated with superficial political assessments that have nothing in common with substantiated legal critique of judicial acts. In certain cases such statements may even amount to attempted pressure on judiciary, which is especially dangerous in relation to the cases currently being heard or due to be heard by the Court'', is noted in the statement. In full... Source: www.isfed.ge

Tbilisi. The organization "Young Barristers" has become a member of the Advisory Council, established under the Ministry of Corrections. "The first meeting of the Advisory Council of the Ministry will be held on December 11, 2015 and symbolically dedicated to the anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights” – is stated on the web-page of the organization. In full... Source:barristers.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes the statement regarding disciplinary proceedings of Merab Turava, the judge of the Constitutional Court of Georgia. ''…Keeping the judge in an uncertain legal circumstance for an indefinite or unreasonably long time and the expectation of possible severe sanction during this period, threatens the independence of an individual judge and may raise well-grounded suspicions, while leading the cases, in terms of having influence on him'' – is noted in the statement of the organization. In full… Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender is responding to the amendments to be made to the rules for questioning of witnesses at the stage of investigation and negatively evaluates the Government's initiative.  ''The Public Defender cannot accept the arguments based on which the Government of Georgia demands two-year postponement of the new rules of questioning of witnesses with respect to certain categories of crimes. We believe that such a threat exists in relation to other crimes too; in addition, it is not clear how these threats will be eliminated in two years. It must be said that the law enforcement agencies had enough time and resources to carry out preparatory measures for introducing this institution in practice, to raise employees' skills and professionalism that would have promoted practical realization of the principle of voluntariness of questioning of witnesses'', is noted in the statement. In full... Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. ''The Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC)'' has addressed to the Public Defender and the High Council of Justice of Georgia on behalf of the residents of Pankisi Gorge. The demand concerns the investigation of the fact of alleged discrimination against them, performed by the judge of the Tbilisi City Court. ''At the time of decision-making, the judge has not rated expected specific threats towards the individuals taking part in the case and has not checked justification and reasonableness of possible risks'' – is noted in the statement of the organization. In full… Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) describes and evaluates the practice, related to the rotation of judges in the court system. ''Presented document contains three main legal mechanisms, used for rotation of judges, and practical features related to them: business trips of judges, appointment of judges without competition, promotion of judges'' – is stated on the web-page of the organization. In full… Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The organizations, undersigning the application, appeal to the High Council of Justice to ensure the openness of the competition, held for selection of judges. ''Current process of the appointment of judges of the High Council of Justice is a subject to exceptionally high interest of the society, because the competition has been announced for several tens of vacant positions and in the country operates the system of appointing judges for unlimited time. Thus, high interest of the public is legitimate, and members of the society have the right to be fully informed about the candidates and the decisions of the members of the council at every stage of the selection of candidates for judges'' – is noted in the joint statement. In full… Source:gyla.ge