Tbilisi. Child benefits support children in need, though 38% of children in Georgia are affected by material and social deprivations, reveals the Child Welfare Survey conducted by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) with support from UNICEF.  The purpose of the survey was to measure children’s welfare in several core domains, including access to education, healthcare and social assistance, nutrition during school hours, safety at home, material and social deprivation, functional difficulties and stigma associated with disability. Find out more… The survey is available here… Source: www.unicef.org

Tbilisi. According to the new report of UNICEF, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Romania, and Ukraine have among the highest rates of under-vaccinated children. “Nearly one million children across Europe and Central Asia missed one or several routine vaccinations since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic”. Read more… Source: www.unicef.org

On March 17-19, 2023, Anton Vatcharadze, Memory and Disinformation studies direction head at the Institute for Development of Freedom of information attended the “On the Bridge of Memory” conference organized by Esimde, an international memory research organization, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The conference centered around two core themes: memory and decolonization. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Estonia. From February 8th to 11th, IDFI joined the international conference “Necropolis of Communist Terror” in Tallinn, organized by the Institute of Historical Memory of Estonia and the “Saint Petersburg Memorial Research and Information Centre/Joffe Foundation”. During the conference, attendees had the opportunity to tour the Memorial Museum of Victims of Communism and pay their respects at the Memorial of Estonian Victims of Communism. Learn more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. IDFI's report assesses the proactive access of public information in Georgia as of November-December 2022 and outlines the main trends and tendencies of proactive access to information compared to previous years. The report also includes proactive transparency ratings of public institutions. In 2022, the average compliance rate of proactive accessibility of public information is 60%, 4% higher than in 2021 and it 11% lower compared to the same indicator from 2014; In 2022, only three public institutions (Financial-Analytical Service, National Statistics Service, and the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement) had fully (100%) published information in compliance with the requirements of the relevant legal act; Among central public institutions, the lowest compliance was demonstrated by the Administration of the Government (34%), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (35%), and the Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civic Equality (30%). The publication of the information related to the management of finances remains the most problematic topic in this regard; Source: idfi.ge

Adjara. More than 20 historians from the region and European countries visited the site of the mass shooting of the Great Terror of 1937-1938 found near Batumi. After that, the participants moved to the monastery of the diocese of Batumi and Lazeti and got acquainted with the remains preserved after the exhumation. The visits were organized by the IDFI. The visits were organized with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information publishes the research: Access to Public Information by the Media: Legislation v. Reality. “It was revealed during the course of the project that there are practical-normative problems of a systemic nature in terms of obtaining information on issues of interest to the media. Ignoring both formal and material requirements of the legislation regulating freedom of information is a regular occurrence. The number of public institutions that attempt to comply with the requirements of the legislation as much as possible is exceptionally low. There is about a 12% probability that information on issues of interest to the media will be provided fully and within the timeframe stipulated in the law. The degree of arbitrariness in public institutions is high. This may be due to the lack of effective judicial or external administrative control. In some cases, it appears that complete ignorance of public information requests is a proven practice of a public institution. The effectiveness of judicial oversight is significantly reduced by the length of timeframes stipulated by law for the consideration of a case, as well as by the courts’ disregard of these terms. The systemic problems discussed above essentially worsen the quality of access to public information on matters of media interest. On a practical level, there is no expectation that the media will be able to obtain information on an issue of its interest within the timeframe stipulated by the law. The cases of compliance with the requirements of the legislation regulating freedom of information by a public institution are exceptional”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. On September 12, 2022 IDFI requested public information from the Georgian National Communications Commission (“Communications Commission” or “Commission”) about the addresses to block internet pages sent to internet-providers from 2017 up to date. The analysis covers the period from 2017 to September 26, 2022. “In this period the Commission sent 65 addresses to providers. Overall, 480 websites were requested to be blocked. Excluding the websites that could not be checked for one reason or another, the actual rate of website blocking under the Commission’s authority is 55%. Such a rate and the number of cases of avoidance could put the enforcement of this authority of the Commission under question. On the systematic level it does not appear that the Commission abuses procedural/material shortcomings of the website blocking mechanism. However, there are number of shortcomings, mostly procedural, which show that the current mechanism of website blocking has significant potential of misuse against the freedom of expression”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Adjara. Transparency International Georgia examined asset declarations of the Government and Members of the Supreme Council of Adjara public officials submitted in 2021-2022 and identified inaccuracies in 39% of declarations. 24 out of 62 public officials in the office inaccurately submitted asset declarations. 12 officials did not indicate real estate in the declaration owned by him/her and/or his/her family member. 12 officials did not declare their own and/or family members’ business interests – being a shareholder and director of a company. 11 public officials did not delegate the right to manage shares in the private companies to other persons. 4 public officials did not disclose received remuneration during their tenure. 3 public officials received income from activities restricted by the law. 2 public officials - members of the Supreme Council, Ilia Verdzadze and Fridon Putkaradze took into consideration inaccuracies indicated in our 2019 research, however, the Chairman of the Government Tornike Rizhvadze ignored violations in his asset declaration identified in our 2020 research. Hence, Transparency International Georgia calls on Civil Service Bureau to examine asset declarations of the persons named in the study and respond to the identified issues in a timely and comprehensive manner. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On October 10, 2022, The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) acquainted Erasmus+ financed study visit participants with the work and achievements of the Memory and Disinformation Studies Direction. The organizer of this event was a non-governmental organization “Gergarti”. "During the study visit, participants met with those organizations and individuals who work on reevaluating the Soviet past. They got acquainted with their research and expressed a wish to apply new knowledge and experience to their future work". Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Regions. On September 29-30, 2022, the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) in cooperation with the National Parliament Library of Georgia held a presentation on the issue of repressed people in Kaspi, Borjomi, and Gori and a screening of the film "Cemetery of the Shot in Batumi" shot by Radio Free Georgia/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). “Before the screening of the film, Anton Vatcharadze, the Memory and Disinformation Studies Direction Head of the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), gave a presentation on the theme of the repressed and talked about the great terror that took place in Georgia in 1937-1938, introduced a different history from the mentioned era to the audience, and also drew attention to the specificity and significance of the discovery of mass graves. He discussed the history of the tombs discovered in Adjara, the work carried out together with the Eparchy of Batumi and Lazeti and the Institute of National Remembrance of Poland (IPN), steps taken, and future plans”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia and International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy publishes the joint survey: State Resources at the Service of the Ruling Party: Proven Methods of Vote Buying and Illegal Mobilization of Voters in Georgia. The organizations studied the documents allegedly taken from the correspondence of securgd@gmail.com during 2018-2019. This email address was allegedly created by the ruling party - Georgian Dream. The files provided by the whistleblower also included some documents from 2020. Certain data in the documents were verified through public information. “Based on the research, a large-scale scheme of mobilizing voters in favor of the ruling party by illegal means was identified, which is highly likely to prove the use of state agencies (including law enforcement agencies) for election/party purposes. Personal information about employees of budgetary organizations and other citizens was probably collected through these agencies, to put pressure on them in the future. In addition, in exchange for support in the elections, citizens were provided with pre-requested and other types of benefits through various state agencies. The scale of the scheme allows us to assume that as a result of interfering in the election process with these methods, it was possible to mobilize voters in favor of the ruling party on a large scale”. Read more... Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. The Transparency International Georgia’s present study brings together the information on N(N)LEs established by the municipalities of Zugdidi, Poti, Abasha, Martvili, Senaki, Khobi, Tsalenjikha, Chkhorotsku, and Mestia, as well as on only those LLCs that receive subsidies from local budgets. The reporting period includes the years 2020-2022. “Ninety-two legal entities of the nine municipalities of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Region have increased the number of employees and their salaries in 2022 – the salaries of 8,406 people working in the non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities (N(N)LEs) and limited liability companies (LLCs) – those already paid this year and to be paid until the end of the year – amount to GEL 52,237,836 in total, which is 24% of the total allocations of the budgets of the region’s municipalities”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On July 1, 2022, IDFI held an online presentation of the regional results of the Global Data Barometer (#GDB). An online event aimed at sharing the key findings, obstacles, and recommendations for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region based on thematic modules of the Global Data Barometer. Learn more... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. According to the IDFI, The amendments to the Law of Georgia on Facilitating the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing are not enough to address the challenges existing in the country in this direction and it is necessary for the Georgian Government to take more ambitious steps. IDFI calls on the authorities to not spare efforts in implementing MONEYVAL and FATF recommendations. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Albaneti. On May 23-27, 2022, the first meeting of the Platform for Dialogue Between Historians was organized by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berat, Albania. “Topics discussed on meeting included the role of the historian as a medium between society and government during the transitional justice period and in countries with a traumatic recent past. Participants discussed international projects and researches that aim to understand past in the regional and international context. Representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia spoke about revision of history textbooks in there and neighboring countries and the issue that there is no common agreement around this topic in these countries. Anton Vatcharadze delivered a speech at the meeting – “Archival openness in the former Soviet republics and the countries of the Eastern bloc”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Regions. UNICEF in partnership with the National Association of Local Authorities and with the support of the European Union in Georgia, a local needs research methodology trainings were held for the representatives of Batumi, Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Orzurgeti, Ambrolauri, Akhaltsikhe, Kareli, Dusheti, Marneuli and Telavi municipalities. During the training, the representatives of the municipality got acquainted in detail with the needs research methodology and tools, research stages etc. The aim of the project is to assist municipalities in developing social programs tailored to the needs of the child. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Together with the management of the Agency For State Care And Assistance For the (Statutory) Victims of Human trafficking, UN Women invited representatives of Global Rights for Women to Georgia. Experts will evaluate the state funded services provided to DV/VAW victims by shelters and crisis centers, and make recommendations to improve these services. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. On May 11, 2022, the Public Defender of Georgia and Prevention for Progress, a non-governmental organization, presented a joint report “Impact of Covid 19 on the Health and Other Rights of Prisoners and Staff of the Penitentiary System”. The study assesses the impact of special measures taken by the Special Penitentiary Service from March 2020 through 2021 on the rights situation of prisoners. “The results of the study show that restrictions were overused during the pandemic period and no appropriate efforts were made to find possible alternative solutions. No appropriate steps were taken by the state institution to reduce the number of prisoners”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. On May 6 held the presentation of two studies on public attitudes toward LGBTQ people and their human rights and legal protection in Georgia. “The LGBTQI people remain one of the least protected and most marginalized social groups in Georgia. They face discrimination and violence, while the protection and realization of their rights remain a challenge.  On the other hand, recent research reveals that negative public attitudes towards the LGBTQI community have been decreasing in the last five years. A series of studies were conducted with assistance from the Government of Sweden and the United Nations support. The event was organized with support from the Swedish Government and three UN agencies – UN Women, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center publishes the analytical document: The Implications of the Second Karabakh War on Georgia's Non-Dominant Ethnic Groups. “On September 27, 2020, the second Karabakh war broke out between the countries of Azerbaijan and Armenia. The military conflict lasted for 44 days and ended with the signing of a trilateral agreement between the President of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of Armenia, and the President of Russia on November 10, 2020, after the takeover of the city of Shushi by the military forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This war had significant ramifications not only on the countries involved in the war but also on the region as a whole and impacted the balance of power in the region. The presented document aims to investigate the effects of the Karabakh war on Georgian citizens”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge