Tbilisi. The British Embassy Tbilisi and UNDP are launching a new stage of their support to the public administration reform. “This fundamental transformation has been initiated by the Government of Georgia to modernise governance systems and build stronger democratic institutions”. Read more… Source: www.ge.undp.org Photo: Nino Zedginidze/UNDP

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

Samtskhe-Javakheti. According to information released by the Social Justice Center, on October 6, snow fell in Javakheti, as well as in other mountainous regions. "Most of the residents of Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki meet harsh winter again without gas and in difficult conditions. 8 out of 31 villages of Ninotsminda, while 22 out of 64 villages of Akhalkalaki have no gas. Families that are left without this basic infrastructure use liquid gas cylinders for heating, while more often they use so-called “Javakhian kalag” (dried cow dung cut in rectangular pieces). This experience once again demonstrates economic and social inequality between the center and peripheries, as well as hardships that are confronted by people living in high mountainous regions and do not change or improve from year to year”. Read more... Source: The website of the Social Justice Center on a social network

Tbilisi. According to the IDFI, Georgia was one of the first countries to join the Open Government Partnership in 2011 and has been particularly active since the first stages of implementing the initiative but participation of the Government of Georgia in OGP has backslidden over the past few years and at present has almost stalled. “As a result of the continued indolence for several years - Georgia's reputation, as one of the leaders of the Open Government Partnership in terms of developing an action plan and implementing commitments, has suffered irreparable harm”. Learn more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by Transparency International Georgia, Shalva Tadumadze, former Prosecutor General and Judge of the Supreme Court, sues Eka Gigauri, Executive Director of the organization, for defamation in regard to his diploma. “Tadumadze considers that statements of Eka Gigauri, in which she questions qualification of Shalva Tadumadze and compliance of his diploma with current legislation, are slanderous. Transparency International Georgia reviewed a number of subject related documents, received from public agencies, and findings raised specific questions. Despite the fact that the judiciary system faces serious challenges and we do not expect an impartial, objective outcomes of justice, Transparency International Georgia will defend its interests in the courts of all instances. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. According to the World Bank, in 2020, Georgia obtained the highest score in Regulatory Quality out of six dimensions assessed, which is also the highest result achieved by Georgia in this dimension over the years. However, regress is detected in almost all other areas. The evaluation of Georgia in the dimension of Voice and Accountability fell below half of the maximum rating; as for Political Stability, the country constantly has the lowest score in this dimension, which is not even close to half of the maximum rating. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Due to the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information political competitiveness is one of the essential signs of a representative democracy, which mainly is determined by political parties’ financial. In Georgia, the issue of political finances is regulated by various legal acts at the legislative level, among them, the Organic Law of Georgia on Political Unions of Citizens and the Election Code. “According to the legislation political parties have equal access to financial resources. Nevertheless, in practice, the ruling party's donations exceed the financial resources of the opposition parties. Taking into consideration the fact that obtaining funding from private sources is a challenge for opposition parties and a large part of their revenues comes from state funding, the real competition is not guaranteed in practice”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. In honor of the memory of those killed during the hostilities in Abkhazia, Ambassador Kelly C. Degnan, Senior Defense Official COL Stephanie Bagley, and members of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Georgia laid wreaths at Heroes Square. ‘Sokhumi fell to Russian-backed forces 28 years ago today. This grave tragedy resulted in thousands losing their lives and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes. We remember this day with sorrow and with the hope that remains in the hearts of so many internally displaced people,’ - It is said in the information spread by the embassy. Read more…  Source: The page in the social network

Tbilisi. IDFI publishes the article "Archives and Conspiracy Theories: An Example of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church" by Mochil Metodiev, a Researcher of the Institute for Studies of the Recent Past, Bulgaria.  ‘Understandably, the expectations from the opening of the communist secret services archives are high. The society hopes that the archives will provide long-awaited answers on the communist regime and its collapse and that this step will lead to greater transparency of institutions, it will restore justice, and pave the way for meritocratic development of the new elites. All those hopes are understandable and reasonable. At the same time, the opening of the archives brings a number of unforeseen challenges. The main challenge is the possible discrepancy between the information, revealed in the archives, and the public convictions, already established during the early years of the transition. How do the public and institutions react when the revelations from the archives not only do not confirm but even contradict the already established perceptions?’ - We read in the article.  Read more…   Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. The US Embassy in Georgia published the highlight how the United States works with Georgia to develop its tourism industry... This summer, USAID brought a group of travel influencers to Georgia to promote the country as a tourist destination, reaching 4 million potential travelers around the world.  Have you already seen the beautiful ceramic tile mosaic in Gori? It was created by artist Irina Shotadze after USAID helped her purchase a ceramic oven. The new oven enabled her to create 1,001 tiles for public display, which has already become a popular destination in Gori.  USAID also supported new infrastructure at 15 rural museums in Shida Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, and Tusheti in line with the U.S. government's emphasis on creating jobs in Georgia's regions while maintaining the country's unique cultural heritage.  With USAID support, roughly 300 "Digital Missionaries" have listed tourism businesses and landmarks on Google platforms, promoting growth of the rural tourism industry. So far, they have "digitized" more than 3,000 locations across the country.  Last but not least, USAID supported the establishment of the Tourism Industry Alliance comprising 15 business associations in the tourism and hospitality industry. Read more…   Source: The page in the social network

Tbilisi. A large part of the population of Georgia believes that high-level corruption – cases of corruption involving high-ranking officials – is common in the country. At the same time, the population seldom encounters petty corruption in their daily life. Such are the results of a telephone-based public opinion survey that was commissioned by TI Georgia and conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) in the period from July 9 to July 18, 2021. The organization surveyed 1,228 people across the country as part of the poll. The average margin of error is 2.67%. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. Part of civil society organizations considers that delegation of the decision-making authority from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture to the LEPL National Environmental Agency on issues directly related to the development of the country, public safety, and proper enjoyment of basic human rights is a way for the Ministry to avoid political responsibility. Besides, transference of such an authority to the National Environmental Agency increases risks of conflict of interests and corruption, as this agency has its own commercial interests. “Taking given context into account, we call on the Parliament of Georgia not to support such an institutional change, as it poses the threat to the legislative and institutional order, currently existing in the country, and is going to have a negative impact on the development of the country in the future”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center presents an interview with Paata Zakareishvili, Natia Chankvetadze and Giorgi Kanashvili, experts having experience in political and academic work. The topic of the interview is conflict. “A few days ago, the Prime Minister and the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality presented long-term strategic visions for reconciliation and confidence building. The Government of the Georgian Dream has further enhanced the importance of the policy of reconciliation and confidence building at the discourse level, however, it continues to work in this direction with paradigms, tools and methods of the previous Government, and these efforts have not yielded significant political and social results”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center (formerly EMC) calls on the Government to set protection and security of villages, located around the dividing line, as well as their social and economic support as its immediate priority and spend active efforts on taking care and well-being of residents of war-affected villages as well as on development of their vital social infrastructure. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Adjara. What is a failure that, in reality, signifies taking a step towards success and strong motivation? With the support of UN Women, women entrepreneurs shared their experiences on this matter with an audience on 26 July in Batumi at the popular events series Fuckup Nights. “The event, organized by Tbilisi Startup Büro, consisted of presentations by four women entrepreneurs. Through the stories they told to the attendees, they once again displayed the obstacles they had overcome in their business pursuits and tried to motivate other women with their personal examples. After the speakers’ speeches, a panel discussion was held, during which the women entrepreneurs also answered audience questions”. Read more… Source: georgia.unwomen.org

Tbilisi. The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies publishes a blog post of Davit Batashvili, a researcher of the organization: Why it is important to know on which date the 2008 war started. “There is a kind of confusion in Georgia regarding the start date of the 2008 war. People sometimes mention August 7, sometimes August 8 as the day when the war started, as if there is no difference between these two dates. In fact, there is a key, fundamental difference between them. August 7 is the day when the Russian army actually invaded Georgia and thus started the war against it. While August 8 is the date on which Moscow lies - as if it launched a military operation against Georgia on that day and not before. This lie has a very important political purpose. Saying that, Russia declares that its attack on Georgia began only after Tbilisi launched a military operation in the Tskhinvali region. Supporting this lie of Russia by Georgians via mentioning August 8 as the start date of the war is an inconceivable folly and negligence. Superficial attitude towards history and facts that often characterizes us, is, in this case, an action that causes direct harm to interests of own country and supports Russian disinformation”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source: www.gfsis.org

Tbilisi. On August 6, there was held a rally of those employed at “Tbilservice Group”, a company owned by Tbilisi Municipality. “The statement of participants of the rally reveals a number of violations of labor rights. Social Justice Center expresses its solidarity with striking workers and calls on the Labor Inspection Service to take the initiative and immediately inspect working conditions of those employed at “Tbilservice”, while it urges “Tbilservice Group” and the City Hall of Tbilisi Municipality - to study concerns of participants of the rally and take prompt steps to meet fair demands of employees”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. As FactCheck informs, there are spread fake quotes of Amiran Gamkrelidze on a social network, in particular, “Keep distance, wife and husband contact each other via messenger!” - Amiran Gamkrelidze.  These posts have thousands of comments and hundreds of shares by users on Facebook. According to verified data, “a quote or comment, similar to that of Director General of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health regarding the necessity for distance to be kept between wife and husband, cannot be found in publicly available/open sources. It is assumed that Amiran Gamkrelidze has not made the above-mentioned statement about keeping distance between couples and contacting each other via messenger”. Read more… Source: factcheck.ge

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations consider that the Government uses the State Security Service as a tool for total control. "The material related to activities of the State Security Service and broadcasted on the air of Mtavari Channel once again indicates the gravest practice of mass control and violation of human rights existing in the country. On the background of a fragile democracy and severe political crises, the State Security Service has emerged as a strictly politicized agency protecting interests of influential political figures, which attempts to retain political power of the particular group through surveillance, intimidation and blackmailing tools”, - is noted in the joint statement. Read more... Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Below is the link to the sixth #TRCTalks with Georgian subtitles. The topic of discussion was - "Exploitation of societal divisions by extremist groups Part 1: Middle East, sectarianism and extremism - case studies of Iraq and Syria". Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Since 2002, Georgia has been marking the day of commemoration of the victims of repressions on 22 July. For this day, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), in collaboration with the society for supporting families and keeping the memory of Soviet repression victims in Georgia „Memorial“, held the Exhibition „Repressed Women in the Soviet Union“ at the Dedaena Park. The history of this day dates back to 1937 when, on this day, a great Georgian poet, Paolo Iashvili committed suicide demonstratively at the building of the Writers’ Union. Read more… Source: idfi.ge