Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) release a joint statement in regard to development of policy documents on public administration. In line with expiry of the Public Administration Reform Guide and the 2019-2020 Action Plan, the administration of the Government has started working on a new strategy and action plan. The process has been initiated with engagement of representatives of civil society. The organizations appreciate the fact that engagement of civil society in the process of development of an action plan in ensured and, at the same time, emphasize necessity of addressing shortcomings related to previous strategic documents. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. ”Social Entrepreneurship Forum 2020” was held on November 19, the International Day of Social Entrepreneurship. “Taking into consideration the pandemic and safety norms, the forum was carried out in an online format. Participants had an opportunity to attend the forum via the ZOOM platform. Besides, the event was covered through the FACEBOOK LIVE of Social Enterprise Alliance. Within the framework of the Forum, there has been revealed a “Social Enterprise of the Year” – Gumbati”.  One of the partners of the event is the Civil Society Institute (CSI). Read more… Source: The website of the Alliance in a social network

Tbilisi. The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies publishes a blog post by Shota Utiashvili, a senior fellow of the organization: Who won and who lost in the Karabakh war. “The war was lost by Armenia, which gave up seven surrounding districts and part of Karabakh itself, along with the Shusha City, while it was won by Azerbaijan, which, respectively, took over these territories. The West was defeated too, as it became obvious that its influence on the region was minimal. Formally, the United States and France (along with Russia) are co-chairs of the Minsk Group, however, their calls for cease-fire, the same as the agreement signed by Foreign Ministers in Washington, have had no effect on the course of the conflict”. Read more…  Source: www.gfsis.org

Tbilisi. Due to ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, the Tsalka Local Action Group has extended the deadline to submit applications for the second grants competition under the EU-supported ENPARD project, EMBRACE Tsalka. The grants competition aims at promoting economic diversification and improving the well-being and socio-economic status of local communities in the municipality. The application deadline is: December 15, 2020 at 18:00 P.M. Find out more here... Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. The Council of Religions under the Public Defender of Georgia publishes the statement on the visit of the United States Secretary of State, the honorable Michael R. Pompeo.  W/e, the Council of Religions, welcome the visit of the United States Secretary of State, the honorable Michael R. Pompeo to Georgia. It is of utmost importance for us, that one of the reasons of Secretary Pompeo’s visit to Georgia is to support freedom of religion. We take this opportunity to express our gratitude towards the American people and the government of the United States of America, for their great efforts throughout the years in promoting the independence, territorial integrity, protection of human rights, prosperity and democratic development of our country as well as safeguarding freedom of religion and tolerance throughout the world, including in Georgia… Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The LEPL Public Service Development Agency (Agency) has drafted Policy Document and Action Plan on public service development, delivery, quality assurance and evaluation, which are planned to be submitted for approval to the Government in December 2020. In February 2020, the Agency submitted through e-mail the drafted documents to civil society representatives, including the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information, and requested comments. IDFI submitted its views on the policy document and action plan to the Agency. Two of the six recommendations submitted by IDFI concerned the content of the documents: the need to set a specific objective and measures related to the enforcement mechanism and the issue of cooperation with municipalities. The rest of the IDFI comments served to ensure the pertinence of the goals, objectives and indicators. In October 2020, the Agency returned to IDFI the responses (paper of the notes) to the comments received, according to which neither of the two substantive comments submitted was accepted, and the comments submitted regarding the correct formulation of the objectives and indicators were agreed and taken into account by the Agency. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies publishes the organization’s research fellow’s Davit Batashvili’s blogpost: What Russia has Gained in Karabakh “The Russian contingent in Karabakh is a key that Moscow can use to allow or forbid Armenians and Azerbaijanis to hurt one another. There should be no doubt that this crucial lever will be employed by the Russians in their relations with both sides. Russia’s quest to dominate its neighborhood has not gone anywhere and the South Caucasus is a part of it”. Read more… Source: www.gfsis.org

Tbilisi. The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies publishes a blog post by Kakha Gogolashvili, the organization's chief researcher: What Armenia Did and Did not Lose as a Result of the Ceasefire Declaration in Karabakh  “To conclude, we can point out that the outbreak of hysteria in Armenia, accusing Prime Minister Pashinyan of making a “treasonous deal” and equating the result to a “catastrophe,” is incorrect. This is a panic reaction of the society caused by confusion and an insufficient understanding of the results. In reality, Armenia has managed to conclude the situation with relatively small setbacks if one can say this considering that thousands of soldiers and civilians have died. However, when I say this, I am speaking about political outcomes. As for the long-term humanitarian consequences, they may turn out to be beneficial for Armenia as opening up roads and other communications of regional importance, which the declaration entails, will bring significant economic and social benefits for Armenia if actually implemented”, - is said in the organization's website.  Read more...  Source: www.gfsis.org

Tbilisi. ”Social Entrepreneurship Forum” is an annual event and this year it will be conducted on November 19, the International Day of Social Entrepreneurship. One of the supporters of the Social Entrepreneurship Forum 2020 is the Civil Society Institute. To take part in the forum, please register at... Source: The website of Social Enterprise Alliance in a social network

Tbilisi. Europe Foundation supports the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. The Foundation calls upon the authorities to refrain from restricting these rights and to prevent further escalation of the situation. The organization joins public demand to conduct negotiations between the ruling party and other political subjects, participating in the elections, thus seeking a constructive way to defuse current political situation and ensure further stable, democratic development of the country. Read more… Source: www.epfound.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a blog post: The Overview of the Memory Politics of Georgia. In this report, IDFI discussed the memory politics of independent Georgia since 1991, achievements and challenges in the three basic directions – legal dimension, institutional dimension, and memorial dimension. Based on the report, it can be argued that there are challenges in the three directions.  “First of all, one of the most important challenges is that 80% of KGB documents were destroyed during the Tbilisi Civil War, which makes the full-scale lustration almost impossible in Georgia. Moreover, the assumption that part of the archives may still be preserved in Russia should be considered. This could possess particular threats for Georgia within the context of tense relations between Russia and Georgia”, - is mentioned in the report.  Read more…  Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes an assessment of visions that parties have in regard to combating homelessness. “Unfortunately, a significant part of political parties does not talk about homeless groups, other than those displaced, and specific ways to empower them”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes an evaluation: Drug policy in pre-election visions of parties - 2020. “In general, it should be mentioned that in the pre-election context, the issue of drug policy is in fact ignored and public discussions about it take place rather in exceptional cases. While in pre-election programs and visions this topic is presented in a very fragmentary way”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Civil Society Organization’s Web Portal - CsoGeorgia.org, ask you to complete the questionnaire. Your feedback is important to us. We have started many innovations since 2012 and we are also planning many updates. Share your views in order to better provide you with the desired information, to better assist you in your activities. Deadline for completing the questionnaire: November 27, 2020 Questionnaire...

Tbilisi. The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies releases a publication, which, on the basis of a review of examples, reveals how Russia uses hacker groups, affiliated with “GRU”, the Main Intelligence Directorate, to carry out the desired policy in European countries. Read more… Source: www.gfsis.org

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy publishes a document, which contains a review of the Minsk crisis in the context of regional geopolitical dynamics, EU response activities and Eastern Partnership (EaP) initiative, as well as its impact on Georgia. Besides, it emphasizes interests of the European Union, EaP countries and Russia in the current situation in Belarus. Furthermore, it also contains an overview of possible scenarios for future developments. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. On October 14, 2020, Freedom House published an annual report on Internet freedom around the world. In 2020, Georgia obtained a score of 76 out of 100 and was assessed as “Free” in terms of Internet freedom. The country’s score improved by 1 point compared to 2019. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes a critical analysis of activities of the State Agency for Religious Issues. “As it turned out later, even people directly involved in the establishment of the Agency for Religious Issues had various opinions in regard to its activities and functions. For some of them, the agency was a mechanism for ensuring religious freedom, as well as flexible, transparent and democratic relationship between the state and religious associations in the country, however, within the process of its operation it became clear that control over activities of the agency appeared in the hands of the State Security Service of Georgia”. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The amendments to the Law of Georgia on Information Security initiated in October 2019 became the subject of criticism of the representatives of civil society, private sector as well as the experts in the field. IDFI was actively involved in the process of reviewing the bill and examining the risks associated with the amendments. “Back in November of last year, IDFI published considerations associated with the bill. Due to the disagreements with stakeholders on principal issues, the adoption of legislative amendments was first delayed in June 2020. The draft law was returned to the mode of the second reading from the stage of the final hearing. Significantly modified version of the draft amendments was resubmitted to the Parliament and carried through the second reading stage in September 2020. It should be noted that the draft amendments were introduced to the Parliament in the mode of the third reading in frames of the Plenary sittings of September 15-18, however, the amendments were not proposed for voting. Voting on the draft law was also planned through the last plenary sitting of the Parliament of the 9th convocation on September 30, though the draft law of the initiated and discussed amendments was not put to the vote by the Parliament even within the frames of the conclusive plenary sitting”. IDFI states that, given the challenges of the Draft Amendments to the Law of Georgia on Information Security, it is necessary for the Parliament of the 10th convocation to consider the possibility of developing a new version of the amendments. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Center for Training and Consultancy publishes a work of Tamar Meskhi: “11 Georgian stories from Chernobyl”, which refers to the Georgian liquidators of the Chernobyl results..  “There are gathered stories of Georgians working at the site of the Chernobyl disaster in the collection. Read how Georgian “liquidators” lived in the radiation zone, what lifestyles they had, what memories about the site of the disaster they have, and how they live today”. See the collection in full... Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Material of Mariam Nebieridze, a student of the Myth Detector Laboratory, may let you know who disseminates the conspiracy, as if the program created in 1980 was preparing Georgia for the 2020 pandemic. “On October 7, Lasha Modebadze, a fake account, shared a post in a public group “Coronamafia and Georgia as an experimental country”, which was related to information released by the US Embassy in regard to the South Caucasus Regional Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program. According to the post, the program was preparing Georgia for the pandemic in advance.  The Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP), organized by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), has been operating since 1980 and involves more than 80 countries. The statement, as if the program created in 1980 was preparing Georgia for the 2020 pandemic, is a conspiracy theory”, - is noted in the blog post. Read more…  Source:www.mythdetector.ge

Tbilisi. Within the framework of an online lecture, Anton Vacharadze, Head of Memory and Disinformation Studies Direction and Megi Kartsivadze, an analyst at the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) talked about the topic: Russian propaganda: From empire to modernity. Watch a video recording of the online lecture at the link: Read more about the lecture here… Source: The webpage of the organization in a social network