Tbilisi. The "Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association” calls on the Parliament of Georgia to not support candidates identified through violation of the Regulation of the Competition Commission for Selecting State Inspector. "On June 1, 2019, the Competition Commission for Selecting State Inspector presented two candidates for State Inspector - Valeri Lomuashvili and Londa Toloraia to the Prime Minister of Georgia. GYLA considers that while selecting candidates for State Inspector, the Commission breached the rule stipulated by the Regulation”, - is noted in the statement released by GYLA. Respectively, GYLA calls on the Parliament of Georgia to not support any candidate identified through violation of the Regulation of the Competition Commission for Selecting State Inspector. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

The web portal www.CsoGeorgia.org releases a weekly newsletter of grants competition, contests, vacancies, fellowships and tenders for civil society organizations and for any interested person. Newsletter... 

Tbilisi. ISFED releases a policy document related to Georgia’s Europeanization. ''The EU-Georgia Association Agreement with its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area is an important step towards European integration but not the last one. Even though Georgia has a declared desire to join the European Union (EU), the latter exercises caution when it comes to providing official pre-requisites for accession. This has been especially visible against the background of the existing internal and external challenges faced by the EU. The latest enlargement of the EU took place in 2013, when Croatia joined the union as the twenty-eighth member. Following the Great Britain’s exit, 27 countries will remain in the union and while since 2013 the EU’s enlargement policy has been passive, soon this trend may change'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. Today, organizations, taking part in a ''Swim Safe'' campaign, conducted a protest rally on the territory of a water reservoir of Tbilisi – at the so-called waterfall, which is one of the most dangerous places in Georgia. ''Participants of the rally were representatives of the Human Rights Center, Center for Progress, ''Article 42 of the Constitution'' and ''Crystal'' fund, as well as civil activists'', - is stated on the website of the organization in a social network. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Following almost a week-long impediment, video-materials placed on the official Facebook page of WISG and links shared from the organization's website are once again accessible. ''However, what happened demonstrated the increasing scale of action of homophobic and extremist groups on the Facebook platform, which on one hand interrupt the work carried out by human rights defenders and LGBTQI activists by mobilizing fake accounts, reporting and hacking pages, and on the other hand, spread purposefully false information before vast audience, containing homophobic, misogynistic, racist or other types of hate speech'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: women.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) is implementing several projects aimed at raising awareness about the Democratic Republic of Georgia and commemorating the 100th anniversary of its creation. One such project involves publishing a memorial album featuring Nikoloz (Karlo) Chkheidze, a prominent politician of the time. The album will include previously unpublished archival and photo materials, with extensive annotations and details about Karlo Chkheidze's biography and work. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Today the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) presented its 2018 report on access to public information in Georgia and awarded 43 top open public institutions. Certificates were given to all public institutions with 100% compliance to IDFI’s freedom of information requests sent in 2018. These include: Civil Service Bureau, National Statistics Office, Ministry of Environment and Agriculture, Land Transport Agency, National Environment Agency, Education Management Information System, National Food Agency, etc. Read more  Source: The organization’s webpage

Tbilisi. The Public Defender's Office selected members of the Special Preventive Group. This group will work in the direction of monitoring the institutions of persons with disabilities, orphanages, military units, penal institutions, places of detention and restriction of liberty, through open competition, for the purpose of performing the functions of the National Preventive Mechanism. Read more  Source: The organization’s webpage

Representatives of the "Open Society Georgia Foundation”, "Transparency International – Georgia”, "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy” and "Atlantic Council” conducted planned meetings in Washington. Within the frames of the four-day visit, there have been held meetings with: George Kent, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of State, Michael Kelleher, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and other representatives of the Department; as well as representatives of the offices of Senators - Rob Portman, Ron Johnson and Chris Murphy, Congressman Jerry Connolly and USAID. Besides, members of the delegation also met with representatives of the United States National Democratic Institute (NDI), International Republican Institute (IRI), International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Freedom House, Heritage Foundation and NED. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Campaign Parliament’s Day at University is still on. This time IDFI visited Samktskhe - Javakheti State University. ''MP Irina Pruidze spoke about the structure and the role of the Parliament as well as the achievements of Georgia in parliamentary openness. IDFI’s Programs Director Levan Avalishvili informed the youth about the e-services introduced following the Open Parliament Action Plans and encouraged the students to participate in the ongoing legislative processes'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in a social network

Tbilisi. Choose the country, which is your kids favorite and paint: The chosen country’s map contour or Symbol of the country (National clothe, Culinary masterpiece, Flag and etc.) Terms and Conditions: From all the received paintings 10 of them will be randomly selected and will be handmade into a fluffy toy. On 4 th May, at Rike Park, your kids will receive a present, the exact toy they painted. Read more… Source: EU page in the social network

Tbilisi. Representatives of the ''Open Society Georgia Foundation'', ''Transparency International – Georgia'', ''International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy'' and ''Atlantic Council'' are visiting Washington. There are planned up to 20 meetings within the framework of the four-day visit. Topics of discussions are going to be: implemented reforms, their monitoring, evaluations and recommendations; fight against corruption, reforms of the security sector, election environment, freedom of media and justice related issues. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International - Georgia'' (TI) responds to the reorganization process in Zugdidi municipal legal entities. ''The reorganization process in Zugdidi municipal legal entities, which started in January of the current year, has not been completed yet. ''Transparency International - Georgia'' presents recommendations for optimal and efficient completion of the process to the working group and individuals interested in the issue'', - is stated in the information released by TI. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes annual report of 2018. ''We are striving for an environment in which transparency and openness will be the key principles of the public and private sectors. We are driven by the desire to promote the country’s democratic development and are making our modest contribution to rendering this process irreversible. Developing and strengthening state institutions free of corruption, introducing the principles of good governance and transparency standards, promoting a fair election environment, independence and improvement of the justice system, supporting media freedom and pluralism, encouraging citizen engagement and ensuring central and local government’s accountability to them – this is an incomplete list of directions we are actively working in'', is noted in the introduction. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International - Georgia'' appraises institutionalization of a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) in legislation. ''Institutionalization of RIA should be appraised positively, however, the initiative, as presented, does not respond to challenges of the legislative process, extensive exceptional cases provide possibility of adoption of important laws without RIA'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:www.transparency.ge

According to the Transparency International Georgia’s information - the public opinion poll has demonstrated that a large part of the Georgian population supports holding the next parliamentary elections based fully on the proportional system. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) conducted legal and sociological research of the labor mediation mechanism. The video gathers key findings of sociological research, systemic challenges hindering effective functioning of the mediation mechanism. Read more... Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. On March 29, 2019 Rondeli Foundation hosted a public discussion ''The U.S. Policy Towards the Region'' featuring Dr. Celeste Wallander, President and CEO of The U.S. Russia Foundation, a former Special Assistant to the US President and Senior Director for Russia/Eurasia on the National Security Council (2013-2017). The speaker discussed the U.S.-Russia relations in a new era, the White House policy towards the region as well as the NATO-Georgia relations, challenges and perspectives. Read more… Source: The Organization’s webpage in a social network

Tbilisi. ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC) studied the practice of handing financial and property resources by the state over to the Patriarchate beyond annual budgetary subsidy in 2016-2018 years. According to information released by EMC, extent of property, transferred to the Patriarchate in 2018 increases in comparison with 2016-2017 years, which fact is supposedly connected with ongoing political processes, including the pre-election context. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Georgia's Public Defender Nino Lomjaria was awarded at the Annual Conference on Women's Role in Economic Growth and Development of Reforms as Woman Leader of the Year in Government. Nino Lomjaria has been selected by a special committee, members of which are representatives of 70 research and non-governmental organizations supporting business. The event was jointly organized by the Governing for Growth in Georgia (G4G) project of the United States Agency for International Development Agency and the Women Business Council in Georgia (WBCG) with the support of the European Bank of Development and Reconstruction, Tbilisi City Hall and Bank of Georgia. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization