Tbilisi. The School of Liberalism has hosted a discussion - "Should light narcotics be legalized?". The School members have advanced arguments for and against legalization of light narcotics. Mentor - psychologist Jana Javakishvili - has summarized and analyzed the parties' positions. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The "World Experience for Georgia" Foundation (WEG) and the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development of IliaUni have organized a seminar on energy efficiency issues on November 18. The seminar mainly focused on the analysis of energy efficiency benefits, importance of construction codes, the EU Directives and the current situation in Georgia, as well as the agreement between the mayors. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. CSOs part of the "This Affects You – They Are Still Listening" campaign have released a statement. The organizations "find the attitude of the Parliament of Georgia towards the solution of issue on direct access to secret tapping as alarming". For the full text Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. "Transparency International - Georgia" continues releasing weekly podcasts of parliamentary news. Topics of the November 17 audio podcast are: leaving and joining the parliamentary majority; speech of the President of Georgia to the Parliament; draft 2015 State Budget. The podcast Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The "Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center" has addressed the Ministry of Interior to declassify the Regulations of its General Inspection. For the full text Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. On November 17, 2014, the Public Defender hosted an event dedicated to the International Day for Tolerance. The event was attended by representatives of state agencies, diplomatic missions, international and non-governmental organizations, media, ethnic and religious minorities. For the full text Source: ombudsman.ge  

Tbilisi. The "Young Entrepreneurs' Association" is organizing the "Global Entrepreneurship Week" on November 18-22. The event is held in Georgia for the third time. Regional activities will take place in Kutaisi and Batumi as well. For the full text.

Tbilisi. The German Association of Public Universities has organized a meeting on November 15 as part of monthly public discussions. Speakers of the discussion - "Narrative of Violence in the Georgian Reality" - were Giorgi Maisuradze, Professor of the Ilia State University and the Director of the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies, and Ana Arganashvili, Project Manager at "Partnership for Human Rights". Monthly meetings aim to raise civil self-awareness of the society and to form an active civil position. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Public Defender’s Office will monitor a rally organized by the "United National Movement” that is scheduled for November 15, in Tbilisi. During the demonstration, five mobile groups consisting of representatives of the Public Defender’s Office will be monitoring possible facts of human rights violation that will be given relevant response after appropriate examination. For the full text Source: ombudsman.ge  

Tbilisi. Transparency  International - Georgia released a blog post - "Invalid liquidation of municipalities cost self-government budgets more than 2 million GEL". "In July 2014, as a part of local government reform, the municipalities of Zugdidi, Ozurgeti, Ambrolauri, Akhaltsikhe, Gori, Mtskheta and Telavi were liquidated and immediately replaced by the newly established self-governing cities and communities. Transparency International Georgia assessed the liquidation process of the Municipalities as illegal due to the absence of proper justification. Our organization adviced the Municipalities to consider its reorganization instead of liquidation. However, our recommendation was not taken into account", says the blog post. For the full text Source: transparency.ge  

Tbilisi. The Public Defender released a statement. "We would like to comment on an attempt of the Mayor of the Capital of Georgia to accuse the Public Defender’s Office of publishing false information. We announce that the Public Defender officially requested Tbilisi municipality to send information on public employees that were released from employment from the Tbilisi City Hall and Tbilisi City Assembly. Data in the November 10 statement of the Public Defender was based on information that was provided by them", says the statement. For the full text Source: ombudsman.ge  

Tbilisi. The "Georgian Young Constitutionalists' Association" has responded to the draft amendments to the Regulations of the Parliament of Georgia initiated by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Procedural Issues and Rules, Giorgi Kakhiani. The organization has published recommendations on the draft. For the full text. Source: gyca.ge

Tbilisi. As part of the project - "Who's Afraid of Feminism", another lecture was delivered in the Writers' House on "Who's Afraid of a Fateful Woman?". At the event, Teo Khatiashvili and Tamta Tatarashvili have reviewed the history of formation of the so-called fateful woman as a strong archetype kind, which is one of the most popular images in the cinema. The lecture. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The School of Liberalism has hosted philosopher Levan Gigineishvili's lecture - "Anatomy of Totalitarianism with Orwell". The School has posted the lecture's recording in the social network.   Source: the organization's page in the social network  

Tbilisi. Libcenter has conducted a street opinion poll. The Center's students have interviewed the population about the Prime Minister's decision to dismiss Irakli Alasania from office, and whether this was a justified step. The opinion poll Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Chairman of the Georgian Economic Development Center Roman Gotsiridze has visited the Economic Media School of the "Society and Banks". The meeting focused on the Russian-Ukrainian events and their impact on the Georgian economy. Roman Gotsiridze has talked about ongoing economic processes in the country and answered journalists' questions. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. International organization "Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy" has recently presented a guide on the Association Agreement. Soft version of the guide is already available on the organization's web page. The guide. Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. At the initiative of the Consultations and Training Center, a group of researchers has conducted a study in 2012-2013 on the labor culture issues in religious communities of Georgia. The study is the first precedent of examining this particular issue. The study was carried out with support of the "Academic Swiss Caucasus Net" program, operated by the Interfaculty Institute for Central and Eastern Europe at the University of Fribourg. The study: "Labor culture and religious discourse in various communities of Georgia". Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association has released its successful cases in October 2014. Information on six cases is available on the organization's web page. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia Ucha Nanuashvili met with members of the consultation council at the Public defender – the Ossetian Forum and discussed mainly legal rights of Ossetian community living in Georgia. The conversation mainly concerned issues of teaching Ossetian language, Ossetian culture, as well as problems connected to the citizenship, detentions at the so-called "demarcation lines” and situation with regards to prisoners and issues of restitution. For the full text Source: ombudsman.ge  

Kvemo Kartli. CSO "Cida" has released manuals on: "Community Mobilization" and "Co-Participative Planning", electronic versions of which are available to any interested person. "Community Mobilization". Source: "Cida's" web page in the social network.

CSO "Radarami" has published in November the Georgian translation of David Graeber's "The Democracy Project", about which series of presentations were organized in Zugdidi, Mestia and Kutaisi. Philosopher Lasha Kharazi spoke about the book. "David Graeber is known in the US as the professor of anthropology, and a radical activist. His book - "The Democracy Project" - is about democracy - the most relevant topic for the Americans and not only ...", the organization's page says. Source: the organization's page in the social network.