Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Green Alternative and the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center release a joint statement in regard to dissolution of a protest rally against the Namakhvani HPP project and resumption of construction works by “Enka”. “Demands of local population, protesting against unlawful actions of a company “Enka” and the Government in the Rioni gorge for almost 100 days, are fair and constructive. Taking into account growing nature of a conflict among the project-affected community, the company and government agencies, as well as the fact that there is still insufficient information on project implementation-related threats, we consider that: The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia and LEPL Technical and Construction Supervision Agency have to restrict “Enka Renewables” to carry out construction works (including preparatory works) until threats, posed by implementation of the project to the environment, human lives and health, cultural heritage and material values, are studied and evaluated in accordance with requirements of law”… Read more… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. On January 28, 2021 the Georgian Bar Association Chairman David Asatiani, Executive Director Giorgi Tshekhani, Head of Administration Salome Tkeshelashvili and Head of Analytical Department Tamta Devdariani had a second online meeting with USAID/PROLoG Experts Jay B, Myerson and John Hardin Young to discuss election systems of bar associations. Read more… Source: ewmi-prolog.org

Ajara. “Protect Batumi Boulevard” society protests against a plan of “Ambassador Batumi” Ltd to build a 16-story hotel on the old boulevard and publishes a manifesto for signatures: “Stop destruction of Batumi Boulevard”.  “Despite the fact that the 16-story hotel is completely inappropriate for the boulevard and directly contradicts legislation, as well as threatens and reduces the cultural and historical value of it, the project has already been approved by the Adjara Cultural Heritage Protection Council while the head of the Adjara Cultural Heritage Protection Agency intends to give his approval on its implementation.  It is our duty to stand up against this disorder and protect Batumi Boulevard from destruction. Following the above, we demand:  1. Stop construction of the 16-story hotel on the territory of Batumi Boulevard immediately and revoke an issued permit.  2. Suspend the issuance of a permit for any construction on the territory of the boulevard until a development plan of Batumi Boulevard is approved”, - is stated in the text of the manifesto.  At this stage, the mentioned manifesto is signed by about 3500 people.  Read more…  Source: manifest.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia is responding to the decision made by the Interagency Coordination Council on January 22, 2021, on the re-opening of kindergartens and the resumption of remote education in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, and Rustavi from March 1.  The Public Defender believes that the long-term prolongation of remote education should be the last resort, which should not hamper the effective exercise of the right to education. In addition, it is important that the infrastructure, access to water, and sanitation provide the necessary conditions for the prevention of the virus in schools where the learning process is ongoing or is planned to be resumed.  Read more…   Source: The web-page of the organization

On January 28-29, 2021 the CSO National Forum was held in the online format. The forum brought together up to 200 representatives of civil society and other sectors from all the regions of Georgia but also from the Eastern Partnership countries. The main focus of the forum was the role of Civil Society in promoting reforms and the challenges they face. The conference was welcomed by a representative of the EU Delegation to Georgia, Ms. Dominika Skubida. She underlined the importance of civil society as a partner in promoting reforms: “I have had the privilege to observe the development of the civil society in Georgia during the last four years. I am pleased to see how active and diverse civil society has become, especially in the regions.” In the opening panel, representatives of the Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative presented key results of this four-year-long EU support program in areas such as diversification of funding sources with emphasis on state funding available for CSOs, increased cooperation between civil society and businesses in the framework of the CSR activities of the later, empowering of the youth as civic activists and promoting work of CSOs through the campaign ‘This Country is Yours’. The panel was followed by a discussion among participants about the role and challenges of civil society in the regions of Georgia. During the last panel, international experts presented their views about the current situation in civil society across the Eastern Partnership region. Background information - Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative is implemented by a consortium led by Konrad Adenauer Foundation in partnership with Georgian civil society organisations: Civil Society Institute (CSI), Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC) and Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC) and aims to address key challenges of the Georgian civil society sector. The project is funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

Tbilisi. IDFI published a policy Document – “The Concealed Beneficiaries behind Fictional Characters”. „Beneficial ownership has become one of the most hotly debated topics globally. Governments, as well as international and civil society actors, are trying hard to implement new regulations tackling problems associated with beneficial ownership“, - Is mentioned in the document, - “Though Georgia became a member of the Open Governance Partnership and pushed for more transparency, the government largely ignored the recommendations of non-governmental organizations and, particularly, of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), for creating a registry of beneficial ownership. It should be noted that the Government of Georgia took the obligation to consider creating such a registry in 2016, during the Anti-corruption Summit in London, but never fulfilled it. Additionally, on the Anti-corruption Summit, Georgia undertook the following commitments: ensure that law enforcement agencies have access to information about the beneficial owners of offshore companies; sign bilateral agreements with partner countries for the purpose of exchanging this information; take necessary steps in order to ensure the transparency of ownership of companies taking part in public procurement; form public-private information sharing partnerships aimed at detecting, preventing and disrupting money laundering. Though overall, it can be argued that Georgia has implemented positive measures towards the fulfillment of the obligations undertaken at the Anti-corruption Summit in London, it failed to execute any significant actions in achieving the transparency of the beneficial ownership. Therefore, the problems in the sphere of beneficial ownership still remain”. Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. In parallel with Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index, the organization's Berlin Secretariat website is published in the article, as it will be intensively reviewed at this stage. The organization offers a Georgian translation of this article: “Georgia’s score of 56 points in the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is unchanged from 2019, when it dropped by two points compared with 2018. Moreover, Georgia has not seen significant improvement in the ranking since 2012, when CPI scores became comparable year to year. In a country once celebrated as a reformer, anti-corruption efforts have stagnated in nearly a decade”. Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy responds to questions posed by representatives of the election administration and parties. This response involved the elections in regard to the results of PVT of the October 31, 2020 parliamentary elections including those related to imbalances revealed at 8% of precincts. After the change in the governing body of ISFED, it was decided by the staff and board members of the organization to thoroughly re-examine shortcomings, identified in summary protocols, in order to provide comprehensive answers to questions raised by society. In this regard, in the first half of January, representatives of the head and regional offices of the organization reviewed summary protocols and attached documents of all polling stations selected for parallel vote tabulation (850 stations), including those of 25 special and so-called COVID polling stations, as well as three polling stations opened in penitentiary institutions”, - is stated in information released by the organization, - “within the framework of the revision, ISFED identified those summary protocols, in which sum of numbers of votes received by election subjects and void bulletins was more, equal or less than the total number of voters who participated in the elections. Within the revision process, there were also analyzed attached documents (correction protocols, explanations, and resolutions), besides, ISFED compared verified copies of summary protocols handed over to observers at the closing of the polling station and summary protocols uploaded on the website of the Central Election Commission”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. The Georgia Fair Labor Platform has released initial data* from its Wage Theft Calculator, showing that 87% of users have been the victim of wage theft.  A Calculator is an online tool that helps users understand wage theft and calculate how much money they might be losing. It classifies “wage theft” as an employer’s failure to pay any money legally owed to an employee, such as unpaid overtime, unpaid tips, illegal salary deductions, and more. Read more…  Source: osgf.ge

Ajara. Civil society organizations respond to the fact of termination of authority of an “Adjara Cultural Heritage Protection Agency” member. They consider that the order contains signs of alleged discrimination and aims to intimidate other members of the Agency so as to make them refrain from expressing critical views in the future. “According to the order of Director of the Agency, the status of Shota Gujabidze was terminated due to his different, critical views in regard to the policy of the Agency, which fact Director of the Agency assumed as “deliberate discrediting” of the Agency”, - is noted in the statement, - “it turned out on January 28 that Zaur Akhvlediani, Director of the Agency, the terminated authority of Shota Gujabidze as a member of the Agency due to his critical views without even listening to his justifications, which fact contains signs of alleged discrimination. It serves to punish Shota Gujabidze for being critical regarding unlawful decisions made by the Agency”. Interests of Shota Gujabidze are defended by GYLA. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. In connection with the Personal Data Protection Day, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information publishes an article, about the protection of personal data in Georgia in the conditions of e-government. “With the development of e-governance, the issue of personal data protection has become especially important. Given the modern technological progress, the widespread use of information and communication technologies poses new risks and threats to citizens”, - We read in the article, - “In Georgia issues related to the processing and protection of personal data are regulated by the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection. This Law is intended to ensure the protection of human rights and freedoms, including the right to privacy, in the course of personal data processing”. Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. As the pandemic pushes education, healthcare, and other public services online, putting huge amounts of personal data in the digital domain, the protection of citizens’ privacy assumes even greater importance. This was the main message of a public information campaign launched by Georgia’s State Inspector’s Service (SIS) to mark Data Protection Day, which culminated in an online conference on 28 January dedicated to the introduction of data protection into the higher education curriculum in Georgia.  Supported by the European Union (EU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the week-long campaign engaged state agencies, civil society, schools, and citizens and covered a wide array of topics, from processing health-related information and using social media to launching new educational programs in data protection.  Read more…   Source: eeas.europa.eu

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition releases the next statement regarding “activities initiated by the Communications Commission aiming to regulate obscenity” and considers that the Commission acts against law. “An attempt of the commission to assume a function of a self-regulatory body and interfere in the content of a broadcaster is categorically unacceptable as it has no authority to do so. Allowing such a fact to take place will entail control of the content of media, which is the strictest form of restriction of freedom of speech. Bringing in a practice that is inconsistent with legislation and the Constitution of Georgia is a direct threat of censorship”, - is stated by the Coalition. Read more… Source: gyla.ge/ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) organized the second online movie-discussion based on the 3 following documentary videos: “Right-wing populists and the EU” by Deutsche Welle (DW), “Georgia’s Rave Revolution” by BBC, and the media report by Radio Liberty titled “Should we are afraid of modern fascism?”. The aim of the discussion was to understand to what extent could journalists prepare objective and balanced content while broadcasting the narratives and actions of the far-right groups. Also, where is the line between balanced coverage and the encouragement of radical right-wing narratives. The event was part of the public discussion series “Analysing Illiberal Tendencies in Georgia”. The discussion series, which is financially supported by the Open Society Georgian Foundation (OSGF), aims at revealing the factors causing the emergence of far-right radicalization in Georgia. Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. TI Georgia published Corruption Perceptions Index 2020 by that, as the organization said, the main problems of Georgia’s anti-corruption policy remain unresolved.  “Georgia has been assigned a score of 56 and shares 45th place with Poland and Saint Lucia in the 2020 edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) which was published by the Transparency International Secretariat today and ranks 180 countries. In the ranking, 100 points indicate the lowest level of perceived corruption while 0 – its highest level”, - is mentioned in the information, TI spared. Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organization

The web portal 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. International Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked on January 27. The purpose of marking this day is to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, to think about the threat of anti-Semitism, and to reaffirm the importance of tolerance. On January 27, 2021, the Public Defender of Georgia, the Tolerance Center of the Public Defender, the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) organized an online meeting to discuss the historical path of the Holocaust and its consequences, to recall the interesting and important facts about the coexistence of the Jewish people and to talk about the possibility of condemning each expression of anti-Semitism. Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. “Senior Generation Portal” - a special website with the name is going to start functioning on February 1. Taoba.org.ge covers all important issues that are of interest to the elderly.  A page “Taoba - Home for the Elderly” has already been created on Facebook, a social network, where the population of retirement age will be able to access a variety of information they are interested in. Information will be available in text, audio, and video formats, besides, there will be a possibility to ask questions and receive answers.  The first web portal for senior generation citizens in Georgia has been created with the funding of the Center for Training and Consultancy as well as with the support of Bread for the World.  Read more…  Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. In 2019, following the initiative of the members of the Gender Equality Council of the Parliament of Georgia, and with the support of USAID-PROLoG, the Government passed legislative amendments to regulate sexual harassment in the workplace and public spaces.  According to the amendments, the employer became obliged to take measures for equal treatment of all employees, as well as to include provisions on the prohibition of discrimination in internal regulations, and to ensure their fulfillment.  Read more…   Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. “Fact Check” reports about disinformation regarding the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The subject of discussion is the website Geomediapress.ge, according to which the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been suspended due to vaccination in Norway, causing the death of up to 400 people. “Referring to the official website of Pfizer-BioNTech, Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination has not been stopped in any country, including Norway mentioned in the article. It is not true either that the vaccination claimed the lives of up to 400 people in Norway. In fact, as of today, 33 people have died shortly after being vaccinated with the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech anti-COVID-19 vaccine at a home for the elderly in Norway. It was by January 14, 2020, when for the first time in Norway 23 cases of death after vaccination were officially reported. According to January 18 data, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health had already studied and published results of the autopsy of 13 out of 23 deaths, which revealed that the connection between the vaccine and death was not found. The article of Geomediapress.ge was published on January 19, after the Norwegian Institute of Public Health noted that the connection between death and the vaccine could not be proved”, - is stated by “Fact Check”. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

On January 26, 2021, at the United Nations, as part of the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), UN member states shared Georgia’s recommendations for improving the human rights situation. At the periodic review session, almost all the important topics shared by the civil society by the member states were voiced as recommendations. As part of the third cycle of the UN Universal Periodic Review, an online advocacy campaign involving NGOs was supported by UPR Info and the Open Society Georgia Foundation. Read more…  Source: osgf.ge

Tbilisi. The EU-funded project „Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative“ invites you to take part in the CSO Online National Forum on 28-29 January.  The forum is about: the project activities, main achievements, and challenges; the current situation of civil society in the regions of Georgia; the best practices of civil society organizations in EaP countries (Ukraine; Moldova; Belarus). To participate in the forum, register until 27 January from here  Read more...   Source: The page in the social network