Tbilisi. The Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) responds to the religious controversy, occurred in the village of Buknari, and calls on the state to de-escalate the conflict and to take effective steps aiming at ensuring unwavering protection of human rights.   “The analysis of these conflicts shows that the state did not provide a proper legal response to any of the cases, which fact, in general, resulted in encouraging impunity and turning it into a rule. Furthermore, in some cases, police representatives themselves were directly involved in large-scale violent actions organized against local Muslim communities”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia is responding to the events developed around the preaching of Ioane Gamrekeli, Metropolitan of Kutaisi and Gaenati Diocese of the Georgian Orthodox Church, and Ilia Karkadze, Deacon of the Kutaisi-Gaenati Diocese, which creates the risk of strengthening anti-Semitism in the country. According to the Public Defender, the spread of anti-Semitic views in the country threatens the equality of the ethnic Jewish people and, at the same time, shows that one of the most horrible crimes in the history of mankind - the Holocaust and its preconditions - have not been properly understood. Any manifestation of anti-Semitism is dangerous for every citizen, as well as for society as a whole. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Myth Detector publishes a blog post: How do different vaccines work and is any of them dangerous? The article is about disinformation, according to which the Pfizer vaccine is a technical virus and contains danger, while Russian (meaning Sputnik V) and Oxford (meaning AstraZeneca) vaccines are considered exemplary. As false information states, the Pfizer vaccine can alter DNA, egg, and sperm cells, which change reflects also on the fetus. “Published posts about the threat of the Pfizer vaccine and termination of the vaccination process in Greece contain disinformation: 1. All COVID-19 vaccines that are in use have passed all necessary stages of testing; 2. The European Commission and the European Medicines Agency have recommended using Moderna and Pfizer vaccines throughout Europe. 3. The principles of the impact of the Pfizer/Moderna vaccine, on the one hand, and the AstraZeneca/Sputnik V vaccine, on the other hand, are different, however, none of them contain an artificial virus. 4. Vaccines cannot cause changes in human DNA, sperm, and egg cells. 5. The vaccination process has not been terminated in Greece”, - is stated in the blog post. Read more… Source: mythdetector.ge

Germany is one of those friendly countries, which actively supported Georgia in the fight against COVID-19.  “Last year COVID-19 severely affected also Georgia. Therefore, Germany supported it in various ways. In particular, there were distributed protective clothes and food items to those in need, provided breathing aid devices to the Georgian side, allocated a soft loan and a grant to ensure social security of the unemployed, informally employed, and vulnerable part of the population during the pandemic. All these measures, small or large, are important in combating consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic”, - is stated in information released by the embassy. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

USAID is partnering with farmers across Georgia to strengthen their post-harvest management, the key to the country’s efforts to build a more modern and profitable agriculture sector.  Read more… Source: The page in the social network

Tbilisi. TDI responds to statements of the Patriarchate of Georgia and Kutaisi-Gaenati Eparchy about the anti-Semitic sermon of the Orthodox clergy. „The statement reads, that Archpriest Ilia Karkadze's sermon of January 4, "represents completely groundless accusations against the Jewish people or its individual representatives. It is not based on the teachings of the Church and is inspired with the anti-Semitic pathos". As the Metropolitan notes, Archpriest Karkadze received a warning and he is sorry for what he has said“, - is mentioned in the document, - “We welcome the critical assessment of the anti-Semitic statements of Archpriest Ilia Karkadze by the Church and consider it as the first step forward. However, this response is insufficient to address the problem of anti-Semitism and intolerance within the Church. It was the December 20 sermon of Metropolitan Ioane Gamrekeli that created a ground for a new wave of anti-Semitism, which was followed by the statements of Archpriest Ilia Karkadze. Therefore, it is important from the side of Metropolitan to assess the problematic nature of his own sermon and to apologize for the anti-Semitic rhetoric”. Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia has addressed the Government of Georgia with a recommendation to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities who have reached the retirement age. “According to the recommendation, the part of the Government’s Decree (No 279) on Social Package, which prohibits the simultaneous enjoyment of a disability social package and an age pension and allows only one of them, is discriminatory. In view of all the above, the Public Defender of Georgia established direct discrimination on the ground of disability and called on the Prime Minister of Georgia to ensure that reaching the retirement age by a person with disabilities does not always exclude the possibility of receiving the social package and the -age pension at the same time”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. On December 21, 2020, the Public Defender of Georgia established indirect discrimination on the ground of sex, as a female victim of sexual violence had been twice examined by male experts at the Western Georgia Regional Forensics Department of Samkharauli Forensics Bureau due to absence of female experts. The applicant's interests were represented in the Public Defender's Office by the Women's Initiatives Supportive Group (WISG). “According to the Public Defender, even indirectly forcing a victim of sexual violence to be examined by an expert of the opposite sex is a gender-insensitive approach and it should be borne in mind that the above would not be desirable for most of the women who have experienced sexual violence. The applicant referred to the traumatic experience in her written explanations, highlighting her grave emotional state. Based on the above, the Public Defender addressed Levan Samkharauli Forensics Bureau (LEPL) with a recommendation to employ female experts in the Western Georgia Regional Forensics Department; take into account the different needs of persons to be examined in the future,” is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. “Covid 19: Civil Society Resilience and Sustainability” is a project funded by the European Union and Implemented by ERIM (formerly IREX Europe) and Human Rights House Tbilisi in Georgia. Within the project, Rights Georgia's lawyers provided free legal advice to more than 100 beneficiaries, as well as took legal actions to protect their interests in the police, in the courts, and the other administrative authorities. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. According to Transparency International Georgia, changes, to be made to legislation on elections and political parties, do not meet democratic standards. “We consider that the major part of proposed changes to the rule of funding of parties is contrary to European standards of state funding of parties and, on illegitimate grounds, will heavily affect financial situation of opposition parties, which fact is going to have negative impact on political pluralism and a competitive political environment. At the same time, cancellation of election registration for an election subject due to participation of an unauthorized person in the election campaign is a disproportionately severe sanction and carries a great risk of using it for political purposes”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes an overview of the anti-crisis plan. The organization, with the support of the European Union (EU), implements the “Monitoring of COVID-19 related costs and protection of human rights during and after the state of emergency” project. “One of the main goals of the project is to monitor implementation of the anti-crisis plan of the Government of Georgia and effectiveness of measures taken within the framework of it. The present report contains an overview of the primary anti-crisis plan of Georgia in the circumstances of the pandemic and its implementation as of December 2020”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. On 30 November, the Government of Georgia (GoG) submitted to the Parliament the final version of the draft law On the 2021 State Budget which differs considerably from the version submitted on 5 November. The significant changes in the draft budget were caused by including in the budget the factors related to the coronavirus pandemic. Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) has prepared a brief evaluation and recommendations on the final draft budget. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. According to information that the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) releases, in its decision of December 25 related to the case – “Giorgi Keburia v. the Parliament of Georgia”, the Constitutional Court has taken positions of the plaintiff into consideration in the majority of cases and declared unconstitutional those norms of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allow to pass a verdict of guilty on the basis of evidences obtained through operative information only. The Constitutional Court also defined that while assessing lawfulness of a search, performed due to urgent necessity, court has to take into account only circumstances prevailing at the time of the search and does not have to pay attention to the outcome of the search. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) has begun systematic gathering of information on high-level alleged corruption related violations that have been revealed in recent years and left without adequate response.  “Our goal is to create a periodically updatable information resource that allows us to track these violations and observe the real scale of high-level corruption. In recent years, there has been revealed a high-level so-called “elite” corruption and improper response to it as one of the main challenges for Georgia in terms of corruption. Conclusions of local civil society, evaluations of international organizations, results of a number of global ratings and public opinion surveys, conducted in Georgia, indicate existence and severity of this problem”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) submitted comments concerning a bill on amnesty, initiated by Mikheil Sarjveladze, a member of the Parliament of Georgia, to the Committees on Human Rights and Legal Affairs. “In the circumstances of a strict drug policy over the years, the act of amnesty will have a positive impact on rehabilitation/re-socialization of people convicted of drug crimes. However, it is important to get the parliament start working on systemic changes in the field of drug policy in time, as well as arrange norms stipulated by an article on drug crimes of the Criminal Code”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association publishes a study conducted together with the Foundation for the Support of Legal Education – “Equality policy in the general education system”. Full version of the study... Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. GCSD is presenting the first thematic guidebook in the Georgian language on dealing with violent extremism - “Countering Violent Extremism – An Introductory Guide to Concepts, Programming, and Best Practices”. The guidebook covers the multifaceted and advanced approaches in the field of combating violent extremism and radicalization. Accordingly, it is intended for public officials as well as representatives of civil society, media and academia. The publication was developed in collaboration with the Hedayah Center, Search for Common Ground, and the European Union, translated by GCSD and adapted to the Georgian reality. The guidebook can be found here... Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) publishes a report on a study: Forced marriage - legislation and practice. “The study has revealed that in Georgia, victims of forced marriage are women. The problem is especially acute in the Kvemo Kartli region. This is where investigations into forced marriage related issues are most frequently launched. By introducing a special norm on forced marriage into the Criminal Code and qualifying it as a criminal offence, the requirement of the Istanbul Convention has been met. However, conducting preventive activities related to this issue, carrying out effective awareness-raising works within society and providing result-oriented response to already occurred facts remain to be problematic”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Gender Informational Portal publishes an article by Lela Khomeriki: Modern technology-facilitated gender-based violence - a new form of violence against women and domestic violence. “Women living at risk of violence appeared isolated in the same space with an abuser. During the pandemic, like in other countries, the scale of domestic violence increased in Georgia too. Modern technologies offer new ways of prevention of gender-based violence and response to it. However, at the same time, there has emerged a new problem - use of technologies by abusers to keep victims under surveillance and control. This type of gender-based violence is so prevalent that today, technology-facilitated gender-based violence is considered as one of the forms of abuse along with forms of physical, economic or sexual violence”, - is stated in the article. Read more… Source: ginsc.net

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes the research report on Forms of Narrow Specialisations in Georgian Common Court System.  „Legal disputes in Tbilisi City Court and Tbilisi Court of Appeals are narrowly specialised in all spheres. According to the official explanation, narrow specializations help judges in time management and case administration. However, unfortunately, in many cases, specialization is created without justification. Furthermore creating a specialization, among other problems, increases the risk of manipulating the distribution of cases“. Read more…  Source: transparency.ge

This report presents an update to the CSO Meter report produced in 2019 to assess enabling environment forcivil society organisations (CSOs) in Georgia. The CSO Meter is a tool developed to assess the civil society environment in Eastern Partnership countries. It consists of a set of standards and indicators in 10 different areas that measure both law and practice.  Report…

Tbilisi. The present report provides results of monitoring carried out by the Gender Department of the Public Defender's Office in all state shelters and crisis centers operating in Georgia. In particular, Gender Department of the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia, with the support of the UN Women, carried out monitoring of all state shelters and crisis centers in Georgia for the victims of domestic violence and trafficking in 2019. The monitoring team payed visits to the shelters of Batumi, Kutaisi, Gori and Signagi, as well as the crisis centers of Tbilisi, Gori, Kutaisi, Ozurgeti and Marneuli. Additionally, the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia monitored all state shelters and crisis centers operating in Georgia in 2020 in order to check the shortcomings identified during the monitoring in 2019 and implementation of the issued recommendations. The present report reflects the problems identified as a result of the monitoring. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge