Kakheti. To better understand these challenges and the needs of local children and youth and solve some of those challenges, UNICEF had several visits there and this is just a beginning of our continued involvement in Pankisi. Promotion of child rights’ education and community discussions in the region will be one of the directions that the organization is planning to develop. Read more… Source: www.unicef.org

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. The Public Defender of Georgia joins the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, which has been celebrated in 187 countries around the world since 1991 and aims to raise public awareness of the elimination of violence against women and domestic violence. “Timely detection of and effective response to violence against women and domestic violence, as well as lack of support measures, leading to the high rate of femicide - an extreme form of violence, remain to be problematic in Georgia”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

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. Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The aim of the day is to raise awareness about violence against women, and talk publicly about the issues and challenges that are often hidden in the society. “We join the celebration of this day by the project "Safe Environment for Women" funded by the Government of Canada. Within the project it is planned to train 80 police officers, 180 school teachers and 20 day-care centers staff on Gender Equality”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. The EU and UNDP have launched a “weekend virtual school” for high-school students from Georgia’s regions. Online classes combine knowledge about European integration and sustainable development with extracurricular offerings featuring music and art. Over 330 teenagers from eight municipalities participated in the first online class on 21-22 November, and more are expected to engage in the next four sessions to be held every weekend until 20 December. To learn more click here... Source: EU’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Human Rights Center are closely following the developments after the October 31, 2020 Parliamentary Elections in Georgia, in which the population of Georgia elected its supreme legislative body through universal and direct vote for the tenth time since gaining independence. The October 31 Parliamentary Elections had a particular historic significance – through constitutional amendments in 2020, the electoral system was substantially changed, increasing proportionate parliamentary representation. This was a major democratic development and an achievement of all parts of society. “On Election Day there was a mass mobilization of supporters and so-called “coordinators” of the ruling party around the polling stations. The actions of some of these groups were hindering free expression of the will of voters. It should be noted that Human Rights Center did not detect many violations during the voting process. However, there were significant inaccuracies revealed in the final protocols which summed up the results of the voting from Precinct Election Commissions throughout the whole country, including imbalances between the number of voters who came to the Elections and the number of the ballots cast”. Read more… Source: humanrights.ge

Tbilisi. Within the framework of a 16-day campaign against gender-based violence, the Public Defender of Georgia, with the support of UN Women, held an online conference on femicide prevention and monitoring. The purpose of the online conference was to discuss local and international monitoring practices aimed at preventing gender-based killings (femicide) of women. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. AFEW International with the EU support and in partnership with People in Need and the Netherlands Helsinki Committee launches the regional COVID-19 Solidarity Program. This project will support community-based organizations to respond to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Eastern Partnership countries. Apply from here... Source: The organization’s page in the social network

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 Public Defender of Georgia acknowledges the state importance of the development of energy potential and natural resources. However, it is unfortunate that the State has not yet planned a long-term energy policy for the rational use and sustainable development of energy resources, which should be created and implemented in practice as a result of extensive public discussions and on the basis of the principle of transparency, something actively demanded by the Public Defender in recent years. At the same time, the activities that have already been carried out, the investments that are to be made or the cost-effectiveness of the projects have not been studied or analyzed. And the problems with individual hydropower projects are systemic and continuous. The multi-year oversight by the Public Defender's Office showed that the decisions made by the state agencies over the years have failed to answer the legitimate questions of the society.[11] Distrust towards the quality of examinations conducted and the environmental impact assessment documents, shortcomings in terms of public involvement, neglect of socio-economic interests of the local population, lack of transparency of information and data, and reasonable doubts about the usefulness of the projects remain important challenges. These very problems, despite the fundamentally improved national legislation, have manifested themselves collectively and particularly acutely in relation to the above-mentioned project. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) is going to observe the second round of the 2020 parliamentary elections, which takes place on November 21. 35 mobile groups of ISFED will be monitoring the elections in 17 majoritarian constituencies. The observation mission of the organization is going to be limited on the second round. “The boycott of the parliament by opposition parties and refusal to participate in the second round of the elections significantly make no sense to observe the election process at polling stations. Besides, taking into account problems occurred in the healthcare system on the background of the growing number of people affected with the COVID infection, presence of observers at polling stations throughout the day poses unwarranted risks to their health”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. Within the Tolerance Week marked by the #USAID’s PITA Program, we continue sharing series of videos “Tolerance is…” What does tolerance mean? On Tolerance’s week, listen to an actor and TV presenter, Baia Dvalishvili.  Read more… Source: The organizations page in the social network

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information publishes an article: Covid-19 and Constitutional Review: Assessment of the Effectiveness of the constitutional of Georgia. “15 complaintson the restrictions related to the pandemic have already been filed during last 8 month. The Constitutional Court of Georgia has not issued any judgments on these lawsuits. Over the last 6 months, the Court has shown minimal and purely symbolic activity in regard to the cases related to the pandemic”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Samtskhe-Javakheti. UNICEF organized another field visit to Akhalkalaki. The working meeting was held with the participation of Axalkalaki Local Action Group and Georgian Institute of Public Affairs about the child rights and child labour issues. Representatives from UNICEF visited a day centre for children with disabilities, that we support in the implementation of art therapy and other rehabilitation programmes.  A meeting was held between the representatives of UNICEF and local government. The main topics of the meeting were the situation of children in the region in terms of education, healthcare and social protection. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. Within the Tolerance Week marked by the #USAID’s PITA Program, we are presenting series of videos “Tolerance Is…” What does tolerance mean? Why tolerance and diversity are important for country’s democratic and inclusive development? On Tolerance’s Day, listen to Bishop of Evangelical Baptist Church, Rusudan Gotsiridze. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) contests tightening of house arrest rules for Mikhailo. “We consider that the decision, which was made by the Probation Bureau and failed to acknowledge absence of Mikhailo from the residential territory at night hours on October 13 and 17 excusable, is unjustified and unfair. Respectively, the decision, made by the Tbilisi City Court on November 11 to tighten house arrest rules for Mikhailo, is also unjustified. EMC contests both of the above mentioned decisions in accordance with procedures stipulated by law”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. During the October 31, 2020 Parliamentary Elections in Georgia, the Local Observation Organization - Center for Development and Democracy (CDD), in partnership with the International Observation Organization - Institute for Democracy, Media and Cultural Exchange (IDEM), observed the elections with a 100-member joint observation mission covering Georgia’s every region as well as the polling stations set up abroad. “According to our joint mission, the October 31st parliamentary elections in Georgia were held in a competitive environment and with the protection of fundamental freedoms in general. The voting process took place in a relatively calm and organized environment, against the background of unit procedural violations. However, a number of shortcomings - violations were revealed during the vote counting and result summarizing process. Considering the challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, high voter turnout is noteworthy, which once more reaffirmed the Georgian voters’ support towards the changed electoral system, one of the main goals of which was to form a more proportionate, representative and diverse legislature”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

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. The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics begins accepting applications for the “Charter Prize 2020” competition. The purpose of the annual competition is to establish professional standards and promote development of ethical journalism. Read more… Source: www.qartia.ge

Tbilisi. The Coalition for Equality responds to the fact of murder of M.M. on November 14, 2020, on Temka and calls on law enforcement agencies to identify the alleged homophobic hate motive, while the media to refrain from encouraging discrimination.  Read more… Source: gyla.ge

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