Adjara. During the #COVID19 outbreak the #volunteers of the Georgia Red Cross Society #Batumi branch continue to distribute food and hygiene parcels to the specific group of the community in Batumi: • The socially vulnerable, single older people aged 70 and above; • The vulnerable people who are in self-isolation; Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI), International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Human Rights Center (HRC) and Transparency International Georgia (TI) respond to measures imposed by the Government of Georgia in regard to restriction on freedom of movement and consider that introduction of a curfew by the resolution of the Government of Georgia is unconstitutional as the Government of Georgia does not have a legislative authority to restrict freedom of movement. “Furthermore, this step is perceived as an attempt to suppress the ongoing wave of protests, while the restriction itself is not an effective, important and proportionate mean to achieve a legitimate goal”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Open Society Georgia Foundation responds to the October 31, 2020 parliamentary elections and subsequent developments. “We remind public that constitutional changes, made this year, and introduction of an almost proportional electoral system have entailed a real perspective to turn the legislative body into more pluralistic one and to take active steps to form a coalition government. However, we agree with appraisals of international and local partner organizations and consider that both the pre-election period and the Election Day, as well as the vote counting process went along with numerous violations. There were critically concerning tendencies like removal of the line between the ruling political party and the state, use of administrative resources, attempts to intimidate and bribe voters as well as to control their free will, which may challenge results of the elections and the issue of legitimacy of the legislative body elected as a result of these elections. With this in mind, on November 8, 2020, citizens of Georgia expressed their peaceful protest in front of buildings of initially the Parliament of Georgia, and later - the Central Election Commission of Georgia. During the rally, law enforcers applied special means for dispersal of meetings-demonstrations violating procedures stipulated by law, which fact contributed to escalation of tensions and resulted in harming participants of the rally”. Read more… Source:osgf.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia calls on both the ruling party and the opposition parties participating in the elections to immediately launch negotiations in order to find a way out of the political crisis caused by the election violations. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Center for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims - GCRT will provide free services to those citizens who have been affected during the November 8-9 rally. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) calls on the Government of Georgia to not impose those COVID-19 related restrictions that would intentionally affect freedom of assembly and expression. “On November 6, 2020, Prime Minister stated that restrictions would not apply to freedom of expression, although the next day, the Government of Georgia announced imposition of a curfew on seven major cities of Georgia starting on November 9. We hereby would like to respond to the clarification made by the Government of Georgia stating that the imposed restriction is not a curfew. In general, a curfew is nothing else than an intense restriction on freedom of movement. A blanket/general restriction on unauthorized movement, imposed on about 50% of population of the country in 7 major cities of the state, is not a point ban measure. It is the curfew - a large-scale measure of restriction of the right stipulated by the “Law of Georgia on State of Emergency”, which applies during a state of emergency or war in the state”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. ISFED expresses its extreme concern in regard to use of disproportionate forces by the state against participants of a protest rally that took place in front of the Central Election Commission on November 8. “It is noteworthy that the action was in an initial phase when water cannon was used. As long as the action did not go beyond the form and legal scope of peaceful expression, there was no ground for the use of force. Nevertheless, completely disproportionate coercive methods were used to disperse the rally while protesters were not preliminarily warned by law enforcement agencies. We call on law enforcement agencies to not use force against protesters and make sure the right to assembly and demonstration is exercised without hindrance”, is noted in the statement.  Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. “Rights Georgia” condemns all acts of violence and calls on the Government as well as all political forces to: take care of and protect life and health of every individual, public order, right to freedom of assembly and expression and respective scopes guaranteed by local legislation and international law; avoid violence against journalists and interference with their professional activities. “Rights Georgia” expresses its readiness to protect legitimate interests of all people who have happened to get affected by unlawful actions. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations (TI Georgia, Isfed, Gyla) release the statement and call on political parties to resolve crisis through dialogue. “Although the 31 October 2020 parliamentary elections were a clear setback for Georgia and the worst elections held under the Georgian Dream government, we believe that there is still a chance to find a way out of the political impasse through dialogue. We call on both the ruling party and the opposition parties to start talks, inter alia through the international community’s mediation, in order to resolve the crisis which the country faces”, is noted in the joint statement. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia has applied to precinct and district commissions submitting a total of 108 complaints on violations related to the October 31 parliamentary elections. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. The Network of Centers for Civic Engagement, within the framework of the “Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” project and with the support of the CSI, has prepared a Monitoring of state grants issued in 2018. “The present study appraises effectiveness of a state grant funding process, its stages and general principles. On the one hand, the focus is on certain rules of legislation, as to what form, stages and criteria are used by public institutions to administer grant competitions through budgetary funds, while on the other hand, there is carried out a survey of practical experiences of bidder and grant recipient organizations, thus allowing to use jointly obtained information in order to elaborate recommendations about how the mentioned process can be improved”. The “Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” project is implemented by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in collaboration with the Civil Society Institute (CSI), the Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG) and the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The project is funded by the European Union (EU), while the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) is the co-financer.  Read more… Source: csogeorgia.org

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association has filed its final complaint in regard to 109 polling stations across the country, demanding annulment of summary protocols and recount of data. For litigation in court, the organization has prioritized those districts, where it filed more complaints in total. Besides, GYLA is not intending to pursue disputes related to those districts, where mainly majoritarian summary protocols were contested and, taking into account current differences between the first and the second, as well as the second and the third place candidates in accordance with preliminary data, annulment of contested protocols cannot affect results of the majoritarian elections. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) considers that actions, taken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in regard to incidents revealed across the country during the October 31 parliamentary elections, were ineffective. According to the organization, the law enforcement agency, in some cases due to its delayed response to facts of violence revealed on the Election Day, while in the other cases – absence of a will to prevent breach of law, failed to ensure proper maintenance of law, which fact intensified a sense of impunity for violence and elections-related breaches of law. At the same time, the lack of political dialogue during post-election days is problematic, which has a negative impact on the perspective of democratic development of the country. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. On November 1, 2020, within the “Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” project and with the support of the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC), Caucasus Cycling Network held a cycling competition “Zhinvali XC Adventure 2020” in Dusheti Municipality. The competition aims to promote a healthy lifestyle and encourage volunteering. In order to encourage volunteering, 10 volunteers from Dusheti Municipality were in charge of event management solving organizational issues throughout the competition. “Zhinvali XC Adventure 2020” is one of the winning initiatives of the Contest for Volunteering Initiatives announced by the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The Contest for Volunteering Initiatives is implemented within the ”Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” project. The contest aims to support the promotion of volunteering, raise awareness of civil society, and increase their participation in civic activities through volunteering. ”Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” was developed and is implemented by the consortium lead by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in cooperation with four Georgian Civil Society Organizations: Civil Society Institute (CSI), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG) and Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The project is funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Imereti. Local Democracy Agency Georgia held online informational meeting for youth from Zestaphoni municipality, about these following issues: The importance of civic engagement; civil society organizations; International volunteering platform "Time Bank"; The project coordinator, Tamar Kitovani was leading the online meeting.  Online meeting held within the framework of the project, „Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative”. The project „Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” is implemented by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) in cooperation with the Civil Society Institute (CSI), the Consultation and Training Center (CTC), the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), and the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The project is funded by the European Union (EU) and co-funded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS).  Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. Disabled Peoples’ Organizations (DPOs) voice their concerns about the way in which the Government of Georgia is treating people with disabilities (PWDs), providing free medical care without any co-payment only to those who have severe disabilities. “According to the statement issued by 30 DPOs, this differentiation is open to interpretation and leaves many PWDs without the needed healthcare. In an open letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Georgia and the Minister of IDPs from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health, and Social Affairs, the DPOs request that all children and adults with disabilities be provided full medical coverage without the 20% co-payment, as the latter often exceeds the amount of monthly social assistance these individuals receive and leave them and their families facing an incredible financial burden to stay safe”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.epfound.ge

Tbilisi. On November 5/6 online training was conducted for Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti police staff on the topic GBV, domestic violence and legal mechanisms, led by Mari Meskhi and Nodar saalashvili. The training was conducted within the frame of the project "Safe Environment for Women" which is implemented by the Anti-Violence Network of Geotgia in partnership with Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB). Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Imereti. LDA Georgia within the framework of the project “Civil Society Development Initiative", has held a summary meeting with civil society organizations in Kutaisi municipality. “The attendees got information about total quantity of the meetings and activities, which were implemented during the project. Also, the final meeting focused on the importance of implementing the project for the development of civil society in Imereti region. This project is implemented in partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), Civil Society Institute (CSI), Training and Consulting Center (CTC), Georgia's Strategic Research and Development Center (CSRDG) and the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC)”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. During the ad hoc visit of the Special Preventive Group of the Public Defender's Office to the polling station opened at Ksani Establishment No 15 on October 31, 2020, the aim of which was to check both the general situation and the free realization of prisoners’ right to vote, several convicts obstructed the fulfillment of duties by representatives of the Public Defender and verbally abused them. Representatives of the prison administration, including the director of the establishment, witnessed the incident, but did not respond properly. After the summary protocols of the polling station protocols were published, non-governmental organizations filed a complaint against the majoritarian protocol of the polling station opened at Ksani Establishment No 15, as 641 prisoners participated in the majoritarian elections, but allegedly not all of them were constituents of the Mtskheta election district. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

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. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) releases the visualization on case statistics of the European court of Human Rights Concerning Georgia. “The European Court of Human Rights heard a total of 104 cases against Georgia in 1999-2019. In 83 cases the Court delivered a judgement against the state, finding at least one violation of the convention and in 17 cases the court found no violation”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. As the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) considers, there are significant questions regarding constitutionality of fines to be applied in case of violation of COVID-19 related restrictions, however, the recent amendment to the rule of wearing a face mask has entailed a completely different problem of constitutionality and legality of punishment of a person. “In particular, the Parliament of Georgia has determined breach of the rule of wearing a face mask to be a separate violation, however, it is quite clear that Article 4211 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Georgia does not require wearing a face mask in the open space and neither it grants the Government of Georgia the authority to broaden content of the restricted action”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge