Tbilisi. The Minister of Persons Involuntarily Displaced from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia SozarSubari has met with CSO representatives. At the introductory meeting the parties have discussed the problems of IDPs and their basic needs. The Minister has listened to the initiatives and recommendations of the CSO representatives. The Ministry and the civil sector have agreed on active future cooperation. Meeting participants have discussed the provision of IDPs with livelihood. According to the Minister SozarSubari, employment of IDPs is one of the key problems. Source: page of center "Apkhazeti" in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia has released a statement on provision of accommodation to eco-migrants. The Public Defender considers "that in the process of provision of residential spaces to families suffering from natural disasters it is vital to give priority to families, whose houses had been demolished or who are facing a special risk". For the full text (geo)... Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. On August 26, Human Rights Center held press-conference about physical assault of a citizen by police officers in the Vake Saburtalo district police unit # 2. "On August 14, about 1:00 am, Giorgi Tsomaia applied to the police unit # 2 located in Vazha-Pshavela Avenue close to his home and asked police officer on duty to return his cell-phone which police had seized from him during previous imprisonment. ...Giorgi Tsomaia clarified that senior police officer at the police unit # 2 called him "greenhorn” and rudely asked why he had applied to the police during night hours. ...the senior police officer took him into the room and about eleven persons (supposedly they were all police officers) ruthlessly beat Tsomaia. Tsomaia said they beat him in the chest, head and belly; they degraded and sputtered him". For the full text Source: humanrights.ge

Kakheti. The European Center for Minority Issues Caucasus (ECMI) is delivering trainings for ethnic minorities residing in the Kakheti Region in Georgia's Euro-integration processes and the engagement of ethnic minorities in them.On August 26, the organization has delivered trainings for representatives of ethnic minorities residing in the Pankisi Gorge, including the Kists and Ossetians.The trainings aimed at raising the competence of ethnic minority representatives and community organizations in the role of Euro-integration and engagement of ethnic minorities in it. Participants were informed about functioning of the EU, Eastern Partnership and the Georiga-EU bilateral relations.

Shida Kartli. Charity humanitarian center "Apkhazeti" started delivering vocational trainings in penitentiary institutions. Vocational trainings in playing the guitar, painting and enamel are already delivered in the minors' rehabilitation institution #11, and women's institutions #5 and #17. Inmates express huge interest towards the project in all institutions. At this stage 88 persons are participating.Center "Apkhazeti" is implementing the project with financial support from the Penitentiary Department of Georgia. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Adjara. In celebration of the Day of Assumption of the Virgin, CSO "Deserving Old Age" has organized another traditional charity event "We'll Grow Old Too" as part of the "Resource Center for the Elderly".85 vulnerable elders were provided with food products purchased with money collected by the CSO's volunteers during the summer. Volunteers from the Kobuleti Public Schools #1, #3 and #5 have participated in the event. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Constitutionalists' Association has organized a roundtable on August 24 - the day the Constitution of Georgia was adopted. Members of the State Constitutional Commission, experts, civil sector representatives and youngsters working on constitutional issues have attended the event. A discussion evolved around an ongoing constitutional reform, and at the end of the roundtable youngsters have adopted a petition on constitutional amendments, which will be submitted to competent state institutions. The event was organized under the aegis of the project "Stable Constitution - Youth Choice", funded by the LEPL "Children and Youth Development Fund". Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI) released on August 25 its commissioned public opinion survey, which shows respondents’ attitudes towards broad range of policy and current issues.The survey was fielded by the Caucasus Resource Research Centers (CRRC) for NDI after the second round of local elections in a period between July 23 and August 7 and was funded by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The survey was conducted through nationwide face-to-face interview with 3,338 respondents and has a margin of error plus, minus 2.9%. For the Full text... source: civil.ge

The US Agency for International Development has released the CSO Development Index for 2013 on August 22. The organization releases the Index on an annual basis since 1997, when the first report was published. The report examines the sustainability, development, environment, financial capabilities, etc. of the civil society organizations. Along with other countries, the CSO Development Index for Eastern Europe and Eurasia countries includes the development index of CSOs in Georgia as well. CSO Development Index for 2013 Source: www.usaid.gov

Tbilisi. The Civil Society Platform has posted information on the European Voluntary Service. Web page provides information on the essence of the service, its objectives, who it is designed for and how can one participate in the project. For the full text. Source: cspinfo.ge

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center has released a blog post - "Compulsory treatment of persons with mental health problems, as an allowed practice infringing upon rights". "Current regulation with respect to persons with mental health problems must be viewed as an approach violating the rights, which, in light of the essence of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ratified by Georgia, must be necessarily revised", says the blog post. For the full text. Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Democratic Initiative has disseminated the July newsletter including developments in the field of human rights protection during this period. For the full text. Source: gdi.ge

Kakheti. The Georgian Red Cross Society has delivered a training in the Sagarejo Civic Engagement Center for the organization's local volunteers.Volunteers were trained in the fire-fighting and emergency issues. According to the attending volunteers, it is important that all youngsters get familiar with these issues.

Adjara. Organization for the protection of rights of persons with disabilities has organized a briefing on August 21 in the Batumi Civic Engagement Center. CSO "For the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" has addressed the Government of Georgia with an initiative to adopt the resolution on the employment of persons with disabilities, including concrete obligations of an employer and an employee, as well as an employment quotes for persons with disabilities in the civil service. The organization has addressed the Prime Minister on this and other initiatives with a letter.

Shida Kartli. Centre "Abkhazeti" published a stori - "Kids from Shavshvebi". Story was created by JumpStart Georgia in collaboration with Charity Humanitarian Centre "Abkhazeti" as part of the project Visualizing for Data-driven Advocacy. The project aims to raise funds for the reconstruction of an unused bath house in Shavshvebi IDP settlement in order to convert it into a kindergarten for settlement children. The Story  Source: the organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. HRHT and its member organizations held a demonstration in front of the CoE office in Georgia in support of the HRDs arrested in Azerbaijan and called the CoE and Council of Ministers to take all measures against Azerbaijani government (chairing country of the Committee of Ministers) to stop repression of HRDs. For the full text... Source: HRHT's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has released information obtained from the Gamgeoba (local administration) and Sakrebulo (local council) of the Kazbegi Municipality. On Opendata.ge the organization has posted information on bonuses, budget fulfillment reports and other documents. Information from the Gamgeoba and Sakrebulo of the Kazbegi Municipality (geo)... Source:opendata.ge

Kakheti. The Labor Union of Georgian farmers and agricultural workers asks the Government for assistance. They urge the Government members to become interested in the current grave situation in the Sighnaghi, Dedoplistskaro and Sagarejo Municipalities. The organization's representatives have sent an appeal on the subject to the Government representatives. According to the organization's representatives, the drought has aggravated the situation in these municipalities even further and it has become terribly alarming, because not only the fall and spring cultures, but entire vineyards and other perennial plants have been destroyed.

Tbilisi. CSO "Jumpstart Georgia" has released a visualization, which is based on a study focusing on gender balance, and depicts the distribution of family duties between women and men. The visualization... Source: feradi.info/ka

Adjara. Another roundtable was organized as part of the "Resource Center for the Elderly" project in the office of CSO "Deserving Old Age" on August 21, which focused mainly on cancellation of social benefits of certain beneficiaries of the Resource Center for the Elderly. The meeting was attended by ten beneficiaries having this problem, Head of the Health and Social Protection Service of the Kobuleti Municipality Gamgeoba and representatives of the Social Service Agency. The roundtable participants have discussed in detail each beneficiary withdrawn from the integrated database of the socially unprotected families and consulted them on preparing documents for being re-included in the database. Source: the organization's web page.

Tbilisi. Jumpstart Georgia published a visualization - "Who is Georgia's #1 Public Official?". "Following the constitutional changes which came into force after the 2013 Presidential Election in Georgia, the power of the President was limited and distributed among all branches of government. However, these changes caused confusion about the roles and responsibilities of both the President and the Prime Minister among the public as well as among public officials. This confusion became all too clear when signing the Association Agreement with the European Union. Neither the President nor the Prime Minister could decide who was ultimately responsible for signing the Agreement". The Visualization Source: feradi.info

Tbilisi. 60 Georgian and foreign youngsters interested in conflict transformation, human rights and international relations, have an opportunity to participate in a 5-day forum planned on September 20-26. For those interested, registration has been launched and for the full information please see... The Peace Camp is organized by the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy together with the International Center on Conflict and Negotiation, with financial support from the Children and Youth Development Fund. Source:fondi.gov.ge