Imereti. 15 Kutaisi-based NGOs have made a statement on February 28 concerning the developments in Kutaisi. "We call on the respective authorities of Kutaisi's local self-government and the central authorities to reach the constructive cooperation regime in respect of all important issues for the city and entire country, and not to allow the entry of relations between the central and local authorities into deadlock, which in the first place will damage the interests of the society", says the statement. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge

Kakheti. On March 1, NGO "Strategic Research and Development Center" has organized the information meeting in the Telavi Civic Engagement Center, attended by the representatives of NGOs, local self-government, media outlets and Ministry of Infrastructure. The meeting aimed at assessing the problems identified as a result of the study conducted by the "Strategic Research and Development Center" in four villages of the Telavi Municipality and informing the local self-government thereabout.

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has released various pieces of public information obtained from the administration of the State Ministry of Georgia for Integration in the European and Euro-Atlantic Structures, including the information on bonuses, business trips and vehicle fleet, funded events, reports on issued public information, and biographic data of employees and officials. For the full text. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Samegrelo. The organization "Transparency International - Georgia" has executed the "Memorandum of Mutual Cooperation" with the Zugdidi self-government on February 28. The Memorandum provides for the exchange of information between the parties and active participation of citizens and NGO sector in the local self-government activities. The organization will have its own corner in the Gamgeoba and the Sakrebulo, where citizens will be informed about how the organization can assist them. In the nearest future TI plans to publish the report on the "Ratings of the Sakrebulo", which will be a kind of assessment of the Sakrebulo's activities.

Samtskhe-Javakheti.On February 27, the public hearing on the mid-term development program of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality was held. The program covers the years of 2013-2017. Representatives of local authorities and NGOs have attended the meeting. This document is still a draft and until its approval the Municipality Sakrebulo will listen to the opinions of citizens.The development plan was drafted as part of the "Good Governance in Georgia" Program funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with assistance of the Association of Local Authorities of Georgia.

Tbilisi. With the support of the "Open Society - Georgia" Foundation, the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association and the Levan Mikeladze Foundation have published the report concerning the work of the National Communications Commissions of Georgia in 2012. "The report has demonstrated that legislation fails to adequately secure the staffing mechanism of the Commission, which would protect the regulatory body from the influence of political forces, as well as the effective control of the civil sector and its involvement in the Commission's activities. Legislator does not clearly define the extent of the Commission's authority to control the observance of the requirements of the Law of Georgia on Copyright and Neighboring Rights by the transit broadcasters", says the report. Source: osgf.ge

Tbilisi. Public Defender of Georgia has presented the report on the human rights situation in the institutions with persons with disabilities. The report reflects the results of monitoring carried out in the resident institutions of persons with disabilities by the special prevention group of the Public Defender of Georgia, as part of the national prevention mechanism mandate on 12-29 June 2012. Monitoring was carried out in 13 institutions in partnership with the international organization "Disability Rights International" and with the support of the "Open Society – Georgia" Foundation. For the full text. Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association echoes the wrong application of the Law of Georgia on Amnesty in the judicial practice. GYLA focuses on the cases of convicted for swindling, in which case the law was not interpreted fairly. "The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association considers it necessary to remind as the law-enforcement agencies as well as the courts that they should use the Law on Amnesty in view of its purpose and the individual's interests, with observance of requirements of legality and fairness", says the statement posted on the web site. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) has released the "story of a lost million". In particular, the story concerns the agreement executed in the first quarter of 2012 between the Ministry of Education and the Civil Institutionalism Development Foundation, under which the Foundation was funded by the state with one million for enhancing the role of the NGO sector and promoting its further development. For the full text.

Tbilisi. Article 42 of the Constitution has published recommendations on the draft law initiated in the Parliament of Georgia concerning the regulation of cases with participation of jury trials. The Recommendations. Source: article42.ge

Tbilisi. On February 27, the Head of the EC Delegation to Georgia FilipDimitrov, the Representative of the UN Children Fund in Georgia SaschaGraumann and the Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia Davit Sergeenko have presented the new program: Let's care about most vulnerable children in Georgia. An efficient state mechanism will be set up as part of the program to assist the children living and/or working in the streets. Within the initiative, these children will be identified and involved in the specific programs. The project designed for 700 children will be implemented during the first year in Tbilisi, while during the second year in Batumi and Kutaisi. Source: eeas.europa.eu 

Kakheti.In the Sighnaghi District, NGOs "Civic Initiative" and the Nukriani Community Union "Nukriani" implement a joint, coalition project "Online-civil participation in the self-government decision-making process". The project aims to create a good practice and mechanism of co-participation and civil engagement of the rural population, which will increase the citizen participation in the local decision-making process and the accountability of the municipality representatives.The project is financially supported by the "Open Society - Georgia" Foundation.Area – Youth.

Tbilisi. "Transparency International - Georgia" has released a comparative analysis of the new judicial reforms. The analysis concerns a pack of amendments regulating the judicial system initiated in November 2012 by the Government of Georgia, which affects several important issues including the procedure for staffing the High Council of Justice of Georgia, conference of judges, administrative committee of the conference of judges, disciplinary collegium, High Council of Justice and photo-video recording and broadcasting. In the comparative analysis of initiated amendments "Transparency International - Georgia" has examined the current procedures and procedures following the changes in respect of each issue and provided its own respective assessments. For the full text. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The education resource base was set up as part of the "Policy, Advocacy and Civil Society Development in Georgia" Program (G-PAC) of the East-West Management Institute (EWMI). The base offers the education resources created for the Public Administration, Public Policy and other neighboring master's programs of the Georgian universities as part of the Grant Program for higher education institutions. The resource base aims to support sharing of resources among the Public Administration and Public Policy master's programs of the Georgian universities.The university resource base.Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. "Transparency International - Georgia" has activated the hot line for free legal aid in Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi and Zugdidi. Those who think that the state violates their rights, they were deprived of the property illegally, experienced problems when legalizing the property or cannot benefit from the rights guaranteed by the state insurance, can call the hot line for free legal aid at: Tbilisi: (32) 260 15 08; Batumi: (422) 29 44 88; Kutaisi: (431) 29 26 54; Zugdidi: (415) 22 37 20.Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Imereti. On February26, the film screening and discussion was organized for the members of the Kutaisi Youth Center. ZazaRusadze's documentary "Bandits – Airplane Guys" was shown, telling the story of hijacking the Soviet passenger plane by seven friends on 18 November 1983. Hijackers dreamed of leaving for the West. This story is a tragic moment of the Georgian history and is covered in secret until today. A discussion was held after the movie. The screening of the film was organized as part of the "Advancing National Integration in Georgia" Project (ANI), which is implemented by the United Nations Association of Georgia (UNAG) with the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Source: kedec.ge

Tbilisi. On the web site of the Public Archive, the Soviet Past Research Laboratory offers the biographies of persons available in the Archive. The biographies will be posted on online archive along with the documents, photo, video and audio materials.The Biographies.Source: the organization's page in the social network.

KvemoKartli. On February27, the EU Mobile Information Center will take off its 2013 campaign and visit the KvemoKarlti Region. The Information Center will visit the schools of the Bolnisi, Marneuli, Rustavi and Dmanisi Municipalities and deliver open lessons in "Travelling to Europe". Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi.Transparency International – Georgia has released a statement on the web site "Why we disagree with financial amnesty initiated by the President". The statement says that the President of Georgia has sent to the Parliament the draft Law of Georgia on the "Amnesty and Legalization of Non-Declared Tax Liabilities and Property", which provides for the exemption of persons having committed certain types of financial and economic crimes from responsibility. We believe that the spirit and content of this draft Law raises many questions and contradicts the principle of restoration of justice and the idea of a competitive business environment." For the full text. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The final report of media monitoring carried out with the support of the EU and the UN Development Program (UNDP) was published on February 26. The study covering as televisions as well as radios, print media and Internet media, was carried out in May-November 2012. Monitoring was carried out by four organizations: the "Caucasus Research and Resources Center" (CRRC), "Internews-Georgia", the "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" (ISFED) and the "Civic Development Institute". Source: undp.org.ge

Tbilisi.With the support of the "Open Society - Georgia" Foundation, the "report on the current state of mental institutions" was presented. Presentation was held as part of the national prevention mechanism of monitoring of the Georgian mental institutions. Monitoring aimed at evaluating the compliance of conditions, treatment and care methods in the mental institutions with the procedures established under Georgian legislation and international standards. Key focus of monitoring was the evaluation of treatment towards the patients and probing into the consistency with law of the application of physical constraint procedures. The Report. Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi.The "All-Civil Movement Diverse Georgia" has organized a conference on February 26 "Ethnic Diversity for Harmonious Development". The conference was organized as part of the project "Let's Endorse Diversity – Respect Everyone" and aimed to inform the interested parties about the study carried out within the project framework, which examined the problems of communities of ethnic minorities living in Georgia. Conference participants have expressed their views on the ways and forms of solution of these problems. Source: npo.ge