Tbilisi. Human Rights Center is alarmed at the recent frequent facts of assault in social network against the family members of human rights defender Vitaly Safarov, who was killed based on ethnic motives. “Recently, owners of various fake or real profiles in the social network Facebook have been intensively publishing posts containing fascist and xenophobic, hate speech and intimidating texts against the family members of Vitaly Safarov as well as against the Jewish people… In this light, it is essential that law enforcement bodies immediately, impartially and comprehensively investigated the facts of assault on the family members of Safarov and all other similar cases in order to prevent similar incidents in future. It is important that the State acknowledged the need to implement not only negative but positive responsibilities too as well as its role in the eradication of the crimes, which creates threat to the pluralism and equality in the society, development of democratic and safe environment in the country. It is important that the Government made the criminal law policy more severe towards similar unlawful and violent actions and establish categorical approach to them because the existing weak policy has already contributed to the empowerment of xenophobic, fascist groups and hate speech that cannot prevent similar incidents in future”, is noted in the address. Read more… Source: www.hrc.ge

Imereti. Local Democracy Agency Georgia, in the framework of the project "Civil Society STAR Initiative", hold another meeting of the youth club in Baghdati municipality. “The speaker - Ketevan Kukhianidze conducted a seminar on the e-participation and democracy, opportunities for citizen involvement in the decision-making process. The workshop included hands-on exercises and small presentation. The club was established by LDA Georgia within the framework of the project "Civil Society STAR Initiative," with the support of the European Union and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The civic activist Samira Bayramova has become the victim of violent threats by pro-Russian violent criminal group Alt-info.  Tolerance and Diversity Institute expresses its full support and solidarity towards Samira Bayramova and all citizens, activists and journalists who have become victims of pro-Russian violent group Alt-info. TDI calls on the government of Georgia to: Immediately investigate and prevent each threat against Samira Bayramova and other activists. To prevent the activities of the criminal group Alt-info and to bring their leaders to criminal justice. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Imereti. On March 15, Local Democracy Agency Georgia participated in a volunteer forum. „The participants of the forum got acquainted with the activities of the organization and the experience gained so far, the opportunities for volunteering and future cooperation. At the forum, LDA Georgia presented information resources, books, brochures and branded materials created within the framework of various projects and campaigns in recent years“. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Georgian Civil Society Organizations express their readiness to be actively involved in the Europeanization process. “We believe that deepening cooperation with the European Union and commencing the process of accession will create preconditions for a stronger democracy, greater human rights protections and social benefits, and increased security for Georgia. The ongoing war in Ukraine has revealed the necessity of the Europeanization process, not only for Georgia’s political, legal, and social development but also in terms of the security of our country”. Civil Society organizations propose the Georgian government to take 10 steps on the road to EU membership. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. According to the information of the Transparency International Georgia, My Town LLC and sole entrepreneur Shorena Tabagari, who are linked to the former Head of the Infrastructure Service of the Borjomi City Hall, have received GEL 4,117,864 from 68 public procurements in the years 2014-2021. Out of this, they received GEL 2,162,992 (52% of the total amount) without competition and by means of disqualification of competitors. “TI Georgia calls on the Anti-Corruption Agency of the State Security Service to study the public procurements of My Town LLC and sole entrepreneur Shorena Tabagari and to find out whether or not corrupt deals took place between them and the contracting authorities, as well as to study whether or not the state-owned land plot with an area of 109 sq. m. adjacent to 14 Rustaveli Street in Borjomi was alienated by means of a corrupt deal”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Mtskheta-Mtianeti. On March 17, 2022 at the Tserovani #3 Public School , Rondeli Foundation organized a lecture - "the role of the United States in the process of Georgian state-building", led by Rondeli Foundation Senior Research Fellow, Ambassador Giorgi Badridze. The lecture was held in the frames of “Community Youth Engagement in the regions of Georgia” project, which is funded by the US Embassy in Georgia. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information publishes the article: Russian Information Warfare against the Lugar Laboratory. “Besides the above-mentioned disinformation, the accusations against the Lugar Laboratory periodically appeared in Russian and pro-Russian media. It has been accused of spreading the Swine flu, creation of biological weapon used in Syria, production of a biological weapon by the US, etc. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the laboratory once again became a target of Russian disinformation and it was blamed for spreading the virus. For effective dealing with such challenges, it is essential to enhance the collaboration between decision-makers, civil sector and cybersecurity specialists in order to ensure the implementation of strategy for countering Russian disinformation and cyber threats”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Imereti. Local Democracy Agency Georgia, within the framework of the project "Civil Society STAR Initiative", provided consultations to youth and representatives of civil society and community organizations in Kharagauli and Zestafoni municipalities. The meetings are being organized by LDA Georgia within the framework of the project "Civil Society STAR Initiative", with the support of the European Union and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Executive Director of IDFI, Giorgi Kldiashvili, is taking part in the Community of Practice Session III "Leveraging Transparency to Counter Foreign Illiberal Influences: The Role of Legislatures" organized by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Open Government Partnership (OGP).  Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Civic activist Samira Bairamova has become a threat target by a violent, pro-Russian group over her protests. GYLA represents and protects her rights. GYLA calls on the investigative body: Take appropriate measures to protect the safety of Samira Bairamova; Make a clear statement that the actions of the violent groups will not go unpunished; Investigate all threat-containing episodes promptly and identify responsible persons. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The civic activist Samira Bayramova has become the victim of violent threats by pro-Russian violent criminal group Alt-info. Samira Bayramova expressed her peaceful civic protest against Alt-info opening their office in her hometown Marneuli and their Kremlist aggressive politics. she painted Ukraine and EU flags on the exterior of the Alt-info office. Following this peaceful protest, Samira became the target of violent threats. TDI calls on the government of Georgia to: “Immediately investigate and prevent each threat against Samira Bayramova and other activists; To prevent the activities of the criminal group Alt-info and to bring their leaders to criminal justice”. Organization expresses its full support and solidarity towards Samira Bayramova and all citizens, activists and journalists who have become victims of pro-Russian violent group Alt-info. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Samegrelo. On March 16 the Child Rights Center has been inaugurated in Zugdidi Shota Meskhia State Teaching University. The event was attended by UNICEF Representative in Georgia, Ghassan Khalil. The center will help to raise awareness about children's rights among specialists in various fields, civil society organizations, representatives of the scientific field, parents and children. Child Rights Center has been established with the funding from Norway. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The practice of creating obstacles for independent journalists from the Russian Federation while entering Georgia in parallel with the ongoing war in Ukraine raises doubts that David Frenkel, was not allowed to enter Georgia on a discriminatory basis due to his journalistic work. The member organization of the coalition "Rights Georgia" on behalf of David Frenkel has already submitted the administrative complaint before the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and demanded the annulment of the decision on denial of entry. Read more... Source: rights.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. According to the information of the TDI, as Russia wages war in Ukraine, the step-up in the activity of pro-Russian violent extremist groups has taken an alarming dimension in Georgia. Appalling incidents of antisemitism have been reported. Also, several Georgian Orthodox clergymen have made hateful antisemitic statements that echo the messages coming from the Russian Patriarchate. Read more… Source: tdi.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Center publishes the informational blogpost on the successful cases. Read more… Source: www.hrc.ge

Tbilisi. According to the information of the TI Georgia, notwithstanding five years of its inception, the monitoring mechanism of public officials’ asset declarations, has failed to become a powerful tool for combating corruption. Public officials are massively failing to comply with declaration rules, while the Civil Service Bureau limits itself to imposing fines or issuing warnings, and disregarding most cases of concealment of property as well as cases of conflict of interest and incompatibility of duties. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. GYLA believes that the package of powers of the President of Georgia stems from her status, according to which she is the head of state, the guarantor of the country's unity and national independence. According to the organization Georgian Dream statement serves to punish Salome Zurabishvili for her Positioning, which damages the institution of the President. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the UN Women and the National Agency of Public Registry. “UN Women and the National Agency of Public Registry of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia will cooperate in strengthening gender equality and women's empowerment”.  Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. According to the assessment of the IDFI the president has not violated the constitution of Georgia. “The President’s competency in foreign policy is limited and mostly is implemented with the Consent of the Government of Georgia. But this does not mean that the President’s each action or inaction that affects foreign policy needs Government’s permission. Without government’s consent, the President is not allowed to conclude international treaties or to vote in international organizations, however as the head of the state, the President is not prohibited from expressing her views on foreign policy inside or outside the country, especially during the informal meetings. More precisely, not all steps taken by the President in terms of international cooperation will depend on the will of the Georgian Government and it cannot be considered as implementation of the foreign policy”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. UN Women Country Representative in Georgia, Kaori Ishikawa held a meeting with the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civic Equality, Tea Akhvlediani. At the meeting, the Women, Peace, and Security agenda implementation in Georgia was discussed, where parties underlined the importance of advancing the work on women’s meaningful participation in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network