Tbilisi. The Parliament of Georgia is considering an amnesty draft law submitted by Mikheil Sarjveladze. An alternative amnesty draft law will also be submitted to the Parliament by the Lelo Party. “The Public Defender of Georgia welcomes these initiatives and hopes that the Parliament will consider and adopt the amnesty law in a short period of time, which will be in line with the basic principles of criminal justice and the positive obligations of the State towards victims and will apply to a lot of prisoners, who have been in the penitentiary system during the Covid pandemic”. Read more… Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Tbilisi and Kiev offices of the Heinrich Boell Foundation present a publication “Women and History - Gender perspectives of everyday life (1970s - 1980s)”. “The publication incorporates four articles from Georgia and Ukraine. The articles were grouped under a common theme: Gender perspectives of everyday life”. Read more… Source: feminism-boell.org

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia is concerned that the Parliament of Georgia is considering extremely dangerous changes relating to the judiciary in a hastened manner, without sufficient discussion or prior consultation with civil society. “It is inadmissible to devote only 2-3 days to the discussion of such issues, to schedule a committee meeting without publishing the bill and to deprive stakeholders of the opportunity for informed participation in the discussion. We call on the Parliament of Georgia not to support the proposed changes, as they drastically worsen the state of the justice system and the right to a fair trial in Georgia. In case the bill is adopted, we call on the President of Georgia to use the opportunity at her disposal and to return the bill to the Parliament with motivated remarks”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Open Society Georgia Foundation has summarized its activities of last year. “Activities of the Foundation and its partners were accompanied with some tensions related to challenges entailed by the pandemic or difficult political situation in the country. Among developments occurred this year, it will be hard to forget tragic consequences of the pandemic and July 5, the day marked as the most hard date in the history of democratic development of the country. With the support of the Foundation, there were implemented more than hundred initiatives throughout the year, aimed at promoting free election and media environment, as well as protecting rights of civil activists and journalists. We have actively worked on issues related to ensuring labor rights, organizing public and green spaces, provision of decent housing for homeless. Through the efforts of the Foundation and its partners, the situation related to rights of various groups in Georgia has attracted the attention of UN member states”. Learn more about activities of the Foundation in 2021... Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia echoes the return of Mikheil Saakashvili to Penitentiary Establishment No. 12. “The Public Defender’s representatives obtained medical records and talked to the facility’s doctor and administration, who noted that no ill-treatment had taken place during the transfer. The Public Defender believes that the state council should be actively involved in the process of managing Mikheil Saakashvili's health condition and the recommendations issued by the Public Defender’s group of experts should be implemented“. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Racha-Lechkhumi. Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo-Svaneti Regional Hub - Fund "AIC" organized the meeting with the representatives of newly-established regional CSOs. The invited mentors from the well-established and successful CSOs shared their achievements, main challenges and experience. The meeting aims to strengthen civil society as an independent, transparent and accountable actor across Georgia.  The meetings were organised within the framework of the EU and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung funded project “Civil Society STAR Initiative”. Read more… Source: Project page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Bureau of the Parliament of Georgia has supported enactment of the procedure for an expedited review of the bill on amendments to the Code of Georgia on Spatial Planning, Architectural and Construction Activities (despite the fact that the initiator - the Government of Georgia - does not request an expedited review of the bill in the explanatory note). Acceleration of the process precluded an in-depth analysis of all consequences of proposed changes, which procedure is a requirement following to urban planning issues due to specificity of proposed changes and the field. Besides, specialists of the field, activists, and environmentalists were not involved in the process of drafting of intended changes, neither were they consulted about necessity of elaboration of changes and goals of the Government in case these changes become law... Signatory organizations release a detailed appraisal of the submitted bill and consider that turning the bill into law may cause irreversible damage to the environment of the country, health and life of people, development opportunities for settlements and municipalities, as well as severely harm public interests. Read more… Source: civilin.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. On the 27th of December, an online discussion was held on challenges of diversity and the work of the Public Defender's Office. “During the discussion, Deputy Public Defender of Georgia, Eka Skhiladze spoke about the specifics of their activities and the existing challenges in terms of minorities. The project "Enhancing Ethnic Minority Agenda" is supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Georgia”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social page

Tbilisi. According to the information of the IDFI, The formal basis for the liquidation of the Memorial was the accusation of the Prosecutor's Office of violating the mandatory labeling of a "foreign agent" by the organization, which occurred more than a year ago. “For over 10 years, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) has been actively cooperating with Memorial in the directions of Soviet and Memory studies as well as in researching Stalinist repressions. IDFI fully supports its partner”. Learn more… Source: idfi.ge

Shida Kartli. On December 12, 2021, the representatives of Shida Kartli Regional Hub - Society Biliki and #STARInitiative met Gori City Mayor Vladimer Khinchegashvili. The meeting participants introduced the Mayor the key objectives and activities of STAR project. Moreover, they discussed the prospect cooperation perspectives. Read more… Source: The project page on the social page

Tbilisi. EU Delegation responds to expedited procedures in the Georgian Parliament relating to the State Inspector's Service and the Judiciary. “The State Inspector’s Service is Georgia’s independent mechanism for investigating ill-treatment and abuse of power committed by law enforcement officials and is thus a key institution for a well-functioning democracy and for the protection of human rights. The European Union was engaged in the creation of this Service and has invested substantial financial and human resources in its development. We are, therefore, very disappointed to see these actions, and regret the fact that it has not proved possible for EU representatives to engage with the Parliament on this matter," stated Asunción Sánchez Ruiz, the acting Head of the EU Delegation to Georgia. Learn more… Source: eeas.europa.eu

Tbilisi. In the framework of the training program “Georgia's future civil service leaders,” the Rondeli Foundation organized a series of lectures at the Tbilisi Marriott. “The project is designed to support Georgia’s civil servants on the career ladder by deepening their knowledge and enhancing their skills in the field of security and policy analysis”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Shida kartli. On December 28, 2021, Shida Kartli Regional Hub - Society Biliki hosted the information meeting with youth who would like to become members of the Youth Club. The Youth Club runs the activities within the EU and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) funded project "Civil Society STAR Initiative". Read more… Source: The project page on the social network

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition responds to facts of threatening statements and harassment committed against Keti Tutberidze, a journalist of Public Broadcaster. “The December 24 rally - related footage shows that participants of the rally surrounded the journalist and abused her verbally. Later, the aggression against the journalist continued also on a social network, which fact encourages violence against Keti Tutberidze. Members of the Coalition call on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to investigate facts of threatening statements and harassment committed against Keti Tutberidze and to take respective legal actions immediately”. Read more... Source: The website of the Coalition on a social network

Adjara. According to the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), the website of the Supreme Council - sca.ge has been adapted with the facilitation of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) within the framework of the project - “Consolidating Parliamentary Democracy in Georgia”. The Projects is implemented with the support of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). “On the adapted website it is possible to change text and background, color, font with a special reader program, the installation file of which is located on the website; it is possible to read the text; the website also allows to post info materials with synchronized subtitles”. Read more... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender's Office will continue to work as usual on the holidays announced until January 10. Hotline 1481 will be available on New Year's Eve as well. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Europe Foundation announces winners for Georgia Shining Light Award. The prize for the best investigation went to the story - The Lost Country by Tamar Gelashvili, Studio Monitor. The piece uncovers systemic failure on the part of the Government of Georgia, which spent more than a billion GEL on water infrastructure over the last 10 years and failed to address the problem at hand. Read more… Source: epfound.ge

Tbilisi. The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary considers it disturbing that the Parliament intends to review amendments to the Organic Law of Georgia on Common Courts in an accelerated manner. The Coalition calls on the Parliament to: suspend revision of the initiated bill; establish a format oriented on consensus and broad participation of society in order to assess need for a fundamental reform of the justice system and prepare appropriate changes. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) calls on the Ministry of Health of Georgia to take into account high public interest and ensure publicity of statistical data on people who have died from COVID-19 in accordance with the characteristic provided in the article. Besides, explain reasons for mutually exclusive data related to the period from infection to death and days in clinic provided to IDFI. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia is extremely concerned about the draft law initiated by the Members of Parliament of Georgia, which abolishes the State Inspector’s Office in an expedited manner. “The bill was prepared in a non-transparent manner and without prior consultation with stakeholders. We believe that this decision contradicts the Constitution of Georgia and human rights and aims to interfere with the activities of an independent institution”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Imereti. Within the framework of the project "Civil Society Initiative", LDA Georgia conducted training on the specifics of advocacy for the members of CSOs in the target municipalities. The trainings are being conducted by LDA Georgia within the framework of the project "Civil Society Initiative," with the support of the European Union and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network