Tbilisi. On August 27, Giorgi Kandelaki, an infectious disease specialist, published a post, in which he spoke about the vaccine-associated enhanced disease - VAED. VAED is a so-called umbrella term and refers to antibody-dependent enhancement - ADE and enhanced respiratory disease - ERD. As Kandelaki states, it was VAED that preconditioned failure of certain vaccines, such as those against the syncytial virus as well as SARS and MERS. After examining facts, “Fact Check” claims that a hypothetic opinion of Giorgi Kandelaki, as if ADE (antibody-dependent enhancement) may develop as a result of vaccines against COVID-19, is unsubstantiated. There is no scientific evidence that vaccines against COVID-19 cause an ADE reaction, a similar fact has not been observed at the stages of their preclinical and clinical studies. Besides, no cases of ADE have been reported in people vaccinated during the immunization process. Read more… Source: factcheck.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center is extremely critical of a demonstrative action of the Government to avoid fulfillment of its international commitments and considers that these decisions are essentially detrimental to democratic development and European integration processes of the country. “Decisions that have been taken by the Government during last weeks and are related to withdrawal from the April 19, 2021 agreement reached with the active moderation and support of the European Union and other international partners, failure in the reform of the judicial system and politically motivated refusal of the preferential EU macro-financial assistance, contain extremely disturbing signs of geopolitical isolation and formalization of an undemocratic governance of the country”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. GYLA monitors pre-election processes within the framework of a long-term observation mission through 9 regional offices. They are in Tbilisi, Adjara, Guria, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Imereti, Shida Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, and Kakheti. An interim report on the 2021 local self-government elections covers the results of monitoring conducted from May 1 through July 31. GYLA accounted for several problematic cases during the reporting period, one part of which is related to the use of public resources by the ruling party for electoral purposes, while the other one – to the dismissal of a public servant from work for adversarial views. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia is monitoring the human rights violations during the pre-election period and is concerned about the alleged discriminatory dismissal of dozens of people for their political views. ‘According to the information available to the Public Defender’s Office at this time, 62 employees were subjected to various forms of pressure. Most of them, in a conversation with the representatives of the Public Defender, confirmed pressure and dismissal and explained the above by kinship, friendship, or good relations with members of the party of former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia. (It should be noted that several of them, despite confirmation of pressure, refrained from giving their consent to the Public Defender's Office to examine their cases). The mentioned individuals were fired from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, municipal services, non-commercial legal entities as well as legal entities under public law established by various municipalities, and other public institutions, - is mentioned in the statement of the Public Defender. Read more…  Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. ”Fact Check” states that it is false as if a citizen Petre Dvalishvili felt bad as a result of receiving the second dose of a vaccine and died soon after. “On August 20, a Facebook account “Christians of the end-time” published a post on the social network. The post was accompanied by an article by Guriatoday. According to the content of the post, in Guria, Petre Dvalishvili, a former Lanchkhuti police officer, felt bad as a result of receiving the second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine and died soon after. The mentioned fact does not correspond to the reality”, - is stated on the website of “Fact Check”. Read more… Source: factcheck.ge

Tbilisi. According to the Special Penitentiary Service, more than a hundred prisoners tested positive for coronavirus in penitentiary institutions. The Public Defender's Office received information about the spread of coronavirus in penitentiary institutions from prisoners and the administration of specific penitentiary institutions. The information obtained at this stage is consistent with the information disseminated by the Penitentiary Service. Infected prisoners were transferred from Establishments Nos. 2, 8, and 14 to a specially arranged quarantine area. Additional detailed information on the isolation and treatment of prisoners has been requested from the Special Penitentiary Service. Read more…  Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has presented today an interim report on monitoring of the official pre-election period for the 2021 local self-government elections. The report covers the period from August 3 through August 30, 2021, as well as those developments, which started to take place before August 3, continued within the monitoring period or became known during the monitoring period. It is noted in the report that:  “According to the observation of the organization, within the reporting period, there were revealed: 15 facts of forced dismissal/resignation from work on alleged political grounds, 11 facts of pressure/ intimidation/ obstruction on alleged political grounds, 13 facts of alleged use of administrative resources, 6 facts of agitation through social networks, 4 facts of alleged voter bribery, 8 facts of a campaign of incumbent officials. Besides, there were also detected a tendency used by the ruling party to hinder observation activities of representatives of ISFED throughout the country, as well as cases of direct and/or indirect coercion applied against people employed at educational institutions in order to engage them in the campaign of the “Georgian Dream”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. The TI presents the report - ‘Persecution and Harassment of Critical Journalists at Ajara TV’. ‘ The report mainly covers the events that took place in the broadcaster since April 2019, after the impeachment of the director, Natia Kapanadze. The report overviews the beginning and the development of the crisis in the broadcaster. In particular, it addresses the case of dozens of employees, who were illegally dismissed or harassed, because of their critical tone by the leadership affiliated with the ruling party', - is mentioned in the document. The study relies on the information prevalent in media, advisory board meetings, the broadcaster’s quarterly reports, information requested from the broadcaster, and other public sources. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations operating in Georgia respond to the statement made by the Prime Minister regarding the reception of the EU assistance. “The signatory organizations express their concern over the statement of the Prime Minister of Georgia, according to which the Government “refrains” from receiving the 75 million assistance from the EU. This is an unequivocal refusal to implement reforms in the judicial sector and an open declaration of deviation of Georgia from the Euro-Atlantic course”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: osgf.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. The web portal of civil society organizations' - www.csogeorgia.org – conveys feelings of gratitude to its users and says them goodbye. The portal will resume its activities in September. Stay in touch with us, we will be back soon…

Tbilisi. Part of civil society organizations considers that delegation of the decision-making authority from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture to the LEPL National Environmental Agency on issues directly related to the development of the country, public safety, and proper enjoyment of basic human rights is a way for the Ministry to avoid political responsibility. Besides, transference of such an authority to the National Environmental Agency increases risks of conflict of interests and corruption, as this agency has its own commercial interests. “Taking given context into account, we call on the Parliament of Georgia not to support such an institutional change, as it poses the threat to the legislative and institutional order, currently existing in the country, and is going to have a negative impact on the development of the country in the future”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Organizations, working in the field of mental health care, respond to the abolition of the mental health department at the Ivane Bokeria Tbilisi Referral Hospital and consider this fact as a step backward in the process of deinstitutionalization of psychiatric institutions. “Closure of the mental health department endangers the right of people with psychosocial needs to have access to healthcare services. There occur risks that people may remain without respective services and/or return to already overcrowded large psychiatric institutions, where there is a higher risk of rights of patients being violated. It is for this particular purpose that the process of deinstitutionalization and their reorganization is launched”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes an analysis of the progress of the vaccination process in Georgia. “From March 15 to the present, only 36% of the 46,520 targeted medical workers, as stipulated by the National Vaccination Plan, are vaccinated. According to August 4 data, only 4.8% of the total population was fully vaccinated, while 10.4% - with at least one dose. 13.5% of the population over the age of 18 were vaccinated with at least one dose, while 6.2% - completely. 58% of vaccinations and bookings are Tbilisi-based. There is no information available on what kind of information campaign is carried out by the government to interest and inform the population about the vaccination process”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI) presents a report – “March without dignity”. “The headline of the report highlights the sad reality that July 5, i.e. the day when the “Pride March” was meant to take place to demonstrate support and solidarity, has eventually become a day when we witnessed hatred, violence, and aggression, respectively – a march of perpetrators, which was devoid of dignity. The report exposes problems related to the realization of freedom of assembly and expression by the LGBTQI + community. In this sense, there is reviewed fulfillment of its constitutional and international obligations by the state and the policy applied against the LGBTQI + community. More specifically, the report reflects developments, occurred in the homophobic context in Tbilisi on July 5 and 6, 2021, and the period preceding them. These developments are also assessed in terms of freedom of media and safety of journalists”. Read more… Source: gdi.ge

Adjara. On the 12th of August, Natia Loladze, the President of the Georgia Red Cross Society attended the “Regional Youth Forum” in Adjara which was supported by the Youth Agency, the European Union, the United Nations Populations Fund, and the local partners. „Participants of the meeting discussed the “National Youth Strategy 2025” and set up the future goals for strengthening the individual development of the Youth, supporting their education, and encouraging their involvement in the civil activities“. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Representatives of civil society organizations - Giorgi Oniani (Transparency International Georgia), Giorgi Mshvenieradze (Georgian Democracy Initiative), and Guram Imnadze (Social Justice Center) address an application to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia demanding to launch an investigation into the fact of an alleged unlawful activity of employees of both the State Security Service and the Operative-Technical Agency. “It was information about an alleged unlawful activity of the State Security Service, including covert surveillance and wiretapping, broadcasted on the air of the TV Company “Mtavari” on August 1 of the current year that served the basis for addressing the application to the Prosecutor’s Office”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. According to data released by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), remuneration of Mayor at municipalities varies from GEL 2,600 to GEL 4,500 (net amount from GEL 2,080 to GEL 3,600). “The article reflects the situation existing to date and reviews current policy of determining salary rates for Mayors of municipalities, legislative regulations and expediency of pre-election promises made by the Prime Minister. The promise of the Prime Minister in regard to doubling remuneration of Mayors, provided that legislation does not restrict them from making such a decision independently, clearly points to existing decentralization problems at self-governments”. Read more… Source: idfi.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 information released by Social Justice Center, along with numerous questions floating around the Namakhvani HPP project, the state keeps closing project related documentation unlawfully, which fact further deepens suspicions about illegality of the project and its incompatibility with state interests. The organization applies to court contesting refusal of state agencies to provide public information. “This time, we demand to receive information from Ministries of Finance, Economy and Justice. Court hearing against Ministries of Justice and Economy has been scheduled for September 27 of the current year. Our organization has already applied to these institutions directly requesting relevant information, however, despite the fact that the deadline for provision of public information is expired, we have not received that information yet”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Imereti. The Georgia Red Cross Sachkhere branch continues to be actively involved in the COVID-19 vaccination processes which includes conducting the registration process for those who are willing to get vaccinated, managing the queues, and conducting the awareness raising campaigns.                       Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Samtskhe-Javakheti. UNICEF continues conducting informational sessions on COVID-19 vaccination. “This time, prominent health experts held a meeting for over 60 teachers and administrative staff of schools of Akhaltsikhe about COVID-19, the importance of vaccination and the immunization trends in Georgia. After the meeting, most attendees got vaccinated against COVID-19. The meeting was organized by UNICEF in partnership with the National Centre for Disease Control”. Learn more… Source: www.unicef.org