Tbilisi. GCSD is honored to share Chatham House publication – “Myths and misconceptions in the debate on Russia”.  The paper encourages Western governments and institutions to reassess their assumptions about Russia in order to develop more effective responses to the increasing challenges the country presents. ‘Effective’ in this context means, in particular, deterring Russian aggression abroad and ultimately securing a less adversarial relationship with Russia without compromising principles of sovereignty and security and the values on which they are based. Read more…  Source: The page in the social network

Tbilisi. A large part of the population of Georgia believes that high-level corruption – cases of corruption involving high-ranking officials – is common in the country. At the same time, the population seldom encounters petty corruption in their daily life. Such are the results of a telephone-based public opinion survey that was commissioned by TI Georgia and conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) in the period from July 9 to July 18, 2021. The organization surveyed 1,228 people across the country as part of the poll. The average margin of error is 2.67%. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. Public Defender Demands Criminal Prosecution of Two Persons for Organizing Group Violence and Calling for Violence on July 5. ‘Two months have passed since the violent events of July 5, but the Georgian Prosecutor's Office has not launched criminal prosecution against any individual for organizing group violence. The Public Defender examined the video footage released by the media and considers that the publicly available evidence reaches the standard of probable cause for launching criminal proceedings against two persons for organizing group violence as well as for publicly calling for violence’, is mentioned in the statement of the Public Defender. Read more…  Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition responds to the statement of Kakha Kaladze and proposes political parties sign a memorandum.  As Kaladze informs in his statement, the Tbilisi mayoral candidate, nominated by the ruling party, is going to participate only in TV debates planned by Public Broadcaster, besides, some of the regional TV stations have already received refusals of candidates of the ruling party to participate in political debates.  In order to fulfill the multifaceted commitment to suffrage, Media Advocacy Coalition proposes political parties and electoral subjects, participating in the local self-government elections, sign a memorandum, which incorporates the responsibility to carry out election processes in a peaceful, non-violent and non-discriminatory environment.  Read more…  Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia assessed the activities carried out by the City Council of Zugdidi municipality in 2020. The report is based on the information requested and received from the City Council as well as the information published on the official website of the City Council, and on observations of the organization. The research covers the period of 2020. Transparency International Georgia evaluated Zugdidi City Council’s performance in 2020 as well. The study covered the period from November 2017 to 2019. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. With the active participation of IDFI and financial support of USAID GGI, Tbilisi City Hall elaborated and approved the concept of an open data portal, based on which the portal will be launched. Along with the concept, a detailed technical description of the portal was prepared. The launch of an open data portal is one of the key commitments of the Tbilisi City Hall Open Government Partnership (OGP) action plan. Implementation of this commitment will increase Tbilisi City Hall’s transparency and accountability. Once the Open Data portal is set up, the datasets available on the portal will be available for all, including businesses, media, academia, and any interested individual. By making open data available, Tbilisi City Hall will promote the creation of innovative, citizen-centric services. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Georgian National Platform (Georgian National Platform) is concerned about the inconsistent policy of the Government of Georgia. “We consider it unacceptable that the Government of Georgia takes steps, which are politically dangerous, tailored to interests of the Government, as well as harmful to the state, and, at the same time, contradict the Euro-Atlantic perspective of Georgia. Moreover, taking into account the fact that threats posed by the Russian Federation on the background of recent developments in the region are alarming. We closely monitor the significant negative impact of both hard and soft power of the Russian Federation on the society of Georgia and consider that the only solution is the Euro-Atlantic choice along with the path leading to it through reforms, which bring goodness to citizens of the country. We assume that the European Union should further facilitate strengthening the civil society sector, though in the circumstances when the Government of Georgia demonstrates certain inconsistency in conjunction with Euro-Atlantic integration”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: hrc.ge

Tbilisi. A civil platform “No-Phobia!” responds to the September 3, 2021 statement of Irakli Garibashvili, the Prime Minister of Georgia, with extreme concern.  “As Irakli Garibashvili stated, “Pride March”, scheduled for July 5, 2021, was not a form of realization of the right of LGBTQ + community members to assembly and manifestation, rather it was a provocation planned by the National Movement, a well-organized insidious conspiracy applied against the statehood of Georgia. It should also be noted that the Prime Minister of Georgia appraises actions of violent groups negatively only in the context of aggression waged against journalists, whereas he does not consider it inconsistent with the liberal-democratic state that representatives of the LGBTQ + community could not enjoy their right to freedom of assembly and manifestation, while the state did not ensure their safety within the frameworks of a positive obligation imposed on it by the Constitution. Besides, in the run-up to the local elections and on the background of strong homophobic attitudes existing within certain layers of society, the statement of the Prime Minister contains elements of populism that are incompatible with Western values, which fact turns homophobic attitudes into a tool of political struggle”, - is noted in the statement released by the platform.  Read more…  Source:gdi.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies has published a blog by Vladimir Papava, Senior Research Fellow, Rondell Foundation – ‘Vaccination: ‘To Be, or not to Be’… ‘Even though different types of vaccines have been developed, making it easier for people to choose when available, the issue of low trust in these vaccines remains a major problem. And if a significant portion of the population has no confidence in the vaccines, then it will be impossible to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic through them. In other words, as it turns out, the existence of a vaccine in and of itself is not necessarily a panacea’, - writes the author. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia assessed the activities carried out by the City Council of Poti municipality (Hereinafter Poti City Council) in 2020.  The report is based on the information requested and received from the City Council as well as the information published on the official website of the City Council, and on observations of the organization. The research covers the period of 2020. Transparency International Georgia evaluated Poti City Council’s performance in 2020 as well. The study covered the period from November 2017 to 2019.  Read more…   Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. City Hall and the Architecture Service unlawfully classify documentation of the central park to be built on the territory of the former Hippodrome. “The Tbilisi City Hall and the Architecture Service do not publicize documentation related to the construction of the park on the territory of the former Hippodrome, which fact further deepens doubts about the unlawfulness of the project and its incompatibility with public interests of the City. Information requested by us is public information in accordance with law and it is the responsibility of the state to provide access to it. Social Justice Center applies to the court to claim against the Tbilisi City Hall and the Architecture Service on the grounds of non-disclosure of public information”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

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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

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