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

Tbilisi. The European Union increased its health assistance package for the Eastern Partnership by €35 million, stepping up its ambition to deploy fast safe & effective COVID-19 vaccines to the people in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova & Ukraine. For more information... Source: eeas.europa.eu

Tbilisi. Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) has completed a three-year project - “Fostering Religious Tolerance and Cultural Diversity in Public Schools of Georgia” implemented from September 2018 with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Georgia. The project aimed to raise awareness of cultural diversity, tolerance, and equality in public schools, improving the content of the school curriculum and textbooks. Read more… Source: tdi.ge

Tbilisi. On August 2-7, 2021, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and State Inspector's Service held the joint summer school on personal data protection. “Third- and fourth-year students, also master students of the School of Law of Authorized Universities in Georgia, attended the summer school.188 candidates participated in the competition, of which IDFI and the State Inspector's Office selected 20 students based on pre-defined evaluation criteria and interviews. Within the school, the participants were introduced to the issues related to personal data protection”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center presents an interview with Paata Zakareishvili, Natia Chankvetadze and Giorgi Kanashvili, experts having experience in political and academic work. The topic of the interview is conflict. “A few days ago, the Prime Minister and the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality presented long-term strategic visions for reconciliation and confidence building. The Government of the Georgian Dream has further enhanced the importance of the policy of reconciliation and confidence building at the discourse level, however, it continues to work in this direction with paradigms, tools and methods of the previous Government, and these efforts have not yielded significant political and social results”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia and ISFED consider that the composition of organizations invited for selection of members of the CEC advisory group and the decision-making procedure cannot ensure selection of qualified and credible people on the basis of consensus. Organizations leave the process of selection of members of the advisory group. “It is unfortunate that, despite setting an ambitious electoral reform as a goal, both staffing the CEC with new members and selection of an advisory group have turned to be flawed and are likely going to fail to increase confidence in the election administration”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center (formerly EMC) calls on the Government to set protection and security of villages, located around the dividing line, as well as their social and economic support as its immediate priority and spend active efforts on taking care and well-being of residents of war-affected villages as well as on development of their vital social infrastructure. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Adjara. What is a failure that, in reality, signifies taking a step towards success and strong motivation? With the support of UN Women, women entrepreneurs shared their experiences on this matter with an audience on 26 July in Batumi at the popular events series Fuckup Nights. “The event, organized by Tbilisi Startup Büro, consisted of presentations by four women entrepreneurs. Through the stories they told to the attendees, they once again displayed the obstacles they had overcome in their business pursuits and tried to motivate other women with their personal examples. After the speakers’ speeches, a panel discussion was held, during which the women entrepreneurs also answered audience questions”. Read more… Source: georgia.unwomen.org

Tbilisi. On August 6, Education Development and Employment Center was held an online meeting with regional hubs within the “Civil Society STAR Initiative: CSOs as Sustainable, Transparent, Accountable and Resilient Development Actors in Georgia” project. The meeting aimed to introduce and discuss the planned activities for the establishment and development of the Youth Councils. Learn more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies publishes a blog post of Davit Batashvili, a researcher of the organization: Why it is important to know on which date the 2008 war started. “There is a kind of confusion in Georgia regarding the start date of the 2008 war. People sometimes mention August 7, sometimes August 8 as the day when the war started, as if there is no difference between these two dates. In fact, there is a key, fundamental difference between them. August 7 is the day when the Russian army actually invaded Georgia and thus started the war against it. While August 8 is the date on which Moscow lies - as if it launched a military operation against Georgia on that day and not before. This lie has a very important political purpose. Saying that, Russia declares that its attack on Georgia began only after Tbilisi launched a military operation in the Tskhinvali region. Supporting this lie of Russia by Georgians via mentioning August 8 as the start date of the war is an inconceivable folly and negligence. Superficial attitude towards history and facts that often characterizes us, is, in this case, an action that causes direct harm to interests of own country and supports Russian disinformation”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source: www.gfsis.org

Tbilisi. On August 6, there was held a rally of those employed at “Tbilservice Group”, a company owned by Tbilisi Municipality. “The statement of participants of the rally reveals a number of violations of labor rights. Social Justice Center expresses its solidarity with striking workers and calls on the Labor Inspection Service to take the initiative and immediately inspect working conditions of those employed at “Tbilservice”, while it urges “Tbilservice Group” and the City Hall of Tbilisi Municipality - to study concerns of participants of the rally and take prompt steps to meet fair demands of employees”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge