Tbilisi. The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary evaluates the process of hearing candidates for judges of the Supreme Court at the Legal Issues Committee. “Legal reasoning ability of candidates, with rare exceptions, was low, while their responses - unjustified. Some candidates refused to answer questions asked by specific members of the Committee. Such an attitude is disrespectful not only to the Parliament as an institution but also to the process in general and deserves a negative appraisal”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Public Defender of Georgia, Government of Georgia, the EU, CoE and the UN Celebrate Human Rights Day 2019.  The event under the slogan “Youth Standing up for Human Rights”, included the awareness-raising activities to provide information on human rights and values to citizens of Tbilisi.  Representatives of the EU and the Government of Georgia once again confirmed their support to the activities of young people, as actors for social change.  Read more…  Source: https://eeas.europa.eu

Tbilisi. The International Human Rights Defenders Day was celebrated for the second time in Georgia on 9 December 2019. The aim of raising awareness of the activities of human rights defenders and human rights organizations and recognizing their role. ‘Georgia, as one of the UN member states, has a commitment to provide human rights defenders with appropriate conditions for their activities and to protect them from any influence;, - Is mentioned in the statement of the Public Defender of Georgia, - ‘We emphasized the regrettable trends of recent years, especially the cases, when senior political officials verbally assaulted and discredited representatives of NGOs, as well as the misinformation campaign against NGOs and human rights defenders on social networks, which seemed to be well funded and organized’. Read more… Source: http://ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Democracy Initiative has prepared a review of the situation in regard to human rights in Georgia. The review reflects how human rights have been protected in the country in 2019 and highlights main problems and challenges in this regard. The organization considers that their solution will play fundamental role in the future in terms of both defining a human rights policy and strengthening protection mechanisms against violations of human rights. Read more… Source: www.gdi.ge

Tbilisi. On September 30, the Batumi City Court took a historic decision regarding construction of a new mosque in Batumi and considered refusal of Batumi City Hall to build a new mosque discriminatory and unlawful. “Unfortunately, City Hall of Batumi Municipality appealed against mentioned decision of the court. Appeal of Batumi City Hall against the court decision shows that the local government not only fails to express its will to enforce fair decision of the court and ensure timely and effective reinstating of rights breached by discriminatory treatment, but also tries to artificially prolong and hamper the process by using dispute resolution mechanisms”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) responds to counter-demonstrations, organized by supporters of Georgian Dream in recent days in Tbilisi and regions against ongoing rallies where participants demanded to apply proportional representation electoral system, and to violent incidents connected with those counter-demonstrations. “The organization calls on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to take effective measures in order to prevent violence and ensure freedom of assembly and expression of participants of peaceful rally, as well as to safeguard their security”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. On 5 December 2019, Public Defender Nino Lomjaria met with the journalists of the Adjara Public Broadcaster, who have critical attitude towards the Broadcaster’s leadership. “The journalists spoke about certain cases, which suggested that critical broadcasting and editorial independence were at stake. The Public Defender stated that she fully supported the policy of non-interference with the activities of journalists and editorial independence, and that she would closely watch the developments”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. UNDP, in partnership the UN Women and the governments of Czech Republic and Denmark, published a study on behavior of the domestic violence bystanders. “The study showed that in half of the cases of domestic violence the witnesses remain inert and those who are willing to help often do not know how. The study was presented within the ongoing 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence which this year runs under a slogan “Every Woman Has A Story”. Read more… Source: Social network

Tbilisi. An organization “Partnership for Human Rights” addressed the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in regard to the case of a 9-year-old beaten child with autism, who was not recognized as victim by the Prosecutor’s Office and court. “We would like to remind you that in September 2019 PHR wrote about the Prosecutor’s Office and court refusing to grant the status of victim to a child with a disability”, - is stated on the website of the organization in a social network. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Samegrelo. On November 28, a German volunteer met association "Atinati" youth center members. “During the meeting youth talked about violence and oppression . "They simulated problematic situations, where the roles of the abuser and victim were adjusted and found alternative ways of solving the problems“. Read more… Source: Social network

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia made a Amicus Curiae Brief relating to the "Wake the Oligarch Up" Activists. ‘The 5 September ruling of the Ozurgeti District Court, on the basis of which, nine participants of the ‘Wake the Oligarch Up’ demonstrations held in the vicinity of Ureki Residence LLC in July-August were found guilty of violating the noise limits, is worth mentioning in this regard. According to the Court, since the purpose of the rally participants was to make noise, their action did not fall under the scope of the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations’, - is mentioned in the document, - ‘The Public Defender of Georgia considers that the decision represents a dangerous precedent of substantive restriction of freedom of expression’. Read more…  Source: http://ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes a document containing appraisal of November 26 developments. The document provides an initial assessment of how legitimate and proportionate the police force used by the state was. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. “Beyond the Lost Eye” is the report prepared by GYLA regarding the events of June 20-21, which will be presented on November 27. “The report evaluates the legitimacy and proportionality of the decision to disperse the protest rally on 20-21 June 2019, the cases of inhuman treatment, excessive use of force against journalists and interference with journalistic activities. The report also analyzes the practice of imposing administrative detentions and judicial review of cases in connection with the events of June 20-21” is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. This is a joint statement of Human Rights Organizations concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied territories of Georgia and the quest for immediate and active measures to turn this damaging situation into a positive track. “More specifically, we are referring to the pending regrettable developments in the occupied region of South Ossetia/Tskhinvali Region. Among other stressing problems, hereby we would like to highlight the most recent arbitrary detention of the doctor-traumatologist Vaja Gaprindashvili, which requires urgent measures for his immediate release, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

From November 20 to 22, in Gori, Telavi and Kutaisi, civil society organizations carried out a campaign - “You have a message” initiated to reduce violence against children and aiming at informing citizens about forms of violence against children. “Civil society organizations as well as citizens signed a petition and called on the state to fulfill its commitments and take effective steps in regard to welfare and harmonious development of children”, - is stated on the website of CIDA in a social network. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. According to the statement of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, the Prosecutor General's Office did not fully disclose materials of the criminal case to Mako Gomuri.  “We call on the Prosecutor General's Office of Georgia: to allow Mako Gomuri and her lawyers to get familiarized with materials of the criminal case in full; to meet its duties and responsibilities and conduct a complete and comprehensive investigation, taking especially into consideration the fact that more than five months have already been passed since Mako Gomuri was injured”.  Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations, operating in Georgia, publish a joint statement: Trials of detained demonstrators were carried out with serious violations. “It can be said unequivocally that while reviewing cases of demonstrators, detained at the November 18 rally, the judge neglected requirements stipulated by law, was biased and restricted rights of detainees”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Today is the World Children's Day. „To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF organizes the activity called "Kids Take Over" in more than 130 countries across the globe. Several schools in Tbilisi also joins the activity. Older school pupils held a demonstrational lessons for the little ones, showed interesting experiments and taught them the first aid. Read more… Source: Social Network

Tbilisi. Public Defender responds to trials of persons detained on 18 November 2019. “At this stage, according to the information available to us, some of the detainees were detained on November 18, during working hours. Consequently, the maximum term of their detention is 12 hours, according to the Georgian legislation. After this period expires, it is necessary to release them. We would also like to emphasize the fact that only one judge is considering the cases of administrative detention, which naturally complicates the administration of swift justice. It is necessary to involve additional judges in the process in order to prevent violation of the detainees' procedural rights. We urge Tbilisi City Court to comply with the requirements of the law and conduct trials timely and fairly”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. In light of the ongoing tense political developments in the country, CSOs call on the government: “To reject the use of any type of force against the demonstrators and avoid the escalation of the situation, which could potentially result in a state of full-fledged political instability and transform into events that could go beyond all legislative frameworks”. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge