Tbilisi. "Women’s Fund in Georgia” presents a blog of the Executive Director of the Fund – "Activism is always in danger”. "Activism is in danger in Georgia - probably not only in Georgia, but for me this is primarily alarming and that is why I am addressing you - in Georgia activism is in danger!”, - considers Nana Pantsulaia, - "Activists and activist campaigns are the force that grows citizens, develops civil society and forms the perception of justice. There is a lot more that can be said as to why we need activism, but to my opinion it is not necessary because I think we already know it. Now we have to say what activism itself needs”. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Samtskhe-Javakheti. The Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC) held a round table on May 28 in Borjomi, about the supporting services for people with disabilities. In the framework of the round table, the needs, problems, and challenges of the people with disabilities were discussed. Read more… Source: The page of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC) and the ''Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association'' (GYLA) release a statement in regard to the strike of Chiatura miners. ''We call on ''Georgian Manganese'' LLC to take into consideration fair demands of the strikers and respect labor rights of those employed as well as labor legislation. Besides, we urge the company to refrain from pressuring employees through referring on involvement of court and law enforcement agencies. We call on the state to ensure protection of labor safety regulations and labor rights in the enterprise'', - is noted in the released statement. Read more… Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. ''Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association'' and ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC) respond to a strike organized by workers of the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant.  ''The strike aims at realization of basic labor rights and obtaining minimum guarantees for social security. Organizations call on employers and the state to ensure execution of labor legislation and protection of labor rights of those employed'', - is noted in the statement. Read more... Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Public defender, Nino Lomjaria, publishes the statement on International day against Homophobia and Transphobia. ''The International Day Against Homophobia and Transparency is not being openly celebrated by LGBT+ community, LGBT rights defenders and their supporters this year, due to lack of security guarantees, which is a step backward on the path of improvement of the rights situation of the LGBT community and realization of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. It should be emphasized that celebration of this day is aimed at condemning violence and expressing solidarity towards LGBT people. Unfortunately, celebration of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia has been related to violence and endangered people's safety in recent years in Georgia'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. On the background of the upcoming midterm elections, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) responds to the information spread by media in regard to the violent incident and alleged electoral crimes, which took place on May 14 in Zugdidi. ''Fair Elections'' considers that an action involving signs of any crime, revealed during the election campaign process, requires immediate, effective and timely response by law enforcement agencies'', - is noted in the statement released by ISFED. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. On 14 May 2019, Public Defender Nino Lomjaria presented the Special Report on Monitoring the Child Care System – Effectiveness of Alternate Care. The report was prepared by the Public Defender's Office with the support of the European Union and UNICEF. ''Identification of child victims of violence, management of complex behavior and crisis situations, prevention of and timely response to the cases of child abuse, and psycho-social assistance remain problematic. The state does not have a systemic vision to tackle poverty and raise the social function of families. The available programmes cannot meet the needs in this direction, which negatively affects the rights of children. Shortcomings in the field of child care, the lack of specialists, psychologists and social workers and the problem of their effective engagement remain problematic'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia responds to the alleged criminal offenses committed during the campaign of the Zugdidi mayor snap elections in recent days, which could hinder the holding of elections in a free and fair environment and violate human rights. ''These actions clearly contain signs of criminal offense and it should not be difficult to identify the attackers'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Lawyers of the organization ''Partnership for Human Rights'' visited the Martkopi boarding house for people with disabilities in order to get familiar with existing situation there. ''While visiting the boarding house, there were noticed tense, conflicting relations between residents of the institution and the personnel. According to the residents, cases of theft of various items from rooms are frequent at the institution, which fact is not responded by the administration and staff'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:phrgeorgia.wordpress.com

Tbilisi. The Public Defender welcomes the strengthening of the Public Defender’s mandate relating to the cases of discrimination as a result of adoption of the relevant law on May 3 and assesses the new amendments as an important step forward. The earlier legislative framework could not provide the Public Defender with the necessary leverage to study the cases of discrimination in the private sector. Private individuals were not obliged to provide the Public Defender with necessary information for studying a case, to consider the Public Defender’s recommendations or to notify the Public Defender’s Office of the results. Read more… Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. With the conference today, we boosted discussion over the issue of Homelessness and State Policy for Housing. ''Homelessness and housing exclusion has long been inadequately recognized within political and social spaces. Today’s gathering of major actors gave opportunity to assess state policy on central and local level, analyze and address homelessness from human rights angle and seek solutions for challenges''. Read more… Source: The webpage of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC) responds to the statement made by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia in regard to the case of murder of Temirlan Machalikashvili. EMC calls on the Prosecutor's Office to take a fair and adequate decision on this case in a timely manner and initiate criminal prosecution against both the special operations officer who has directly committed the murder and officials responsible for planning and implementation of the special operation. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. A citizen has managed to defend his rights and return the plot of land with the support of a Dusheti Office of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association. Read more… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. "Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center” (EMC) calls on the Government to take effective political, diplomatic and legal measures due to the practice of persecution, carried out in the Tskhinvali region against Tamar Mearakishvili, an activist and journalist from Akhalgori. "Despite the fact that the Government of Georgia fails to exercise effective control over the occupied territories, the International Human Rights Law imposes a positive obligation on it to use all available means to protect rights of Tamar Mearakishvili. Taking this into consideration, EMC calls on the State of Georgia to: timely and efficiently investigate the case of abduction of Tamar Mearakishvili, give a corresponding criminal qualification to actions taken by identified individuals and impose responsibility on relevant persons; ensure protection of rights of Tamar Mearakishvili via applying international legal mechanisms. In this context EMC considers it important to urge the Government of Georgia to make the case of Mearakishvili as part of the application submitted to the European Court of Human Rights by the third countries against Russia; while conducting negotiations at all international levels, intensively put the issue of protection of rights of Tamar, as an ethnically Georgian activist, in the agenda and emphasize the importance of her rights and interests in all international formats”, - is noted in the statement released by EMC. Read more… Source:The website of the organization