Tbilisi. According to a statement of "Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center” (EMC), the Supreme Court recognized a problem of inactivity of MIA in regard to a boarding house for Muslim pupils in Kobuleti. The Court partially satisfied a cassation complaint of EMC in the part of responsibility of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and ordered the Kutaisi Court of Appeals to re-examine the case. Read more... Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Non-Governmental Organizations, signatory to this statement, express their utmost concern regarding the contents of the statement made by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia on 21 November 2018. The statement contains an indirect message about imposing criminal responsibility on our colleagues and comes across as a warning to us, i.e., various organizations working in the field of human rights as well as every individual cooperating with us under the condition of confidentiality and providing us with significant information on human rights violations. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI), with the support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, is implementing a project "Combating against racism and xenophobia in the field of student migration through strategic litigation”. Within the framework of the project, which aims at reducing racist and xenophobic attitudes in Georgia against foreign national students and promoting changes in legislation and practice through strategic litigation, a legal guide has been prepared. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. "No to Phobia!” responds to a statement of Mikheil Saakashvili, made while having an interview with "Rustavi 2”, in which he called Moshe Klughaft, an alleged PR specialist of "Georgian Dream”, as "some Jewish swindler Moshe”. "We, "No to Phobia!” civil platform member organizations, express extreme concern in regard to the anti-Semitist statement, made by Mikheil Saakashvili, a leader of "United National Movement”, on November 18, 2018. We once again call on him and other politicians to refrain from using hate speech, calling specific groups by insulting and derogatory terms and spreading stereotypes”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. On November 13 the third International Legal Aid Conference (ILAC 2018) was launched in Tbilisi, Georgia. The event focusing on Global challenges related to ensuring equal access to justice for all and free legal aid for the poor and vulnerable brings together over 300 delegates from over 60 countries to discuss how countries can improve access to legal aid in their unique national contexts and deepen international cooperation in this critical field. The Conference blends expert panel discussions with breakout sessions that enable its participants to work in smaller groups and brainstorm ways to implement reforms in their unique country contexts. In full  Source: http://www.osgf.ge

Tbilisi. International Society for Democratic and Fair elections publishes a blogpost: Programs announced by the authorities ahead of the runoff election amount to abuse of administrative resources. ''Promises about the new projects that were not known before the first round of the election leaves an impression that these initiatives are related to the outcome of the first round and their aim is to garner support of voters in the runoff in favor of the presidential candidate endorsed by the ruling party. It seems that the ruling party – the Georgian Dream, which has access to all types of administrative resources is attempting to increase chances of winning for the presidential candidate supported by the Georgian Dream, by using financial and executive administrative resources'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.isfed.ge

Tbilisi. On November 1, 2018 Freedom House published an annual report on Internet freedom around the world.  ''Georgia obtained a score of 25 out of 100 and was assessed as "Free” in terms of Internet freedom. The country’s score worsened by 1 point compared to 2017'', is noted in the report. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) states that the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia does not publicize information regarding current reorganization within the system. ''Implementation of large scale HR and structural changes behind closed doors affects reliability of the reorganization process both inside and outside the system. EMC calls on the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia to ensure transparency of the process and to make information regarding the reorganization process available to interested groups.'' Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Members of the election headquarters of United Opposition's presidential candidate Grigol Vashadze were reportedly attacked in the city of Akhalkalaki on 30 October 2018. According to Giorgi Vashadze, the attackers near the headquarters included the family members of Georgian Dream lawmaker Enzel Mkoyan. ''The Public Defender of Georgia underlines that similar incidents significantly hamper the free and peaceful pre-election environment, which will ultimately affect the quality of democratic development in the country. Therefore, it is necessary to timely identify all persons involved in the offense and take measures in accordance with law. In addition, it is important to assess the existence of an alleged political motivation and if necessary, to change the legal assessment of the offence,'' is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: The webpage of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations have responded to the fact of detention of Zaza Saralidze. According to their statement, the action of Zaza Saralidze is a result of rough and continuous violation of human rights by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. ''It was specifically breach of law by representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia that entailed escalation of violence today'', - is noted in the statement released by organizations. Read more... Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. On October 25, Partnership for Human Rights (PHR) addressed Public Defender in regard to a fact of attempt to expel a 15-year-old adolescent, victim of violence, from one of the schools in Akhaltsikhe. Public became aware of this incident through means of media. ''PHR considers that collection of signatures by parents of classmates of the girl, victim of violence, demanding to expel the girl from the school is an action that both instigates and forces Director of the school to commit discrimination, while a demand of Director to transfer the girl to other school is, in turn, a direct discrimination based on both gender and age grounds'', - the statement reads. Read more... Source:phrgeorgia.wordpress.com

Tbilisi. The United Nations Children's Fund disseminates a brochure developed within the framework of ''End Violence'', a communications campaign aiming at changing social norms. ''Before we start talking about violence, you should remember the main thing - a child has the right to be protected from violence. This is an unconditional verity, which the world has agreed upon long time ago. When one person uses his/her power or position to hurt others - it is violence. Any action that affects others – is violence!'' Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Women's Movement releases a statement regarding abduction of a 17-year-old girl from her own home by using force 4 days ago in a village of Lambalo. ''There are frequent cases of kidnaping girls for marriage purposes among national minorities residing in Georgia. Investigative structures virtually ignore such cases. The state waits until the families find consensus and then either stops an investigation completely or imposes a GEL 5000 plea agreement to be signed'', - the statement reads. Women's Movement demands investigation of the case and punishment of the kidnapper. Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. According to the statement of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, so far nobody has been found guilty in the case of torture of Irakli Khoperia by police officers. ''Evidences, collected through investigation, provide sufficient basis to declare police officers guilty. Nevertheless, the Chief Prosecutor's Office of Georgia still does not execute the obligation stipulated by law and does not initiate criminal prosecution against the persons concerned. We call on the Prosecutor's Office to immediately start criminal prosecution in regard to torture committed against Irakli Khoperia and other facts of crime'', - GYLA states. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia responds to the information disseminated by Rustavi 2 regarding the assault on the Journalist Eka Gagua and Operator Levan Kalandia by the representatives of Regional Office of the 23rd Bureau of the Chinese Railway in connection with the possible physical abuse of journalists and the possible interference in their professional activities. ''There are number of cases when the aggressive statements are made against TV company Rustavi 2 and its journalists (https://bit.ly/2NzzXwu). In this regard, the high ranking officials and deputies are particularly distinguished and often these statements go beyond the ethics. Accordingly, we urge the authorities to comply with the obligation specified by law and refrain from verbal attacks against critical media and journalists, because such statements and attitudes are encouraging violence against journalists'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: The webpage of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organizations respond and condemn the xenophobic statement of Salome Zurabishvili, a presidential candidate supported by Georgian Dream. ''On October 2, during the pre-election meeting with local ethnic Armenian citizens in Ninotsminda (Samtskhe-Javakheti region), Zurabishvili stated: ''Till now, citizenship was granted only by the decision of a president. One of the presidents [Mikheil Saakashvili], whose representative is my opponent, granted citizenship to a lot of Turkish people, but did not give a citizenship to you''. We consider, that the above-mentioned statement of the presidential candidate incites hatred, contradicts the principles of liberal democracy and equality, invokes the historic conflict in the modern Georgian political reality and employs all of it against political opponents'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: tdi.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) carried out a study – ''Protection of religious minorities''. The purpose of the document is to evaluate process of implementation of the 11th chapter of a 2016 – 2017 governmental plan of Georgia for protection of human rights and to provide the Government with recommendations, which, in the opinion of authors, may become the basis for revision of its policy in the future. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organizations and groups working on protection of human rights express their concern regarding the fact of violence and threat committed with homophobic motives against four activists of an organization "Equality Movement” in Tbilisi. ''We, the signatory organizations call on the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to ensure: timely, independent and effective investigation into the fact of beating of activists of ''Equity Movement” and threat committed against them by private persons'' – is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Imereti. According to information of ''Transparency International Georgia'', Zestaponi City Hall does not execute decisions of court. ''City Hall of Zestaponi municipality does not execute decisions of court related to immediate reinstatement of Iamze Marakvelidze and Nino Nikachadze in their positions, which fact represents an action punishable by criminal law and endangers the right to a fair trial guaranteed by the Constitution of Georgia'', - is stated on the website of the organization in a social network. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. According to the information of Women's Information Center, a gender equality action plan has been approved by 32 municipalities. ''Today, action plans are elaborated at 65, while approved at 32 municipalities of Georgia. Mentioned process continues'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:ginsc.net

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organizations release a statement in regard to publicizing information about health condition of Ivane Merabishvili, former Prime Minister. ''We, the signatory organizations express our concern over a statement made by a special penitentiary service on September 24, 2018, which violates fundamental human rights protected by the both Constitution of Georgia and European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms'' – is noted in the joint statement. Read more... Source:gdi.ge

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organizations condemn physical assault on a deputy of UNM at Kutaisi City Council that took place on September 19. ''We consider that violent actions of deputies threaten carrying out of election process in a peaceful and stable circumstances, seriously damage reputation of the representative body and local self-government institutions'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge