Tbilisi. CSO and media organizations have released a joint statement "on initiated draft bill concerning public fomenting of violence". In the nearest future the Parliament of Georgia intends to adopt at the first hearing the Law of Georgia "on Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia", authored by the Ministry of Interior of Georgia, and initiated by the Government of Georgia. "One of the objectives of the draft Law is to criminalize fomenting of violence. Pursuant to proposed amendments, publicly fomenting of violence aimed at inciting confrontation among racial, religious, national, local, ethnic, social, political, language groups and/or groups of other signs shall become punishable. Imprisonment of up to two years is proposed as a sanction. Although following initiation the draft Law was amended - namely, reference to obvious, direct and substantial threat was included in the draft Law - it still contains serious risks in terms of freedom of expression and given a current context, the state's declared motivation in relation to criminalization of such action lacks credibility", the statement says. For the full text... Source: gyla.ge

The European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) once again calls Azerbaijan Government for „immediate release of Anar Mammadli of Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS). EMDS chairman Anar Mammadli was imprisoned by the Court of Serious Crimes for 5.5 years respectively following the Azerbaijan presidential elections of October, 2013 when critical reports were published on the electoral process by Anar Mammadli and his colleagues". For thr full text… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. CSOs have released a joint statement on facts of alleged pressure on Ramin Mamedov and his family members. For the full text... Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Members of the campaign This Affects You have presented an appeal to the Constitutional Court of Georgia, requesting ‘’abolishment of the amendments to secret surveillance legislation adopted by the Georgian Parliament in November 2014’’. For the full texe… source: transparency.ge

Adjara. Senior Human Rights Adviser for South Caucasus of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Vladimir Shkolnikov has met with CSO representatives operating in human rights sector on April 7 in Batumi. Meeting participants have discussed current problems and challenges of human rights protection in the region. Third sector representatives have talked about problems in respect of inmates and ways of their solution and optimum means of resolution by the state. Further, CSO representatives have discussed breaches of rights of persons with disabilities and the status of ecological migrants. The meeting aimed to develop a training module and train human rights activists in the future by taking into account the problems identified by CSOs.

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association has carried out a street opinion poll in relation to the World Health Day, aimed at identifying the extent of citizens' knowledge on the right to health and its protection in Georgia. In connection with this day, GYLA has organized events in three cities – Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Zugdidi – to inform public about their rights in the healthcare sector.     Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. With financial support of the Women's Foundation, representatives of young researchers – "Supporters of Social changes" – have released a study: "Sexual Harassment – Women's "Invisible" Discrimination". "Sexual harassment is a less visible and hardly identifiable form of gender discrimination. Despite its "invisible" nature, sexual harassment is a rather spread social practice infringing upon women's rights and dignity", web page of the Women's Foundation in the social network states. The study... Source: web page of the Women's Foundation in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Public Defender's administration has released a special report on preschool education institutions, describing the rights of children in preschool education institutions. For the full text... Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Constitutionalists' Association has addressed the State Constitutional Commission with a recommendation concerning Article 28 of the Constitution of Georgia, which sets suffrage of citizens of Georgia. Pursuant to Paragraph 2 of this Article, persons recognized as legally incapable by a court, and persons detained in a penitentiary institution following a court conviction (apart from persons who had committed less grave crimes), cannot participate in elections. The organization believes that "Article 28 of the Constitution should delimit active and passive election rights and should not specify the circle of persons who are not authorized to participate in elections. Limitations should be set in the Criminal Code and the Election Code. The organization has developed a package of amendments to the Criminal Code and the election legislation". For the full text... Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

According to GYLA, at the 31 March 2015 session the UN Human Rights Committee has drafted a summary opinion in respect of the Russian Federation. The Committee has adopted summary conclusions based on the report presented by the Russian Federation in the UN on 16 and 17 March and information submitted by CSOs. At the session, the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) and the National Institute for Human Rights (NIHR), in partnership with the Human Rights Priority (HRP), have presented an alternative report. By taking into account the information provided by GYLA and partner organizations, the opinion drafted by the UN in respect of the Russian Federation focuses, among others, on armed conflicts in Ukraine and Georgia. For the full text... Source: gyla.ge

Kakheti. As part of the women's history month, the Civic Engagement Centre has organized a discussion in Telavi over homophobia and the rights of women representing LGBT community. Meeting participants have discussed discrimination on the grounds of homophobia and transphobia, public attitude towards the LGBT community and other issues. Members of the Telavi Gender Equality Club, active citizens, and representatives of CSOs, self-government and media have attended the event.  

Tbilisi. At the initiative of the "Independent Association of Georgian Journalists", a discussion was held on March 24 over labor rights of media employees. In addition, representatives of media, professional unions of the Public Broadcaster, Employers' Association and the Ministry of Labor and Health have signed a declaration on "Media's labor rights and development of an institutional dialogue". The "Independent Association of Georgian Journalists" is implementing together with International Federation of Journalists the EU project of a regional scale aimed at developing-enhancing the institute of solidarity with media and journalists in the South Caucasus. As part of the project, the Association plans to meet media representatives in the capital and other regions of Georgia, in order to probe into current situation within media. In addition, trainings and other events are planned. For the full text... Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. The World Autism Awareness Day is celebrated worldwide on April 2. By introducing this Day, the United Nations aimed to inform the general public about autism-related problems, as well as to plan and implement concrete actions for overcoming challenges in this respect, with involvement of states along with international organizations, civil and private sectors. The Public Defender of Georgia urges the authorities to ensure steadfast protection and support of rights of all individuals including persons with autism spectrum disorder, thus facilitating the formation of inclusive society in the country. For the full text... Source: ombudsman.ge

Imereti. Representatives of the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) and association Green Alternative have met with workers employed in 3 cities (Zestaponi, Tkibuli, Chiatura) of Georgia on March 27-29. The meeting aimed to identify ecological problems in these cities as well as to identify the workers' problems and plan future partnership as part of the project. For the full text... Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender has submitted a report on protection of human rights and freedoms in the country in 2014. "The document represents a report of the Public Defender of Georgia about the protection of human rights and freedoms in the country in 2014 and it discusses a wide spectrum of civil-political, economic, social and cultural rights. Further, it focuses on positive and negative trends identified in the human rights sector over the reporting period and collects key recommendations developed by the Public Defender for various branches of government." For the full text... Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Five CSOs have presented on March 22 a shadow report on the minority rights in Georgia for the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The joint report by the UN Association of Georgia (UNAG), Media Development Foundation (MDF), Georgian Democratic Initiative (GDI), Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI), and the European Center for Minority Issues (ECMI) covers topics such as: "facts of violence against religious minorities, improper investigation of incidents, infringement upon the autonomy of religious organizations by the newly created state agency for religious affairs...", etc. For the full text... Source: tdigeorgia.wordpress.com  

Adjara. The Batumi City Court has admitted into proceedings the lawsuit of the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) concerning the Muslim boarding house in Kobuleti. Consideration on merits will take place in the near future. Based on the Law on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination and within the scope of special proceedings stipulated in the Civil Procedural Code, EMC has submitted a lawsuit in the Batumi City Court "concerning numerous facts obstructing the activities of Muslim schoolchildren's boarding house in Kobuleti". For the full text... Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Red Cross Society and the "Georgian Coalition against Tuberculosis" have organized on March 24 a solidarity initiative-march with a slogan "Let's Discover, Treat, Defeat Tuberculosis". The initiative aimed to increase public interest towards the problem of tuberculosis and support those contracted by tuberculosis. Source: the organization's web page in the social network.  

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has released the article "How urgent is the need to eliminate justice gaps". It analyzes the data obtained from the Prosecutor's Office. "... According to the information obtained from the Chief Prosecutor's Office of Georgia, total of 52 530 complaints/applications were submitted with the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia from October 2012 until January 2015 concerning illegal actions by civil servants against the citizens. From these, launch of investigation on concrete facts was requested by 10 379 applications. Out of mentioned 10 379 applications, 3495 concerned crimes committed by the staff of penitentiary and law-enforcement institutions, 697 - illegal deprivation of property, and 6187 - fell in some other category...", the organization's web page states. For the full text... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Personal Data Protection Inspector has released the 2014 report. It includes the results of examination of citizens' applications, carried out inspections and consultations delivered from January through December 2014. The document aims to analyze the status of personal data protection in the last year, as well as current trends and challenges. The report... Source: personaldata.ge

Tbilisi. The Human Rights House and its member organizations have released a statement on the screening of violent images in front of minors. "Human Rights House Tbilisi and its member organizations condemn screening the photo-video footage of violence to the underage children. It is absolutely inadmissible to show the photo and video footage of the prison scenes on torture and other cruelties to the adults of the age from 12 to 18. If their participation is confirmed in the event, it can be qualified as violence against children", the statement says. For the full text... Source: humanrights.ge

Adjara. CSO "Women's Initiatives Supporting Group" has presented study results on March 17 in the Batumi Civic Engagement Center. According to the organization's members, LGBT community members are oppressed on a daily basis, at work as well as outside of it. Homophobic attitude is a key problem. For this very reason, a victim is not inclined towards disclosing information about him/her. At the workshop, the organization's members have discussed these issues together with invited guests. The study...