Samtskhe-Javakheti.At the initiative of one of the members of the Akhaltsikhe Youth Center Viktoria Eghian, another presentation on "Domestic Violence and its Impact on Children" was delivered on September 9 in Akhaltsikhe, in the conference hall of CSO "Union of Democrat Meskhetians".Youngsters interested in the issue have attended the event, which ended with active discussion among the participants.The presentation was developed as part of the project - "Advancing National Integration in Georgia", implemented by the UN Association of Georgia (UNAG) with financial support of the US Agency for International Development.

Tbilisi. Transparency International - Georgia released a statement - "The government must not restrict citizen journalism”. "Transparency International (TI) Georgia would like to express its concern regarding instances of police officers restricting citizens from recording recent publicly performed law enforcement raids. Restrictions are applied without any explanation and include prohibition of recording, erasing of recorded material, and in some cases even detention of citizens", says the statement. For the full text Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The "Study on Religious Discrimination and Constitutional Secularism" was presented on September 8 in the "Frontline Georgia Club".The study includes the analysis of offences committed based on religious discrimination in Georgia, legal framework on freedom of religion and the state practice; further, it reviews the rhetoric of politicians with respect to principles of secularism. The study was carried out by the Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) as part of the "Policy, Advocacy and Civil Society Development in Georgia" Program (G-PAC) of the East-West Management Institute (EWMI), with financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has released a statement on the organization's web page in the social network."Over past days, during the so-called raids, numerous facts of alleged violations of citizens' rights by the police officers have been reported in the media and social networks...", says the organization's web page in the social network. In case of violations, the organization would like to ask the citizens to contact the organization through the social network (Facebook) or by e-mail - pr@isfed.ge. For the full text. Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Media Development Foundation(MDF) expresses concern over an incident that took place at around 01:00 on 7 September, in which "the police prohibited Nata Grdzelishvili, a journalist from Internet-based news agency media.ge, and a person accompanying her, to take photos of stop and search operation being conducted in the street and in this process, detained the latter person".  The MDF calls on the Interior Ministry of Georgia to timely investigate and adequately react to the committed offence. For the full text Source:mdfgeorgia.ge

Tamar  Chugoshvili  was  named one  of  the  jury  members  for  the  prestigious  Dutch Human Rights award "The Tulip”.The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs awards the prize annually to the human rights activist or organization, which finds innovative ways to work on and support human rights. First award was issued in December 2008. For the full text. Source: ginsc.net

Tbilisi. The mobile group of human rights activists of the Tbilisi Human Rights House has met on September 3 with the homeless living on the Moscow Avenue. It got familiar with their problems on the spot and delivered free legal consultations. The visit was organized as part of the new project of the Tbilisi Human Rights House "Human Rights in the Regions", which is implemented with financial support of the Dutch Embassy. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. Together with the partner organization "Partnership for Human Rights", the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association is implementing the EU-funded project "Empowering Women against Labor Discrimination and Overcoming Gender Violence". As part of the project, a web page was set up in the social network and the campaign "What are you up to this evening?" was launched, aimed at identifying the hidden and tabooed issues in cases of gender-based labor discrimination and intimidation. Web page in the social network. Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The "Women's Initiatives Support Group" offers to any interested person free online consultations on the breaches of LGBT human rights. CSO has set up a legal aid page in the social network, where everyone can receive consultations from the organization's lawyer anonymously. Page of online consultations Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. On August 26, Human Rights Center held press-conference about physical assault of a citizen by police officers in the Vake Saburtalo district police unit # 2. "On August 14, about 1:00 am, Giorgi Tsomaia applied to the police unit # 2 located in Vazha-Pshavela Avenue close to his home and asked police officer on duty to return his cell-phone which police had seized from him during previous imprisonment. ...Giorgi Tsomaia clarified that senior police officer at the police unit # 2 called him "greenhorn” and rudely asked why he had applied to the police during night hours. ...the senior police officer took him into the room and about eleven persons (supposedly they were all police officers) ruthlessly beat Tsomaia. Tsomaia said they beat him in the chest, head and belly; they degraded and sputtered him". For the full text Source: humanrights.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Democratic Initiative has disseminated the July newsletter including developments in the field of human rights protection during this period. For the full text. Source: gdi.ge

Tbilisi. HRHT and its member organizations held a demonstration in front of the CoE office in Georgia in support of the HRDs arrested in Azerbaijan and called the CoE and Council of Ministers to take all measures against Azerbaijani government (chairing country of the Committee of Ministers) to stop repression of HRDs. For the full text... Source: HRHT's page in the social network.

Tbilisi.  The Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center has drafted a study -"Implementation guideline for  the UN Convention on the Rights  of  Persons  with Disabilities (UNCRPD) – recommendation concept of amending the legislation and key policy areas". Recommendation concept analyzes the status of rights of persons with disabilities inrespect  of  the  fundamental  rights  defined  under  the  Convention,  identifies legislative framework and key gaps of the state policy and determines potential areas of amendments compliant with the Convention's requirements.The document aims to evaluate the status of rights of persons with disabilities by analyzing the compliance with the Convention and to develop a recommendation concept of introducing the UNCRPD for the legislative and executive authorities. The  study Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia has started to study the case of the death of the prisoner Jido Pirtskheliani in Rustavi penitentiary institution N6, on 17 August, 2014. He will also monitor the course of investigation. "In the view of the Public Defender of Georgia the sole reference to the impermissibility of video surveillance in the toilet contained in the official statement of the Ministry of Corrections does not address the question whether all reasonable measures have been taken. Hence it is necessary to ensure conduct of prompt and thorough investigation. In the meantime, with a view to avoiding any doubts as to the independence and impartiality of the investigation, it is decisive the investigative measures to be carried out directly by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia. As an ultimate goal, both the family and the public at large should receive reliable answers to all questions arisen". For the full text Source: ombudsman.ge

Samegrelo.  The Women's Information Center has held a consultation meeting in Zugdidi together with the UN Women's Organization. The event was organized as part of the project - "Women for Equality, Peace and Development" under the "one-stop-shop" principle.The meeting aimed to discuss problems of the IDP and conflict-struck population residing  in  the  Zugdidi  District  and  resolve  them  on  the  spot.  Beneficiaries themselves have presented and discussed 11 cases.Representatives  of  the  UN Women's  Organization,  Women's  Information  Center,local  authorities,  Social  Service Agency,  the Government  of  Abkhazia  and other relevant agencies have attended the meeting. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi.  Religious  unions  affiliated  in  the  Religious  Council  functioning  with  thePublic Defender have released a statement. "We are concerned over the violence,persecution  and  physical  destruction  of  the  peaceful  Yazidi  population  by  theterrorist groups (ISIS) in Iraq. ... Persecuting people because of a different faith oropinion is totally impermissible. We condemn all  violence and conflicts and warswaged in the name of religion, because we firmly believe religion can be the source of tolerance and peace only", says the statement. For the full text Source: www.tolerantoba.ge

Adjara.  The  Civil  Society  Institute  and  the  Civil  Development  Agency  have organized  a  discussion  on  August  13  in  the  Batumi  Civic  Engagement  Center,concerning the issues that  those interested in going and working in Turkey and Greece must know definitely in order for them to fully protect their rights. Meeting participants have discussed the problems of illegal migration to Turkey and Greece as well, and a documentary was also shown.Youngsters from Batumi in Khulo Adjara. Members of the "Batumi Youth Center" have visited the Khulo Youth Center in connection with the International Youth Day. Short films on youth problems were shown, followed by a discussion.The visit was carried out as part of the project "Advancing National Integration in Georgia",  implemented by  the  UN Association of  Georgia  (UNAG),  with  financial support of the US Agency for International Development. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Tbilisi Human Rights House and its member organizations have released a statement. "We are concerned with unprecedented punitive measures applied by the Azerbaijani authorities against human rights activists and organizations. ... We urge the Council of Europe and members of the Committee of Ministers to undertake relevant measures so that the Azerbaijani authorities respect and observe obligations taken under the ECHR, as well as other international treaties and agreements", says the statement. For the full text Source: article42.ge

Tbilisi. The UN Development Program invites all interested parties to participate in the online survey concerning the minority-related issues in Georgia. The survey. Source: UNDP Georgia

Tbilisi.  CSO "Young Barristers" addresses the Government of Georgia concerningthe implementation process of the Association Agreement with the EU, and urges it"to accelerate the establishment of a supervisory body - Labor Inspection or a new service  equated  to  it,  which  will  be  charged  with  real  powers  of  monitoring,protection and sanctioning." For the full text Source: barristers.ge

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center has published Lela Gvishiani's blog "Protecting the right to labor, as an opportunity for development and self-realization". "Legislation establishes the right of persons with disabilities to be employed at various jobs, but it does not provide legislative guarantees and mechanisms that would have made these norms enforceable and viable. Accordingly, in the absence of other key language, which must be ensuring the efficiency of the law, legislative regulations in effect are of declaratory nature only," says the blog post. For the full text (geo)… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. CSOs have released a joint statement in connection with one of the stories aired on the main news program of the Public Broadcaster's 1st Channel. "... Public Broadcaster is the television of all citizens of Georgia, irrespective of his/her identity. Therefore, it is impermissible that the Broadcaster becomes the source of encouraging discrimination...", says the statement. For the full text (geo)... Source: gdi.ge