Tbilisi. Georgian civil society organizations have issued a joint assessment of the work of the State Constitutional Commission of Georgia.  The document reflects the views of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), Transparency International – Georgia, and the Open Society Georgia – Foundation (OSGF).  These four organizations were members of the State Constitutional Commission of Georgia and together were represented in all four working groups of the Commission.   ''The purpose of the joint assessment is to provide the Venice Commission with a comprehensive overview of the working process of the Constitutional Commission together with the CSO opinions on some of the most crucial amendments introduced by the draft of the constitution.  Namely, these are the electoral system of the Parliament, election of the president and the definition of marriage in the constitution'', is noted in the joint statement.  In full… Source: www.isfed.ge

Tbilisi. Today, a general public discussion of the Constitution has started in Kutaisi. ''The Organizational Commission plans to conduct on-site sessions during 11 days. The general discussion of constitutional amendments will end on May 15 in Tbilisi. Any interested citizen, who has no opportunity to attend the general public discussion of the Constitution, can express his/her position or opinion regarding the uploaded bill on amendments to the Constitution on the website of the Parliament of Georgia'' – is stated on the website of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information in a social network. Read more... Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. On May 2, 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia held a conference, the topic of which was: ''3 years from the enactment of the anti-discrimination law: achievements, challenges and future prospects''. ''At the opening of the conference, the Public Defender said that the adoption of the anti-discrimination law was an effective step forward in protecting human rights, namely the right to equality. According to him, a significant achievement is that the law applies to both public and private individuals and prohibits discrimination on all grounds in all fields of public life'', is noted in the statement. In full… Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Permanent Parliamentary Council on Open and Transparent Governance and its Consultative Group approved Georgia’s 2017-2018 Parliamentary Openness Action Plan. "The Plan was elaborated within the framework of the project Strengthening the System of Parliamentary Democracy in Georgia, which is implemented by IDFI with the support from the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The document aims to increase the transparency of the Parliament and citizen engagement in its work. The plan includes 28 commitments derived from five core principles of the Open Government Partnership - citizen engagement, access to information, technology, innovation, accountability and transparency of the Parliament. The Parliament must fulfil these commitments by the end of 2018. Photos by David Khizhanishvili European Union in Georgia UNDP Georgia The Parliament of Georgia”, is noted in the statement. In full... Source: The organization’s web-page in a social page

Tbilisi. The 2017-2020 Strategy and 2017-2018 Action Plan for Increasing Transparency and Integrity at the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure was adopted by Decree №69/o of the Minister. ''These policy documents were created by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) within the framework of the project Developing a Transparency and Integrity Framework for the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia with active cooperation with the Ministry. The aim of the project was to develop institutional capacity of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure in areas of good governance. In particular, the project aimed to improve transparency, integrity and accountability mechanisms in the Ministry and its subordinate agencies'', is noted in the statement. In full… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary responds to an "Initiative to restrict freedom of expression in order to protect credibility of court”. "On this background, initiatives, presented in the name of protecting independence of court, which, in fact, aim at restricting this possibility, carry a tangible and real threat of keeping a critical part of the society in a forced silence, thus not resolving, but further deepening existing problems” – is noted in the statement. Read more... Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. The Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia, within the framework of a grant of the ''Open Society Georgia Foundation'', implemented a project – ''Elections and Public Finance Management''. The purpose of the project was to study a public finances management system and a process of ensuring restrictions during a pre-election period within those legal entities of public law that are not financed through state, autonomous or municipal budgets. Read more... Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. On April 22, the Constitutional Commission voted and approved a project on constitutional amendments. IDFI considers that the adopted project, along with certain positive innovations, contains a number of significant shortcomings as well. ''The project simplifies a procedure for declaring mistrust to the government, which is equally important for the parliamentary republic'' – is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. ''Coalition for Equality'' publishes a report: ''Implementation of the right to protection against discrimination for various groups in Georgia''. ''The document describes situation in terms of rights of different discriminated, marginalized and vulnerable social groups separately and evaluates main trends and shortcomings of a policy pursued in this regard by the state in 2016'' – is noted in the statement. Reade more... Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association evaluates a process of selecting property declarations that have to be checked by the Civil Service Bureau. The organization publishes a list of those officials, whose property declarations will be checked during 2017. Read more... Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Police represents one of the most important systems for the exercise of powers by the government. ''The main functions of the police are safeguarding of public safety and protection of civil order. The law enforcement agencies are given broad authority by legislation to fulfil those functions, which creates the risk of misuse of power. To ensure public trust in law enforcement agencies, the police must systematically demonstrate respect for the rights of persons, rule of law, and application of the principle of political neutrality. Moreover, police should be open to oversight over its activities'', is noted in the statement. In full… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On April 18, the Media Development Foundation made a presentation of the report on ''Anti-Western propaganda 2016'' at the Information Center on NATO and EU. The report has been prepared by the Media Development Foundation within the framework of the ''Promoting Integration, Tolerance and Awareness (PITA) Program'', which is implemented by the United Nations Association of Georgia (UNAG) through the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Read more… Source: mdfgeorgia.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International - Georgia'' periodically publishes information regarding the amount of labor remuneration, frequency of paying supplements and bonuses and, in general, administrative costs of employees at public institutions. ''The practice, studied by ''Transparency International – Georgia'', shows that the above-mentioned decrees of the Government have failed to provide a solution of the problem - new regulations have encouraged replacement of bonuses with salary supplements. One of the main reasons of this is the fact that mentioned regulations contain a number of shortcomings, which has been emphasized by the organization several times'' – is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International – Georgia'' analyzed incomes, received through advertising that TV Companies declared, and conducted interviews with representatives of major TV Companies. ''The advertising market appeared to be quite sensitive to advertising regulations, which entailed change in duration of advertising and increase of an interval between commercial breaks, as well. Also, according to the opinion of representatives of televisions, new rules for sponsorship and placement of a product are not flexible and clear, which ultimately hinders effective work'' – is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International - Georgia enquired how mechanisms of citizen participation in Samegrelo Zemo-Svaneti municipalities work. The organization requested the data on separate mechanisms from the municipalities... Read more... Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International – Georgia'' responds to the decision of the Tbilisi City Court of February 10, 2017, according to which the ''Philip Morris'' company has been charged with up to GEL 93 million to be paid in favor of JSC ''Tbilisi Tobacco''. The organization considers that ''the court decision… raises questions''. Read more... Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International – Georgia publishes recommendations in regard to the 2017-2018 Action Plan of the Open Parliament of Georgia. The recommendations relate to such issues as enhancing parliamentary control, increasing transparency of activities and expenditures of the Parliament, ensuring awareness of citizens. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International - Georgia continues a series of video-instructions, which retells about useful online resources. ''The State Audit Office has launched a new website. It is easy to obtain information regarding state finances through the website. Our video instruction briefly describes how to utilize this resource'' – is stated on the website of the organization. In full... Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. On March 21, IDFI and the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure held a discussion of the Ministry’s draft Strategy and Action Plan of Transparency and Integrity. ''The main aim of the event was to present and gather feedback from non-governmental and international organizations on the draft document. … The first version of the strategy includes 4 priority areas: 1. improving existing mechanisms of ethics and integrity, 2. increasing transparency and public participation, 3. improving the human resources management system, and 4. improving the system of planning, monitoring and internal financial control'', is noted in the statement. In full… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Today, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association made a presentation of a study – ''28 times more costly confiscated property''. ''The study is in regard to legal side of properties, seized by the Tbilisi municipality from Zviad Nazgaidze on the basis of urgent public necessity and transferred to him through direct sale for a symbolic price. GYLA considers it important that law enforcement agencies get interested into the issue of how the seizure of a property from Zviad Nazgaidze and transfer of another property to him through direct sale for a symbolic price comply with law, because these facts might contain signs of a crime committed by relevant public servants of the municipality'' – is stated on the website of the organization. In full... Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Civil Society Institute (CSI), by order of a Czech organization "People in Need” (PIN), conducted a study regarding access to social services in Tkibuli, Gori, Zugdidi and Khobi. ''The purpose of the study was to make an expert analysis on challenges existing in the social sector on both central and regional levels. What were the results of the study and what recommendations do the authors of the study give to the government?'' – is stated on the website of Radio Liberty. In full... Source: www.radiotavisupleba.ge