Tbilisi. On March 14, 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia addressed the Government of Georgia with regard to the availability of safe and harmless water for minors, protection of sanitary and hygienic standards and creation of a monitoring mechanism. ''The situation of access to safe and harmless water in children’s institutions, communities and regions, as well as protection of sanitary and hygienic conditions do not comply with national and international standards and are contrary to the basic principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The problem is especially acute in the mountainous regions and villages'', is noted in the statement. In full… Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. From July 2016 Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) has been implementing the project - Increasing Access to Court Decisions in Georgia. ''Bellow we present an academic paper prepared by Mr. Mendel, which discusses the ways of balancing the interests of freedom of information and privacy. The document is based on the challenges faced by Georgia in regards with access to court decisions, which has become subject of active international discussion as a result of the activities conducted by IDFI'' – is stated on the website of the organization. In full... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organizations respond to conducting de facto parliamentary elections in occupied Abkhazia. ''We, representatives of civil society of Georgia, express our concern in regard to conducting parliamentary elections planned on March 12 in occupied Abkhazia and consider that these elections are illegal, while their results can not bring significant changes into legitimate political environment on both local and international levels'' – is stated on the website of the organization. In full... Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International – Georgia'' presents a report, which contains an evaluation of funding issues related to the election campaign for the 2016 parliamentary elections. The reporting period covers a time frame between June 8 and November 16, 2016. See the findings of the study.. Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) as the member of the Open Parliament Georgia Working Group and the Chair of the Permanent Parliamentary Council on Open and Transparent Governance is actively involved in the process of elaboration of the Open Parliament Georgia 2017-2018 Action Plan. In February 2017, the Institute presented the recommendations on elaboration of the Open Parliament Georgia 2017-2018 Action Plan to the Parliament of Georgia. ''IDFI believes that inclusion of the aforementioned recommendations in the Open Parliament Georgia 2017-2018 Action Plan will increase involvement of the citizens in lawmaking processes, transparency of the legislative authorities and the citizens’ trust in them'', is noted in the statement. In full… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes an analysis of crimes committed against Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2016. ''According to the data of the last year, aggression usually takes place in a public space and Jehovah's Witnesses are assaulted during their preaching in the street. Quantitatively cases of invasion into homes of members of the community and damage of a private property (2 cases) have been decreased, however a similar problem still exists'' – is stated on the website of the organization. In full... Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International – Georgia'' periodically publishes information about remunerations, bonuses and salary supplements issued by administrations of State Representatives - Governors in 2016. The information also regards to charges incurred by administrations for telephone communication, business trips and purchasing fuel. ''In 2016, compared with 2015, the amount of bonuses and salary supplements issued by administrations of State Representatives - Governors is increased'' – is stated on the website of the organization. In full… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. 29 non-governmental organizations appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in regard to the ''Rustavi 2'' case. ''The organizations consider that so long as hearings at national level were accompanied by a number of circumstances, which questioned impartiality of court in this case and also invoked interest of the government in the outcome of the case, it is important that the European Court of Human Rights reviews the appeal of the TV Company, while until the final decision is made on the case, uses the temporary suspension mechanism'' – is noted in the joint statement. In full… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International – Georgia publishes a study: "Participation of Samegrelo municipality officials and majoritarian deputies in commercial activities”. ''Despite the fact that there is an obvious violation of law, the legislation of Georgia does not envisage effective mechanisms for responding to similar cases. Neither the Civil Service Bureau and nor any other agency has the responsibility to verify declarations filled by officials, to make correction or to impose sanctions in case of necessity'' – is stated on the website of the organization. In full... Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Supreme Court of Georgia declared the appeal of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (MOESD) against the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) inadmissible. "The Ministry argued that the decision of Tbilisi City Court, according to which the appeal of IDFI was fully granted and the entity was directed to disclose information on different administrative expenses of 2014, such as bonuses and salary supplements, business trip and roaming expenses, simplified procurements and etc. was in conflict with existing legislation. IDFI referred to MOESD with a freedom of information (FOI) request on March 3, 2015, however, even after two years the Ministry has still not provided us with the information”, is noted in the statement. In full… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International – Georgia publishes a blog post: "Former members of the Supreme Council of Adjara on new positions”. "It is important that questions related to appropriateness of various HR decisions do not arise within the society, furthermore, the former deputy status does not have to be a guarantee for getting positions at public institutions” – is noted in the statement of the organization. In full… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. "Transparency International – Georgia” conducted a study to determine how transparently the representative and executive bodies of municipalities of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara work; how much the population is able to observe their activities. "The representative and executive bodies of municipalities often ignore the principle of access to information, which significantly determines the degree of transparency...” – is stated on the website of the organization. In full… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International – Georgia publishes a blog post "Business interests of deputies of the fourth convocation of the Adjara Supreme Council”. "Companies, related to several members of the Council, were actively participating in state procurement, announced by local self-government bodies and other procuring organizations” – is stated on the website of the organization. In full… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes an infographic: "Real estate registered under the ownership of the patriarchate”. "Total area of plots of land registered under the ownership of the patriarchate constitutes 16,742,987.82 square meters”. In full… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) publishes proposals related to the Action Plan of the Open Parliament of Georgia (2017-2018). "It should be noted that out of 18 commitments, taken through the first Action Plan (2015-2016) developed by the Parliament of Georgia, 4 commitments have been fulfilled completely, 7 commitment have been fulfilled partially, while 7 commitments have not been fulfilled at all” – is stated on the website of GYLA. In full… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) responds to statements made in regard to the Archpriest Mamaladze case. "The content of mentioned statements gives an impression that the fact of committing the crime and participation of the accused in it represent already confirmed and true facts, while investigation of the case is not over yet, and the court - the only institution in Georgia, which has a legitimate authority, given by law, to declare a person guilty - has not started the proceedings yet” – is noted in the statement of the organization. In full… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Georgia is the member of GRECO from September, 1999. During its 17 years of membership Georgia underwent four evaluation rounds. The last evaluation round was launched in 2012.  ''The GRECO evaluation team (GET), in the scope of fourth round of evaluation, conducted on-site visit to Georgia in June, 2016. The evaluation report was adopted in December, 2016 and become publicly available in January, 2017. Number of reforms and achievements in the area of fighting against corruption is underlined in the report. Special emphasis is given to the reforms within judiciary and prosecution service, supported by the Council of Europe, other international and national partners. The successful trends are considered in line with the Georgia’s improving indexes in the international surveys, such as TI corruption perception index and Global Corruption Barometer and World Bank governance indicators'', is noted in the statement.  In full... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. On February 9, 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia presented a special report to the public, which combines analysis of the practice and recommendations concerning the Law of Georgia on Occupied Territories. ''The report reviews issues, such as, arrival in the occupied territories, economic activity, documents issued by the de facto authorities, the gaps and obstacles in practice and in the Law on Occupied Territories in terms of protection of human rights. The report also provides solutions to the mentioned gaps and obstacles'', is noted in the statement.  In full... Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes a blog post: ''How transparent and informative are web sites of municipalities in Samegrelo – Zemo Svaneti?''. ''Local self-government authorities in Samegrelo – Zemo Svaneti do not use effectively an internet as a mean for communication with the society, business sector and the media. For democratic society e-governance is one of the important principles, which automatically increases transparency of activities of public institutions and promotes participation of citizens into activities of local self-government authorities'' – is stated on the website of the organization. In full... Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On January 18, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association submitted an application to the Ministry of Energy. In response to the application of GYLA, the ministry stated: ''The requested information and documents are not kept at the Ministry, respectively the Ministry is unable to satisfy your request''. ''The action of the Ministry makes the real basis of considering the agreement with Gazprom confidential even more obscure. This reinforces suspicion that the Ministry attempts to refrain from giving out information, the obligation of releasing of which is granted to it by legislation'' – is noted in the statement of GYLA. In full… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. In the 2016 survey of the ''Corruption Perceptions Index'', published by the secretariat of ''Transparency International'', Georgia has 57 points and ranks 44th place among 176 countries. ''Compared to last year, improvement of the index of Georgia, in terms of corruption perceptions, indicates certain (although small) advancement in the country. However, the fact of slight change of the index of Georgia in the years of 2012-2016 is an indicator of absence of a significant progress in the country in terms of the anti-corruption policy'' – is stated on the website of the organization. In full... Source:www.transparency.ge