Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) has once again commented on the residence on the Atoneli Street by releasing another publication: ''Fate of the Atoneli Residence Still Unknown''. ''... Given a high public interest, this time IDFI has requested the copies of correspondence about the residence on the Atoneli Street between the Government's Administration and the administration of the National Security Council. ...''. Read more... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International – Georgia has released a new blog post: "The Ministry of Health should justify the selection of Global Alliance for implementing the reform". According to the organization, this spring the Government of Georgia has decided to make essential corrections to the Universal Health Care Program. "To this end, the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Welfare of Georgia has ... executed a simple state procurement contract with the British company Global Alliance ... on April 7 ...". Based on official information obtained by Transparency International – Georgia, "it is impossible to say that this company possesses sufficient experience and expertise to duly plan and implement a comprehensive reform of the Georgian healthcare system". Read more... Source: transparency.ge

Tbliisi. Eurasia Partnership Foundation held a public forum on Budget Transparency and Civil Society Oversight of Public Spending in Georgia on Friday, July 31 at Courtyard Marriott Hotel, Tbilisi. The forum aimed to contribute to improved budget transparency and accountability in Georgia by fostering dialogue between representatives of civil society and relevant public authorities. The CSO Platform on Budget Transparency, created earlier at the initiative of Eurasia Partnership Foundation, presented its mission and activities. The Platform remains open to all interested organizations that work in the sphere of budget transparency and public expenditure monitoring and wish to facilitate establishing a coherent civil society oversight system. For more information... Source: www.epfound.ge

Tbilisi. CSO "Young Barristers" has finished studying obtained information on the salaries, bonuses and supplements, business trip and accommodation expenses of former high officials of Georgia currently serving for the Government of Ukraine. Based on collected information, "the Ukrainian authorities are not aware who covers, in addition to their salaries, the living costs of former Georgian high officials appointed in the Ukrainian Government. MikheilSaakashvili's salary is 5644 Ukrainian Hryvnas, which in the Georgian national currency equals around 578 GEL", the statement says. Read more... Source: barristers.ge

Tbilisi. The ''Coalition for Equality'' has released a monitoring report on July 29 on the enforcement of anti-discrimination law during one year. The report describes measures taken to improve anti-discrimination legislation and for its due implementation from May 2014 until 1 April 2015. ''Chapters in the report describe cases administered by member organizations of the Coalition, achievements and challenges identified by the Public Defender in application of the Law ''on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination'', procedural characteristics of implementation of anti-discrimination legislation by the judicial authorities, and administration of cases in other administrative agencies. Final section of the report offers recommendations to assist state structures in improving the anti-discrimination measures'', the statement says. The report... Source: www.osgf.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International – Georgia'' has released a policy paper: ''Protection of Whistle-Blowers – International Practice and Recommendations for Georgia''. The paper includes a list of recommendations, ''implementation of which should fill the key gaps of the protection system of whistle-blowers in Georgia, and bring it closer to best international practices''. Read more... Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On July 28, the ''Georgian Democratic Initiative'' (GDI) has presented in the office of the ''Open Society - Georgia'' Foundation the report on performance of Chapters I and II of the Human Rights Action Plan. The report has evaluated in quantitative and qualitative respect the activities of responsible agencies for the period from July 2014 until December 2014. Monitoring carried out by the organization has identified positive as well as negative aspects of the Action Plan implementation process. The report... Source: gdi.ge

Tbilisi. A special report on violence against women and domestic violence in Georgia was posted on the Public Defender's web page. It includes the results of monitoring and research carried out by the Public Defender's administration in 2014 on the state services and mechanisms addressing the issues of violence against women and domestic violence. Read more... Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) has requested information from the ministries and the State Minister administrations about expenses borne for the so-called roaming services for officials, uploaded by the organization on opendata.ge. Read more... Source: opendata.ge

Tbilisi. The Gender Equality Department of the Administration of the Public Defender of Georgia has monitored on July 10-11 the institution (shelter) providing services to the trafficking victims. Shelters in Tbilisi and Batumi were inspected and pros and cons of provided services were identified. Read more... Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. ''ISFED'' has interviewed 33 families left homeless as a result of natural disaster and evaluated the efficiency of assistance process rendered by the state. The organization continues monitoring and will provide the results in the next reports. Read more... Source: www.isfed.ge

Tbilisi. The Association of Young Financiers and Businessmen has held a briefing over the National Bank issue. The organization's representatives have focused on the volume of refinancing loans. "...Sharp rise in the volume of refinancing, as well as continuous and daily loans last week from 855 million GEL to 1,120 billion GEL has negatively affected the GEL rate and GEL has devaluated by several items...", the organization's web page in the social network states. Read more... Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. Jumpstart Georgia has released a new visualization: "Mission to Accomplish – Visa-Free Europe for Georgia". "In 2010, Georgia signed the Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreement with the European Union. On 25 February 2013, Georgia officially received the Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP), which consists of two phases: improving Georgian legislation and then implementing the legislation. On 8 May 2015, the European Commission published its third report on the implementation of the action plan which indicated that 7 out of the 15 requirements were fully met"... Visualization... Source: feradi.info

Tbilisi. Institute For Development Of Freedom Of Information (IDFI) published a new report on the topic: "Problems of the Cancelled Governmental Contest Broadband Internet to Every Citizen and Recommendations". "The research conducted by IDFI is about the general and current issues of the contest announced by the government of Georgia within the scopes of the special program, broadband internet cover in Georgia in order to increase indicator of Internet Concentration. Out of submitted proposals, none of them fulfilled the established conditions. The Ministry of Economic and Sustainable Development of Georgia and the LEPL "Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency” (GITA) work on modification of these conditions and opening of this contest", the research says.  For the full information... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International – Georgia has released another blog: ''Over million GEL for the ads of ministries''. TI has obtained information on advertising expenses of the ministries from the state agencies and online state procurements platform. ''The ministries and legal entities of public law subordinate to them have spent over million GEL in January-May 2015 on the development of advertising videos and airing them on various televisions. Total of 199,521 GEL were spent on the development of advertising videos, while 902,559 GEL - on airing them'', the publication states. Read more... Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International – Georgia has released a video: "How to Find Normative Acts?", which describes how an interested person should find laws and other normative acts from the web pages of public agencies. Read more... Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International – Georgia has released a new blog: "Who will receive the Anaklia Port construction permit?". According to the organization, "... at first stage 12 companies have expressed interest in the construction of the Anaklia deep water port, out of which 7 companies were selected by the decision of the governmental commission. ... Under the governmental commission's May 2015 decision, two out of 7 contenders were granted an opportunity to submit final proposals."... Transparency International – Georgia expressed interest in the managements of two groups of companies that made to the last stage of contest and published in the blog information on them obtained from various sources. Read more... Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association has released a study on Sakdrisi-Kachaghiani. The organization believes the developments around Sakdrisi-Kachaghiani in 2013-2015 must be definitely objectively investigated by the law-enforcement authorities. The study... Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) presented the assessment of the work of the Georgian Parliament in 2014. The report analyses the activities of the Georgian state legislature in 2014 such as important events, legislative amendments, work of the committees, activities of individual parliamentarians and findings of public opinion polls on work of the legislature.  ''TI Georgia has formulated recommendations in the report based on the research findings. These recommendations predominantly address the improvement of the legislative process, strengthening functions of parliamentary oversight and boosting civic engagement in parliamentary activities, as well as raising accountability of MPs''. For the full information... Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International – Georgia has released the report: ''State Procurements in 2013-2014: How and for What is the Budget Spent''.  ''The radical public procurement reforms in the last five years have made the Georgian system one of the most transparent in the world. TI Georgia and a number of international organizations have praised the system. Nonetheless, a public procurement system’s openness and transparency does not always mean that the system will successfully save resources or ensure an appropriate level of competition. The present report highlights trends in public procurement between 2013 and 2014 in connection to the above noted problems. It also presents solutions to the noted problems''. For the full text... Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has requested public information from the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection. The Institute's statement based on this information says that "during this period (2014-2015), total funding issued by the Ministry has constituted 7 410 636.54 GEL". For the full text... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Young Lawyers' Association has released comments on draft amendments to the Local Self-Government Code and the accompanying statutory acts. For the full text... Source: gyla.ge