Tbilisi. CSOs and citizens have appealed to the Parliament Chairman Davit Usupashvili concerning the developments around the Sakdrisi-Kachaghiani archaeological site. Petition is an open document and can be joined by any interested parties. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. CSOs have released a statement: "On December 12, the Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of Interior of Georgia has detained the Director of the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information, Giorgi Kldiashvili for illegal bearing of arms. ... The detention qualified as illegal by the court, criminal instead of administrative liability, references by the police officers to his civil activism and other violations in the case make us think that inadequate actions of law-enforcers may be linked to G.Kldiashvili's active professional work and involvement in the civil campaign", the statement says. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. CSOs and citizens have appealed to the President and the Prime Minister over recent developments around the Sakdrisi-Kachaghiani mine, "so that the destruction process of the Sakdrisi-Kachaghiani archaeological site is stopped immediately". Appeal to the President. Appeal to the Prime Minister. Source: greenalt.org

Tbilisi. As part of the "Open Platform" project, the Frontline Club has hosted the screening of director Joshua Oppenheimer's film "The Act of Killing", followed by a discussion. The film depicts mass killings occurring in Indonesia in the 1960s. The film has scooped up to forty awards. In 2014 it was the Oscar nominee for the best documentary. Screening-discussion of the film.     Source: web page of Frontline Club in the social network.

Tbilisi. The School of Liberalism has released a video poll with participation of the Tbilisi residents. They were asked about the invitation of Georgian politicians to the Ukrainian Government. The opinion poll.     Source: the School's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. "Transparency International - Georgia" has released an audio podcast of parliamentary news. Topics of the December 15 edition include: draft 2015 state budget of Georgia; Presidential nominees for the vacant positions in the Central Election Commission; legislation regulating secret surveillance. The podcast. Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender’s Office of Georgia is studying the issue of "legitimacy of removal of "Sakdrisi-Kachaghiani Ancient Gold Mine” from the list of the immovable cultural heritage and the issue of realization of the right to life in healthy environment for residents of territory adjacent to the Sakdrisi-Kachaghiani mine". For the full text Source: ombudsman.ge  

Tbilisi. Georgian Young Lawyers' Association released a statement regarding the Renewal of Works at the Sakdrisi-Kachaghiani Site. "The decisions made by the Ministry and the Agency are particularly outrageous since there is still no information on whether the prosecution is conducting the investigation on the fact of damaging Sakdrisi-Kachaghiani as the archaeological site (the facts of damage were properly documented on January 8 and March 13, 2014). Unfortunately, despite a number of efforts of GYLA to obtain  information on whether the investigation has started or not, such an information was not provided". For the full text Source: gyla.ge  

Tbilisi. NGOs address to the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia and the National Agency of the Cultural Protection of Georgia. "On December 12, 2014, the Ministry and the National Agency have issued the decrees, resulting in the renewal of the mining works by the "RMG Gold” in Sakdrisi-Kachaghiani. ...Despite the fact that there is a high public interest towards the above issue, neither the Ministry, nor the Agency have publicized any official information on their web-sites, which would have given the stakeholders a possibility to obtain complete and comprehensive information on the issue". For the full text Source: gyla.ge  

Tbilisi. The School of Liberalism has hosted on December 11 Rusudan Gotsiridze's lecture – "Stereotypes – Judgment Frameworks". The School offers a video recording to those who were unable to attend the lecture. Rusudan Gotsiridze's lecture.     Source: the School's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. In relation to the International Day against Corruption, from 3 to 9 December, "Transparency International – Georgia" has organized an anti-corruption week, during which the organization's new reports were presented and discussions were organized. The Week aimed to present concrete recommendations developed based on the organization's findings, targeted towards increasing the accountability of state institutions and improving the country's anti-corruption policy. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. Journalists and the civil sector representatives have held a rally on December 10 by the Azerbaijani Embassy in support of the arrested journalist, Hadija Ismailova. Source: the Human Rights House.

The East-West Management Institute has presented in Kvemo Kartli and Kakheti the Advancing CSO Capacities and Engaging Society for Sustainability project (ACCESS). The project aims to empower CSOs in Georgia and assist organizations that enjoy support from communities they represent, and to cooperate with the authorities to support even more transparent and accountable governance. ACCESS is a 5-year project with the budget of 5.5 million USD, funded by USAID and implemented by the East-West Management Institute (EWMI).

Tbilisi. "Transparency International - Georgia" has released the audio podcast of parliamentary news. Topics of the December 8 edition are: new methodology for evaluating a socio-economic status of socially unprotected families; beneficial agricultural credits; draft Regulations of the Parliament of Georgia. For the full text transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Georgia held a discussion Internet, as Human Right on Saturday, 6th December, at Multimedia Education Center. Discussion was related to 25th anniversary of World Wide Web (WWW) and International Day of Human Rights, which is celebrated annually on 10th December. The aim of the event was to discuss the main threats for human rights through the internet, in particular: censorship, secret surveillance, copyright, hate speech, etc. For the full text Source: idfi.ge  

Kakheti. The Telavi Civic Engagement Center has organized a discussion on the Women beyond decisions and economic empowerment of women. Meeting participants have discussed women's political participation and lobbying of their issues. The meeting aimed to examine gender aspects of an electoral system in Georgia and the internal party democracy, which do not create competitive environment for candidate women. At the end of the meeting the audience watched the documentary shot by the "TASO" Foundation - "At Home and Backwards", followed by a discussion.

Tbilisi. On December 4, the LibCenter has hosted theologician Beka Mindiashvili's public lecture "Orthodox Theology against Political Orthodoxy". The Center offers a video recording of the lecture for those who were unable to attend.     Source: the Center's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The US Ambassador to Georgia, Richard Norland has met with the Chairwoman of the "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" Nino Lomjaria, the Chairwoman of "Transparency International - Georgia" Eka Gigauri and the Chairman of the "Georgian Young Lawyers' Association" Kakha Kozhoridze on December 5. "During the recent debates in the Parliament over protection from secret surveillance, Georgian CSOs have demonstrated an example of constructive examination of issues to the whole region", the Embassy's page in the social network states. Source: the US Embassy in Georgia.

Tbilisi. CSO "Young Barristers" addresses the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia to add religious studies to the list of optional subjects in the public schools. The organization has already signed the relevant petition, which was sent to the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Tamar Sanikidze on 5 December 2014 on behalf of 42 CSOs. For the full text Source: barristers.ge

Tbilisi. The NATO and EU Information Center has organized a meeting of the State Minister for Integration in the European and Euro-Atlantic Structures with young representatives of partner CSOs. The State Minister has focused on the importance of Georgia's Euro-Atlantic process and the youth participation in it. Discussion evolved also about future partnership and projects planned by CSOs in 2015. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Samegrelo. "Transparency International – Georgia" has held a discussion in Zugdidi over "What should citizen participation be like in the activities of local authorities". The discussion was organized as part of an anti-corruption week, which the organization is arranging from December 3 through 9 in relation to the International Anti-Corruption Day. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information published International Survey of Information Commissioners. "It is substantial to examine research key findings when the new law of Freedom of Information is on the edge of adoption,  along with preparation for establishment of Freedom of Information Commissioner institute in Georgia. Taking into the consideration the presented recommendations and expressed concerns regarding various aspects of FOI, it is essential to foresee all those research findings for further and optimal implementation of law as well as for establishing Commisioner institution, in order to avoid all possible gaps". For the full text Source: idfi.ge