Tbilisi. Vakhushti Menabde, GYLA Democratic Institutions Support Program Director, Ilia State University Associate Professor, publishes his response to the ruling party. “The Georgian Dream analyzed interim reports on the 2021 self-government elections prepared by observer organizations, including GYLA. Findings of the analysis were presented to the public on Friday. We always review comments made in regard to our documents attentively, which allows us to improve them. We do not think that criticism is a one-way street and no one can respond to us or point out mistakes. On the contrary, we are always ready to listen. Therefore, I have read this analysis with great care. And now I would like to discuss it with you. Needless to say, I do not intend to speak on behalf of other observer organizations, so I will focus only on the report of GYLA”, - writes the author. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. On July 1, 2021, the bill initiated by the members of the Parliament of Georgia was registered. The bill aims to enforce the Judgement of the Constitutional Court of Georgia N1/4/693,857 of June 7, 2019. Notably, the Parliament was obligated to enforce the decision till May 1, 2020.  ‘The judgment of the Constitutional Court has established extremely important constitutional standards for the transparency of the judiciary, although it has not yet been implemented by the Parliament. The implementation of these standards is the direct constitutional obligation of the parliament. In addition, it is part of the so-called Charles Michel Agreement. It should be noted that the registration of the bill was preceded by the workshop of June 16, 2021, organized by IDFI in Borjomi, which was attended by the Legal Issues Committee of the Parliament’, - It is written in the information spread by IDFI.  Read more…   Source: The webpage of the organization

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Tbilisi. Social Justice Center considers that results of the selection of a private law firm at the Ministry of Justice to re-evaluate the Namakhvani agreement eventually confirmed the unreliability of this government-initiated process. “Risks, which, according to our assessment, accompanied unlawful and non-transparent selection of a law firm through simplified procurement have turned to be true”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization, - “More specifically, the local consultant of “CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP”, the selected international law firm, is going to be MKD, a law firm closely associated with the name of Tamar Tkeshelashvili, current First Deputy Minister of Justice, which fact does not serve the basis for trust in an impartial and independent evaluation. The evaluation itself will be carried out in accordance with standards of FIDIC (“International Federation of Consulting Engineers”), which means evaluation based on legal relationship regulating standards that are completely different from the Namakhvani agreement and does not meet the initial need or purpose of the evaluation”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

The web portal CsoGeorgia.org releases a weekly newsletter of grants competition, contests, vacancies, fellowships, and tenders for civil society organizations, and for any interested person. Newsletter...

Tbilisi. IDFI has issued a statement regarding the change in the rules for electing the Prosecutor General. ‘On September 7, 2021, the Parliament of Georgia passed the constitutional amendments in the first reading, with 126 MPs voting in favor. Unfortunately, the issue of appointing a Prosecutor General by a qualified majority was dismissed from the draft constitutional law, which would reduce the risk of only one party appointing her/him in the future and would be a step forward in strengthening the Office's independence and neutrality. According to the current legislation, the Prosecutor General is elected by the majority of the total number of the Members of the Parliament upon nomination by the Prosecutorial Council’, - is mentioned in the statement. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association responds to legislative changes adopted by the Parliament. “Election of Prosecutor General by a qualified majority is part of the agreement, which was signed between the Government and the opposition on April 19 through the mediation of Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and unilaterally announced annulled by the ruling party just a while ago”, - is noted in the statement released by GYLA, - “GYLA supported the replacement of the simple majority, required for the election of Prosecutor General, with a qualified majority. This would greatly increase the chance to fill the position with a person who would enjoy broad political consensus as well as high public confidence. Besides, there would emerge a new procedure, oriented on sharing power and responsibility, in the constitution of the country. Unfortunately, the ruling team has rejected this change, which is dictated by the desire to retain political control over the justice system”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center calls on the Parliament of Georgia to resume discussions on systemic reform of the Prosecutor’s Office and the judiciary in general and to take into account assessments and recommendations of civil society organizations and international partners in this process. “Removal of issues related to election of Prosecutor General from the draft constitutional law once again indicates that the ruling power does not intend to reduce its political influence over law enforcement and judicial systems. This decision lowers the prospect of democratization and political neutrality of the Prosecutor’s Office”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia is concerned about the intention of the Georgian Dream to adopt constitutional amendments without modifying the rule for electing Prosecutor General. “By rejecting progressive changes and keeping existing modalities in force, Georgian Dream attempts to retain full control over the justice system”, - they consider at the organization, - “One of the main challenges for Georgian democracy and political stability remains depoliticization of both the prosecutor’s office and the judiciary institutes, as well as the liberation of these agencies from partisan influence. Decision-making by a qualified majority in the Parliament will facilitate the election of Prosecutor General free from political influences, having public confidence and a high professional reputation. The election of Prosecutor General by a qualified majority is also recommended by the Venice Commission. Respectively, failure in the adoption of constitutional amendments will further hamper democratic processes in the country, which fact is going to be the responsibility of the ruling political force”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

EaP is now collecting information on civil society needs in the Eastern Partnership countries to better adapt to the opportunities we will be offering in the coming years... The results obtained will help the organization to better identify future offers. For this, CSOs and civil society activists are offered to complete a special questionnaire. ‘By completing our survey below, you will help us better understand what you need in your civil society organization or as civil society activists from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, or Ukraine. You will help us better tailor our activities and the opportunities we will be offering you in the coming three and a half years', - is mentioned in the information on the Eap’s webpage. You can fill in the survey in either English or Russian. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. With the active participation of IDFI and financial support of USAID GGI, Tbilisi City Hall elaborated and approved the concept of an open data portal, based on which the portal will be launched. Along with the concept, a detailed technical description of the portal was prepared. The launch of an open data portal is one of the key commitments of the Tbilisi City Hall Open Government Partnership (OGP) action plan. Implementation of this commitment will increase Tbilisi City Hall’s transparency and accountability. Once the Open Data portal is set up, the datasets available on the portal will be available for all, including businesses, media, academia, and any interested individual. By making open data available, Tbilisi City Hall will promote the creation of innovative, citizen-centric services. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Georgian National Platform (Georgian National Platform) is concerned about the inconsistent policy of the Government of Georgia. “We consider it unacceptable that the Government of Georgia takes steps, which are politically dangerous, tailored to interests of the Government, as well as harmful to the state, and, at the same time, contradict the Euro-Atlantic perspective of Georgia. Moreover, taking into account the fact that threats posed by the Russian Federation on the background of recent developments in the region are alarming. We closely monitor the significant negative impact of both hard and soft power of the Russian Federation on the society of Georgia and consider that the only solution is the Euro-Atlantic choice along with the path leading to it through reforms, which bring goodness to citizens of the country. We assume that the European Union should further facilitate strengthening the civil society sector, though in the circumstances when the Government of Georgia demonstrates certain inconsistency in conjunction with Euro-Atlantic integration”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: hrc.ge

Tbilisi. A civil platform “No-Phobia!” responds to the September 3, 2021 statement of Irakli Garibashvili, the Prime Minister of Georgia, with extreme concern.  “As Irakli Garibashvili stated, “Pride March”, scheduled for July 5, 2021, was not a form of realization of the right of LGBTQ + community members to assembly and manifestation, rather it was a provocation planned by the National Movement, a well-organized insidious conspiracy applied against the statehood of Georgia. It should also be noted that the Prime Minister of Georgia appraises actions of violent groups negatively only in the context of aggression waged against journalists, whereas he does not consider it inconsistent with the liberal-democratic state that representatives of the LGBTQ + community could not enjoy their right to freedom of assembly and manifestation, while the state did not ensure their safety within the frameworks of a positive obligation imposed on it by the Constitution. Besides, in the run-up to the local elections and on the background of strong homophobic attitudes existing within certain layers of society, the statement of the Prime Minister contains elements of populism that are incompatible with Western values, which fact turns homophobic attitudes into a tool of political struggle”, - is noted in the statement released by the platform.  Read more…  Source:gdi.ge

Tbilisi. City Hall and the Architecture Service unlawfully classify documentation of the central park to be built on the territory of the former Hippodrome. “The Tbilisi City Hall and the Architecture Service do not publicize documentation related to the construction of the park on the territory of the former Hippodrome, which fact further deepens doubts about the unlawfulness of the project and its incompatibility with public interests of the City. Information requested by us is public information in accordance with law and it is the responsibility of the state to provide access to it. Social Justice Center applies to the court to claim against the Tbilisi City Hall and the Architecture Service on the grounds of non-disclosure of public information”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

The web portal CsoGeorgia.org releases a weekly newsletter of grants competition, contests, vacancies, fellowships, and tenders for civil society organizations, and for any interested person. Newsletter...

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center is extremely critical of a demonstrative action of the Government to avoid fulfillment of its international commitments and considers that these decisions are essentially detrimental to democratic development and European integration processes of the country. “Decisions that have been taken by the Government during last weeks and are related to withdrawal from the April 19, 2021 agreement reached with the active moderation and support of the European Union and other international partners, failure in the reform of the judicial system and politically motivated refusal of the preferential EU macro-financial assistance, contain extremely disturbing signs of geopolitical isolation and formalization of an undemocratic governance of the country”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations operating in Georgia respond to the statement made by the Prime Minister regarding the reception of the EU assistance. “The signatory organizations express their concern over the statement of the Prime Minister of Georgia, according to which the Government “refrains” from receiving the 75 million assistance from the EU. This is an unequivocal refusal to implement reforms in the judicial sector and an open declaration of deviation of Georgia from the Euro-Atlantic course”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: osgf.ge

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Tbilisi. The web portal of civil society organizations' - www.csogeorgia.org – conveys feelings of gratitude to its users and says them goodbye. The portal will resume its activities in September. Stay in touch with us, we will be back soon…

The web portal CsoGeorgia.org releases a weekly newsletter of grants competition, contests, vacancies, fellowships, and tenders for civil society organizations, and for any interested person. Newsletter...

Tbilisi. On August 6, Education Development and Employment Center was held an online meeting with regional hubs within the “Civil Society STAR Initiative: CSOs as Sustainable, Transparent, Accountable and Resilient Development Actors in Georgia” project. The meeting aimed to introduce and discuss the planned activities for the establishment and development of the Youth Councils. Learn more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Samtskhe-Javakheti. Civil society organizations working in Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli address the Government of Georgia in regard to the vaccination process. According to the organizations, residents of regions populated by ethnic minorities (Samtskhe-Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli) are especially skeptical about vaccination and turn to be influenced by Russian propaganda. They do not intend to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Even if informed and convinced, residents have a lot of other barriers: they do not speak the state language, which fact makes it difficult for them to register on a Georgian-language portal, even hotline operators speak to them only in the Georgian language. “We, as the civil society organizations working for years in a region densely populated by ethnic minorities, consider those ethnic minorities living in Georgia should have an opportunity to register on the vaccination portal and receive information from hotline operators in a language they can understand. We hope the state fulfills its responsibilities towards citizens properly and ensures improved access to the vaccination process for ethnic minorities in the nearest upcoming days”, - is noted in the joint statement. Read more… Source: The website of the Union of Democrat Meskhs on a social network