Tbilisi. On July 9, at 13:00, on behalf of the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) and in partnership with International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) there will be conducted a presentation of a report: "Georgia’s Implementation of 20 Eastern Partnership Deliverables for 2020”. Please register here and choose one thematic session Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Signatory organizations express their extreme concern in regard to possible removal of fundamental records from the labor reform at the Parliament of Georgia and send an open letter to international organizations.  “This bill aims at bringing the Georgian Labor Code closer to international human rights standards and best practices. Proposed changes touch upon fundamental rights of workers, however the bill has appeared under attack from private interest and business lobby both formally at the Parliament and informally as it seems. As a result, its adoption is in jeopardy today. There are only a few sessions remaining until the end of the spring session and the risk of the bill being delayed or dropped increases gradually. This fact puts also fulfillment of obligations, committed through the Association Agreement, in doubt”, - is noted in the joint statement.  Read more… Source: gyla.ge

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...

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Tbilisi. The Open Governance Permanent Parliamentary Council held first remote sitting. The meeting was led by the Chairman of the Council, Mr. Kakha Kuchava, who discussed the current activities and future plans of the Council. Giorgi Kakhiani and Nino Tsilosani, members of the Open Government Permanent Parliamentary Council, presented an interim report on the Council's activities for 2020 and summarized the progress of the action plan implementation. The abovementioned remote sitting of the Council was attended by the representatives of NGOs and international organizations as well as the members of the Consultative Group under the Council. It should be mentioned that the Open Governance Permanent Parliamentary Council is implementing its commitments under the OGP Action Plan in cooperation with the Consultative Group. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The undersigned organizations would like to respond to the statement of H.E. Hubert Knirsch, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Georgia, posted on the embassy’s official Facebook page on June 25. The statement was in response to the Georgian NGOs’ critical assessment of Ms. Sopio Kiladze’s nomination for the membership to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Ms. Kiladze is the member of the Parliament of Georgia. We believe that the state-nominated candidate in Georgia vastly lacks personal and professional integrity and is notorious for her openly confrontational attitude to the civil society that is critical of her public statements and work. There have been myriad of well-documented instances of Ms. Kiladze’s verbal abuse of human rights defenders and activists, homophobic and discriminatory public statements, public display of selective approaches to human rights protection, particularly with regard to the LGBTQI community and children. This has been the common practice of the candidate to such an extent that the civil society had to resort to the various forms of open protest on several occasions[i]. Various international and local organizations and the media have reported these facts. We would, therefore, like to underline that the statement made by the NGOs is not an attack of a personal nature, but the candid assessment of the facts that disqualify the nominated candidate from taking the CRC membership. It is not only desirable, but also the duty of the civil society organizations to call out such a lack of integrity, selective application of human rights by the candidate and disregard of the procedures by the nominating state. Read more… Source: phrgeorgia.wordpress.com

Tbilisi. We the Georgian civil society representatives, civic activists and media representatives, would like to draw your attention to the upcoming 2020 parliamentary elections in Georgia and continued attempts of political interest groups and foreign actors to undermine free and equal election environment by using disinformation and Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB) on Facebook, jeopardizing democracy and Georgia’s Western integration. You have once said that in a democracy it is very important that people see for themselves what politicians are saying, so they make their own judgments. However, amid the anonymous, coordinated and sponsored political discrediting campaigns in Georgia, citizens are misled, which takes away their freedom of information and possibility to form political opinions based on their own judgments – which, according to your formula, is no longer a democracy. We believe that Facebook will choose to stand on the side of democracy. We hope that Facebook’s prompt action and genuine cooperation will make it possible to secure the Georgian democracy and integrity of important 2020 parliamentary elections from external and internal interference… Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by the Women’s Foundation, the green/ecological concept building will serve women and human rights, green, feminist activists, non-governmental organizations of women and local women free of charge to organize and conduct business meetings.  “Besides, it will serve as a residence for female artists and writers - a space for privacy and work, where they will be able to live for some time, and take care of the premises and the community garden instead. In order to ensure administration of free services and financial sustainability, the space will be additionally used for commercial purposes”.  Read more… Source: www.womenfundgeorgia.org

On June 25, the Civil Society Institute (CSI) conducted an online consultation - webinar on issues related to taxation of civil society organizations. Representatives of 31 civil society organizations participated in the webinar. The online consultation covered such issues as: taxation and administration, including actual issues entailed by the coronavirus. The online consultation - webinar was carried out within the framework of the “Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” project, which is implemented by the consortium: the Civil Society Institute (CSI), the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), the Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), and the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC) under the supervision of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). The project is financially supported by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

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. Signatory organizations and activists respond to the process of review of the bill on “Rights of Persons with Disabilities” and call on the Parliament of Georgia to ensure full compliance of the package of legislative changes with international obligations and active engagement of the community of people with disabilities in the process of its review.  “We once again reiterate our readiness to cooperate with the Parliament and the Ministry of Justice and participate in working meetings, where we will be given the opportunity to present our opinions and recommendations in regard to the bill in details. Only active communication will allow us to refine the document in such a way as to ensure its full compliance with international standards and to turn the bill into active mechanism for protecting rights of people with disabilities”, - is noted in the statement.  Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations release the statement on the possible election of Sofio Kiladze as a member to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). “We, the undersigned organizations, underline that the state ignored the UN recommended selection procedure when selecting the candidate for the CRC membership and nominated Ms. Sopio Kiladze who does not represent for strong belief and respect for equality and human rights. Ms. Kiladze during her tenure as the Chair of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee has on numerous occasions demonstrated homophobic attitudes and selectiveness in supporting human rights, especially the rights of minority groups. We, the signatory organizations believe that the parties casting their votes should be aware of the civil society position before making a voting decision”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: phrgeorgia.wordpress.com

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...

The Civil Society Institute (CSI) is accepting applications for an online course – “Journalism for social changes”.  In the epoch of modern technologies and various social platforms, each citizen becomes not only a recipient of information, but often a source of information or a facilitator of spread of information.  In order to promote positive and necessary changes, it is essential to know: how to spread information quickly; how to manage informing broader layers of public; how to use modern technologies, platforms for this purpose; how to not become a victim of manipulation; when and how to verify information; how to not become a spreader of disinformation.  Read more…   Source: civilin.org

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations respond to the State Security Service call of Tamta Mikeladze, one of the directors of Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC), for interrogation. “According to the general explanation of SSG, the investigation concerns racial discrimination, as certain individuals attempt to stir up strife between ethnic Georgians and Azerbaijanis in the Kvemo Kartli and Kakheti regions. Starting the investigation by SSG with a vague objective, and, as a result, calling the head of the non-governmental organization for interrogation, may be perceived as an indication and warning to civil activists. This practice is dangerous also due to the fact that most probably SSG will require signing of a Non-Disclosure Agreement, which will make it impossible not only to discuss effectively correctness of the fact of calling the head of the non-governmental organization for interrogation in this context, but also to allow Tamta Mikeladze, a critically important activist in informing society regarding ethnic minority problems, to provide public with alternative information, coming from authorities, freely and unrestrictedly”, - is noted in the joint statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

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...

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. The EU has announced three new projects supporting vulnerable groups cope with the Covid-19 crisis in Georgia. “The EU has stood by Georgia from the very beginning of the crisis and will continue to do so. The projects will support victims of domestic violence, IDPs, and persons with disabilities across Georgia and will be implemented by civil society partners Women’s Information Center, Coalition for Independent Living, and IDP Women Association “Consent“”, is noted in the statement.  Read more… Source: eeas.europa.eu

Tbilisi. IDFI’s 2019 Annual Report includes the information on the achievements of the organization in the following thematic directions: Good Governance, Media, Internet and Innovations, Economic and Social Policy, Memory and Disinformation Studies. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

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. Winners of the competition of bloggers, organized by the Civil Society Institute, have been identified within the framework of the social campaign “This country is yours”. 19 works/blogs were submitted to the competition. The competent jury, consisting of Jimsher Rekhviashvili, Davit Paichadze, Temur Jaliashvili and Nino Samsonidze, identified the best works.  Awards were distributed among the winners as follows:  I place: GEL 1 000 – blog post of Nino Vartapetyan – “Kvabiskhevi...” II place: GEL 700 – blog post of Ana Gvalia - “Role of civic activism and responsibility in country development”   III place: GEL 500 - blog post of Ani Tsintsadze – “This country is mine, yours, ours!”  III place: GEL 500 – blog post of Lana Kapanadze – “This country is yours” The purpose of the competition is to strengthen civil society, establish values of civil society, promote activities of civil society organizations and facilitate civic activism in Georgia. Country development significantly depends on understanding of the role and responsibility by each citizen in this process. The social campaign “This country is yours” is carried out within the framework of “Civil Society Sustainability Initiative”. The “Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” project is implemented by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in collaboration with the Civil Society Institute (CSI), the Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG) and the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The project is funded by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.  Read more…  Source: civilin.org