Tbilisi. The High Council of Justice made a decision at today’s session to take into account the Public Defender’s recommendation of June 27.  Accordingly, copies of applications and documents submitted by 137 candidates participating in the selection process of Supreme Court judges will be available for monitoring organizations and other stakeholders.  Read more… Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. In the framework of the parliamentary monitoring program, Transparency International Georgia presents the Assessment of the Performance of the Parliament of Georgia in 2018, which covers the time period from January 1, 2018 till December 31, 2018. “In addition to the specific challenges identified in the work of the Parliament, it is important to note issues related to the cooperation of the Parliament and the civil society. Public officials in the Parliament, especially Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairperson of the Parliament, has made numerous aggressive statements[1] against the non-governmental sector. Attacks against the non-governmental sector damages the democratic development of the country. This problem was recognized by the U.S. Department of State’s Report on Human Rights Practices in Georgia that was published in 2018”, - is mentioned in the Assessment. Read more… Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. “70% of Recommendations Received by Georgia from GRECO about Corruption Prevention Remain is not Fully Implemented”, - is told in the IDFI’s information.  “On 2 July, 2019, the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) published the Fourth Evaluation Round compliance report for Georgia. The compliance report assessesthe country’s compliance with the recommendations issued in 2016”, - IDFI mentions, - “Under the GRECO procedures, the Government of Georgia had to implement the recommendations within the next two years and provide information to the GRECO Secretariat. Based on the information received from the Government of Georgia in early 2019, GRECO, in the Compliance Report, assessed the implementation of the recommendations issued in 2016 and published the document on its official website on July 2. According to the report, from 16 Recommendations on corruption prevention, Georgia has implemented satisfactorily only five of them, three recommendations have not been implemented and eight recommendations – partly implemented”.  Read more… Source: https://idfi.ge

Tbilisi. By the conclusion of IDFI, public administration reform (PAR) action plan does not respond to the existing challenges.  “As a member organization of the PAR Council, IDFI was involved in the elaboration of the PAR Action Plan. During the discussions held on the draft PAR Action Plan IDFI in a number of occasions underlined the necessity of providing in the policy document more important commitments and reforms. Despite this, the new PAR Action Plan does not provide for ambitious reforms, especially, in terms of increasing transparency and accountability”, - IDFI mentions, - “In order to eliminate the shortcomings, it is necessary for the Government of Georgia to take into account the following recommendations: Strengthening civil society (especially at the regional level) and ensure their involvement in the development of any national or sectoral policy document; Raising public awareness on public civil service reform and ensuring wide public consultations when developing any national or sectoral policy document; Further updating of PAR Action Plan for the purpose of planning more ambitious reforms / commitments and elimination of discussed shortcomings; Expanding the circle of responsible agencies for the implementation of the PAR Action Plan and increasing the involvement of municipalities in it”.  Read more… Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. “Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center” (EMC) publishes an analytical document – “For criticism of an adversarial criminal trial: Barriers while determining the truth”. “Two basic ways of resolving legal disputes are adversarial and inquisitorial trials. According to the general definition, the fundamental difference between them is who leads and controls a process. In the inquisitorial system, the court is directly involved in the case settlement issue, in particular, judges begin judicial procedures, collect evidences and determine how legal and factual circumstances, existing in the case, should be opened. Besides, they appoint witnesses and experts, question them and define the value of testimonies. In contrary, in the adversarial system, the course of proceedings is entirely entrusted to parties (their lawyers who interrogate witnesses), while a judge acts as a neutral “arbitrator”: S/he does not carry out an independent research, rather s/he evaluates evidences, presented to the court by parties, and settles the case taking into consideration existing facts and arguments”, - is stated in the document. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association will prepare a report in regard to developments of June 20-21. “On June 20-21, society once again witnessed dissolution of a large-scale protest rally using disproportionate police force.  Dispersal of the protest entailed an administrative arrest of 305 people, while a number of individuals were injured”, - is noted in the statement released by GYLA.  Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Public Defender Responds to Ongoing and Planned Demonstrations on Rustaveli Avenue.  “The Public Defender of Georgia is actively watching the events developing on Rustaveli Avenue. Opponents of Tbilisi Pride gathered in front of the Parliament building in the morning after organizers of Tbilisi Pride annulled their pride march. They demand abolition of the anti-discrimination law and prohibition of Tbilisi Pride. In addition, they say they will not let civil activists continue the anti-occupation protests”, - is mentioned in the statement, - “The Public Defender urges the participants of the ongoing and planned demonstrations in front of the Parlaiment to select certain individuals for holding constructive negotiations that will allow conduct of both demonstrations in a smooth and peaceful atmosphere. The Public Defender of Georgia urges the Ministry of Internal Affairs to protect the freedom of expression of civilians as much as possible and to ensure full realization of the right to assembly for everyone gathered on Rustaveli Avenue”.  Read more… Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. The “Open Society Georgia Foundation” announces about an alternative process of studying data related to candidates for judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia and calls on candidates to cooperate. “Taking into consideration establishment of an independent, impartial and transparent system of justice in Georgia, as well as the role and importance of the Supreme Court of Georgia within this system, there has been decided to carry out an alternative process of searching and managing information related to candidates for judges of the Supreme Court through the support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation. Within the framework of this process, there will be collected and reviewed publicly available information about 20 candidates, selected/nominated by the High Council of Justice, based on which there will be created a document (so called portfolio) on each candidate and submitted to the Parliament of Georgia”, - is noted in the statement released by the Foundation, - “Respectively, the Foundation calls on all candidates for judges of the Supreme Court to show high professional standard and provide any information that is necessary and required in order to evaluate conscientiousness and professionalism of a candidate”. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. “Article 42 of the Constitution” reflects on the ongoing competition on the vacancies of judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia and believes that the secret deal among the members of the Council of Justice on the candidates of the members of the Supreme Court, including the gaps revealed during the competition, puts the legitimacy of the entire process under suspicion. Based on all the above mentioned, the “Article 42 of the Constitution” calls:  Parliaments of Georgia: - To initiate a review of the resolution on clan governance in court system, this was submitted to the Parliament on June 4, 2019. - In the shortest possible time, consider the issue of termination of the authority of the member of the High Council of Justice Zaza Kharebava. - To ensure the participation of the Coalition for Independent and Transparent Judiciary representatives in the working group of the Legal Issues Committee. The High Council of Justice of Georgia: - To consider and decide on the elimination issue of the member of the High Council of Justice- Tamar Oniani from the course of the competition. Read more…  Source: article42.ge

Tbilisi. “Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center” (EMC) publishes a viewpoint of Sopho Verdzeuli in regard to developments that took place on June 20. “When a gap (mistake, misconduct, offense) of systemic character occurs, it entails loss of legitimacy of not single employees, but an entire agency. It is logical that an issue of political responsibility arises when just legal responsibility of individuals, no matter how hard it is, is no longer sufficient for regaining legitimacy of the institution”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Public Defender Responds to Ongoing Process of Selection of Supreme Court Judges and make a statement.  "As the public is aware, the Public Defender of Georgia, together with international and local NGOs, independently observes the process of selection of Supreme Court judges”, - mentions the Public Defender, - “The first secret ballot in the High Council of Justice and observation of its results identified certain problems and shortcomings, which threaten the conduct of the process in accordance with high standards. The Public Defender would also like to respond to the refusal of the High Council of Justice to provide information about judicial candidates to Transparency International – Georgia. The Public Defender believes that the above-mentioned is a serious problem and damages the entire process”.  Read more Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. On June 24, there was held awarding of students, winners of the 2018-2019 academic year online Olympiad of the “Civic Education for All” electronic resource (www.civiceducation.ge). “A representative of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Georgia awarded the winning trio and handed them personal computers along with their certificates”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gdi.ge

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organizations respond to the ruling party’s initiative and call on it to satisfy the remaining demands. “We consider the resignation of the Parliament Speaker, whose actions/inaction largely sparked the public protest to be an important development. At the same time, reports have been disseminated about Irakli Kobakhidze’s possible nomination to the Constitutional Court, which, if confirmed, would mean that the legitimate public protest will have been ignored. We also welcome the ruling team’s decision to hold the next parliamentary elections based entirely on the system of proportional representation. The proportional system with a so-called natural barrier (0.67 percent) is the best option to ensure political diversity and that the voters’ will is translated into parliamentary mandates. It should be noted here, however, that such a low barrier, as a rule, complicates the formation of the parliamentary majority and the government and increases the risk of fragmentation of political parties. We would also remind the public that the Venice Commission’s recommendation that the barrier in the proportional system should be preferably set at 3-5 percent”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Comments by EU Ambassador Hartzell Conclusions of today's meeting of EU Member States Ambassadors.  “Events of recent days have shown the need for dialogue, consultation and compromise in addressing the challenges Georgian society is facing, - mentioned EU Ambassador, - “In this context, we welcome today's statement by the Georgian Dream leadership on initiating constitutional changes for holding fully proportional elections in 2020. This presents an opportunity for all stakeholders to come together to agree a way forward that strengthens parliamentary democracy and pluralism in Georgia. We expect a broad and consultative process and call on all sides to engage in good faith”.  Read more  Source: https://eeas.europa.eu

Tbilisi. The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary responds to the commencement of the selection of Supreme Court Justices and calls on two members of the High Council – Tamar Oniani and Zaza Kharebava, of Justice (the Council) to recuse themselves from the next stages of the review.  “The selection of Supreme Court Justices consists of several stages where each of the Council members’ votes is important. Participation of certain members of the Council in this process while lawfulness of their engagement raises legitimate questions in the society makes it difficult to carry out an objective, fair, and impartial selection of Supreme Court Justices. This may undermine the public trust in this process”, - is mentioned in the Coalition’s statement.  Read more Source: https://www.gdi.ge

Samtskhe-Javakheti. Civil Society Regional Forum held in Akhaltsikhe, at Samtskhe-Javakheti State University. The goals of the regional forum are to demonstrate the activities of local CSOs and to promote volunteerism. Lika Kiladze, Chairperson of Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC), Temur Jaliashvili, the representative of the project ”Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” and Maka Beridze, the Rector of Samtskhe-Javakheti State University delivered speeches during the forum. Up to twenty local CSOs participated in the forum. Their focuses are ethnic minorities, supporting formal and informal education, empowerment of persons with special needs. They also work on gender-related issues and support small businesses. During the event, guests were provided with the opportunity to become familiar with the activities local CSOs are involved in. The participants got introduced with the bilateral volunteerism platform “Time Bank". They were able to choose the activity considering their interests and skills and voluntarily participate in it. Speakers of the forum Lado Apkhazava, the winner of Teacher's National Award and writer Tatuli Gvinianidze discussed the importance of volunteerism. The forum is organized in the frame of the project  ”Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative”. The project was developed and is implemented by the consortium led by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in cooperation with four Georgian Civil Society Organizations: Civil Society Institute (CSI), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG) and Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The project is funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

Tbilisi. More than 500 delegates from more than 15 countries participated in the Annual International Investment Forum - Role of Good Governance Reform in Economic Development & Investment Attraction - held in Tbilisi.  It hosted about 50 speakers, including a well-known investment expert, Richard C. Wilson, who is known in the United States as the manager of investments accumulated by wealthy and ultra-wealthy families.  IDFI's Panel at International Investment Forum. A panel organized by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) included a discussion on the Role of Good Governance Reform in Economic Development & Investment Attraction.  Read more Source: The web-page of the organization

Guria. Civil Society Regional Forum held in the Culture and Recreational Park in Ozurgeti, Guria Region. The goals of the regional forum are to demonstrate the activities of local CSOs and to promote volunteerism. Up to ten local CSOs and the representatives of small business participated in the forum. The event was launched with the concert of children's group "Binuli". Then the organizers of the forum delivered the speeches and underlined the importance of the event. During the forum, the most active volunteer in Guria "Euro Club" was awarded by the "Time Bank", the platform to promote volunteerism. Within the event, the technique of working on Teqa and the preparation of the local tea were presented. Along with other entertaining activities, participants showed examples of making bamboo items. Visitors were also provided with the opportunity to choose an activity the most suitable for them and they could voluntarily involve in the work of local organizations. The participants were introduced with the bilateral volunteerism platform “Time Bank". The forum also included the quiz. Many Presents were gifted to the visitors of the Time Bank tent. The quiz questions were related to the culture of volunteerism in Georgia. The forum is organized in the frame of the project ”Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative”. The project was developed and is implemented by the consortium led by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in cooperation with four Georgian Civil Society Organizations: Civil Society Institute (CSI), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG) and Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The project is funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung