Tbilisi. Civil society organizations demand from the Parliament of Georgia to suspend staffing of the Supreme Court. ''Today, the Council has made a decision, with rough procedural violations, in a pre-New Year period and accelerated manner, to nominate 10 candidates to be appointed at the Supreme Court for unlimited time. It shows that they attempt to assign their preferred candidates to the Supreme Court neglecting all public discussions and minimum standards of transparency and thus gain full control over the judicial system'', - reads the statement released today. Read more... Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International Georgia'' continues monitoring of property declarations of officials. This time the organization presents information about deputies and their family members accepting large gifts that are mainly received from close relatives. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. December 20, EPRC presented two of its latest studies, which were conducted within the project "Assessing Effectiveness of the EU Association Action Plan for Export Diversification" funded by the Open Society Georgia Foundation. Read more… Source: The webpage of the organization in a social network

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

Kakheti. On 12 - 14 December, representatives of civil society organizations from 6 Eastern Partnership countries as well as international and transnational actors involved in the civil society promotion gathered in Lopota, Kakheti to discuss current objectives of the civil society development. Three major topics were addressed during the workshop: spaces and roles for civil society to engage in transformation of respective societies; structures and mechanisms of investing in and promoting of civil societies; reinventing and giving a new leaf of live to the regional dimensions, such as the Eastern Partnership. The findings of the workshop will be structured as a policy document and available for further public discussions. The workshop was organized in the framework of the project - “Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” - funded by the European Union #EU and co-funded by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

Tbilisi. ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC) releases a statement regarding physical confrontation between supporters of opposition and representatives of police that took place in parallel with inauguration of the President yesterday, in Kakheti. ''We call on the Chief Prosecutor's Office to launch an investigation of the incident occurred between supporters of opposition and representatives of police on December 16, besides, investigate timely and objectively both lawfulness of actions of police and the issue of injuries suffered by participants of the rally and policemen''. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. ''International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy'' (ISFED) publishes a review of freedom of expression in Georgia in 2018. ''We may consider the year of 2018 as challenge to freedom of expression. Regressive initiatives and those restricting freedom of expression became a kind of tendency, including at the legislative body'', - the preface reads. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

The web portal www.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. GYLA Considers the Regulation Initiated with Regards to the Administration of the President to be Unconstitutional. ''On December 6, the legislative initiative of MPs Guram Macharashvili and Rati Ionatamishvili was submitted to the Parliament of Georgia, according to which the staff of the Administration of the President will be considered as persons employed by the administrative agreement and it will no longer use labor guarantees set for professional public servants. The Bureau made a decision to review the above-mentioned draft law in an accelerated manner, including to review it with two hearings in a day. We believe that the presented legislative initiative contradicts to the Constitution of Georgia, the judicial practice of the Constitutional Court of Georgia and it does not comply with the principles strengthened by the Law of Georgia on Public Service and violates labor rights of persons employed in the Administration of the President,'' is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. ''No to Phobia!'' platform responds to developments at Public Service Hall and calls on law enforcement agencies to take immediate measures against blocking the entrance of the administrative institution, which fact prevents both operation of the institution and use of services of Public Service Hall. Read more… Source:mdfgeorgia.ge

Tbilisi. Women's Movement and non-governmental organizations address newly elected President of Georgia. ''Women's Movement congratulates Salome Zurabishvili on her becoming a president and reminds her, as a woman president that she has a significant role in improvement of situation in terms of women rights. Taking this into consideration, we call on Salome Zurabishvili to review the decision about considering the candidacy of Dimitri Gabunia on a position of Parliamentary Secretary of the President'', - is stated on the website of the organization in a social network. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

The web portal www.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 Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC) conducted a presentation of a document that it had developed – ''Manual for development of health and care municipal programs''. ''The manual determines guidelines for elaboration and implementation of local self-government programs in the field of health and care'', - is stated on the website of the organization in a social network. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes a document containing needs identified by members of civil councils. The needs include: provision of drinking and irrigation water, replenishment of internal roads and drainage channels, enhancement of landslide prone areas, installation of outdoor lighting, etc. It is important to reflect mentioned problems in the next year budget. Read more… Source:www.transparency.ge

The web portal www.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. An informal coalition of civil society organizations addresses the government with regard to a resolution of the European Parliament on implementation of the Association Agreement. "An informal coalition of non-governmental organizations, which maintains monitoring of implementation of the Association Agreement, signed between Georgia and the European Union (democracy, rule of law, human rights, equality, and protection of environment), since 2014, welcomes the report of November 15, 2018, prepared by the European Parliament with regard to implementation of obligations stipulated by the Agreement”, - the address states, - "presented report critically reflects the reality that exists in Georgia in terms of democracy and European integration. It is important to ensure that challenges, provided in the document, are actually perceived and the government of Georgian takes them into consideration while planning future reforms”. Read more… Source:http://www.osgf.ge

The web portal www.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. Civil Society Organizations` State Funding Reform – The is elaborated by the close work of Civil Society Institute and working group of invited experts. The Policy Paper was created under the project "Civil Society Sustainability Initiative”, which is funded by the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany. The project is implemented by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in cooperation with 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 initiative aims at improving the operational environment for civil society in Georgia, empowering CSOs, increasing their accountability towards constituencies and amplifying their linkages to other actors. Policy Paper…

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) addresses the Parliament of Georgia with a request to establish a working group in order to review the Code of Administrative Offenses. ''It is important to make sure that the mandate of the working group is not limited to just a decision of the Constitutional Court and activities are carried out towards making substantial changes into the Code of Administrative Offenses. GYLA retains hope that the working group will be established in the nearest future and expresses readiness to actively engage in its activities'', - is stated on the website of the organization in a social network. Read more... Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia releases a statement: steps towards democratic governance: improvement of political system requires immediate reforms. ''The events of the past several months have clearly demonstrated the systemic problems of governance in Georgia which the civil society organizations had been constantly writing and speaking about. The fact that the government has been ignoring these problems for years has created a situation which threatens the rule of law and the operation of the key institutions in accordance with the Constitution and in the interest of the public. We believe that, in order to overcome the current crisis, the government must, without delay, launch reforms with the aim of transforming the key state institutions in accordance with the fundamental principles of democratic governance – transparency, accountability and integrity'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia considers that the government should refrain from presenting large-scale social projects before the second round of elections. ''The state should elaborate social policy, which would not only increase the amount of social allowances during the pre-election period, but also promote establishment of a stable system of social security. For a healthy and competitive electoral environment it is very important that such budgetary programs are not initiated short time prior to the elections, because this way the government candidate receives a significant advantage,'' - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source:www.transparency.ge

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