Tbilisi. On 14-15 September the Open Government Partnership’s Legislative Openness Working Group meeting will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia. The meeting will be chaired by the Congress of Chile and the National Democratic Institute. The meeting will unite the focused group of legislators, parliament staff and civil society representatives to share experience advancing legislative openness and explore ways to advance public access to legislative information and process. The Parliament of Georgia is a host organization. The partner organizations are: European Union, UN Development Programme, National Democratic Institute (NDI), Institute for Developing of Freedom of Information (IDFI), Transparency International (TI), German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ) and US Agency for International Development (USAID). The main objective will be to launch a Forum where participants will reflect on effective initiatives to further open government and on challenges and obstacles to open government, and how to overcome them. Moreover, the forum intends to strengthen the ways of communication between the government and the civic society within the frameworks of the OGP. Finally, the activity will promote the Regional Cooperation, sharing of best practices and effective initiatives. In Full... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Public Defender together with Deputies of the Public Defender have met with population in the villages of Omalo, Shenako and Dartlo in Tusheti region on September 10, 2015. The conversations revealed that the main problems of the mountainous region are poor road infrastructure, shaky supply of electricity and drinking water, lack of sewage and landfills. Medical service also remains a problematic issue. Locals are unable to get assistance in time even though an emergency center was opened there, since there is only one doctor in the region, while villages are dozens of kilometers away from each other. In addition, there is no ambulance and the doctor has to go to patients on horseback. In Full... Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Young Lawyers’ Association publishes information about successful cases, implemented during the month of August. In full… Source:gyla.ge

Kakheti. In Kvareli, at the Women Political Participation Strategic Planning in Georgia meeting, the representatives of Women Information Center have been discussing initiatives on legislative amendments, worked out by the group. The initiative implies the increase of representation of women in the Parliament of 2016 through entering of every second candidate of opposite sex into proportional lists, submitted by a party/electoral bloc to the Central Election Commission, which makes 50% of 77 parliamentarians elected through the proportional lists. The acceptance of the gender quota as described will consider 38 woman-parliamentarians in the Parliament of 150 members. In full… Source:www.ginsc.net

Kakheti. The mobile information center of the European Union met with the staff of Signagi Municipality and the local residents. The meeting was attended by Mikolaj Bekasiak, the European Union – Georgia Communications Manager. The discussion regarding visa liberalization with the states of the Schengen zone took place with the residents. The staff of the Mobile Information Center of the European Union answered inquiry about several myths widespread within the society. In full… Source:The web-page of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. The Association of Young Financiers and Businessmen releases the statement related to the members of the Board of the National Bank of Georgia. ''Two members of the Board of the National Bank, former employees of the Prosecutor’s office, receive GEL 78000 per annum for formal fulfillment of their duties. The employees of the Prosecutor’s office became members of the Board of the National Bank in 2012, after the legislative amendments and changing the rule for board membership'' – is noted in the statement. In full... Source:The web-page of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Tbilisi City Court partially satisfied the claim of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) related to the data about the administrative costs of the Ministry of Finance. Based on its application the organization requested different information about the administrative cost of the Ministry of Finance, however, "the feedback did not contain complete information as we requested. In particular, the majority of the responses of the Ministry of Finance was of the summery content and did not correspond to the requirements submitted by us”. In accordance with the decision of the court "the Ministry of Finance has been bound to provide information on seven out of eight claim requests (the claim has not been upheld only in the part, which concerns to the provision of the copies of work related letters, sent and received through the Minister’s business electronic mail)” – is noted in the statement. In full... Source:idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a consecutive podcast of parliamentary news. It contains legislative issues, received by the Parliament of Georgia last week, which are to be or have been reviewed. Parliamentary news podcast… Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The organizations, part of the public platform ''No To Phobia!'', respond to the document - ''Report of the Chairman of the Faction of ''Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia'' of Khulo Municipality Council on the work done''. ''Mentioned document contains hate language and expressions of Armenophobic character'' – is noted in the statement. The organizations, part of the platform, address to the Public Defender to examine and comment the above fact within the frames of its competence. Besides, they call on the political union ''Georgian Dream'' to respond to mentioned xenophobic expressions using its intra-party mechanisms. In full... Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia has addressed Minister of Corrections and Probation with a recommendation on ensuring the prisoners’ right to use stores in penitentiary institutions. ''The Public Defender’s Department of Prevention and Monitoring studied the supply issue of stores in penitentiary institutions and evaluated both quantity of items and resupplying frequency as insufficient. Accordingly, prisoners are not able to purchase necessary products. The Public Defender considers that the fact of having prison stores managed by private companies does not exempt the Ministry of Corrections and Probation of its commitments, according to which prisoners should be held in decent conditions and should have access to items of basic necessity and food products''... In Full... Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. On September 7-8, 2015, The McCain Institute for International Leadership, in partnership with the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC), will host a major international conference in Tbilisi, Georgia: Europe's New Geopolitical Landscape: Security, Economic Opportunity, Freedom and Human Dignity for The Frontline States. The Tbilisi International Conference will provide a unique platform to bring together experienced political and security leaders from the United States, Europe, Georgia and the wider Euro-Atlantic community to discuss the vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace, the challenges facing Europe’s eastern nations and strategies to move forward. In Full... Source: www.scribd.com

Tbilisi. On September 2 the representatives of the Georgian Youth Euro-Atlantic Coalition have met with the representatives of the Information Center for NATO and European Union. The objective of the Coalition is to increase the involvement of youth into Euro-Atlantic integration process of the country and to facilitate this process. It has been planned at the meeting to implement joint projects together with the Information Center in the near future. Source: The web-page of the Coalition in a social network

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes a blog about electricity tariffs and the challenges of electricity system. "The rise of electricity tariffs will have negative impact on the welfare of population in terms of increase of living costs. Tariffs rise for commercial customers too, which, in turn, may cause increase of production costs and prices on local products. The rise of tariffs and prices affects especially the population with low income, in the consumer costs of which the first necessity products hold comparatively higher share” – is stated in the survey of the organization. Transparency International Georgia offers its recommendations to the government… In full… Source:www.transparency.ge

Samegrelo. International Overdose Awareness Day, organized by the Association of Young Psychologists and Doctors "Xenon”, has been traditionally celebrated on August 31 in Zugdidi. The aim of the event is to raise the level of public awareness related to the issues about drug overdose, its prevention and management. Within the framework of the National Campaign "Save a Life” a variety of events have taken place in Zugdidi… In full… Source: The web-page of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Posting Documents on the Website of the Parliament of Georgia in an Editable Format, states that the Parliament of Georgia publishes information on its website in PDF format; this makes it difficult for the user to change the file and generally to manipulate text. Thus, the Action Plan proposes more reader friendly, editable formats such as HTML, MS Word, etc.  "According to the sub-chapter - 3.1 Posting Documents on the Website of the Parliament of Georgia in an Editable Format - commitment noted in the Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan 2015-2016, the Parliament of Georgia should reduce number of documents published in the PDF format. This practice will significantly simplify not only access to the published documents but their reuse and further modification by the citizens". links... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. JumpStart Georgia publishes a new visualization "Men in Paternity Leave". "Current Georgian legislation allows parents employed in the private sector to share 730 days of unpaid parental leave. While an employer and an employee can agree on additional payment during the parental leave, only a mother receives a one-time assistance of no more than 1000 GEL from the government. In civil service, 183 days of fully-paid parental leave can be shared between a mother and a father. However, according to the requested data, during the last 18 months in 19 Georgian ministries, parental leave was used by 211 women and no men"... Links... Source: feradi.info

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

Tbilisi. The Public Defender releases an information bulletin for the month of July. Among significant activities of the Public Defender Body are: the speech of the Public Defender at the plenary session of the Parliament, as well as both the visit of the Public Defender to the United Kingdom and official meetings with the organizations working on transformation of conflicts. Bulletin… Source:ombudsman.ge

Elyx, the United Nations’ first digital ambassador, created by the renowned French artist YAK, will travel around the world in 70 days (from 15 August 2015 to 24 October 2015) to shed light on the work of the UN. In full... Source: Social network

Tbilisi. Global Legislative Openness Week is an annual event about transparency and participatory parliament. It is an addition opportunity for government, parliament and civil society representatives to share knowledge and seek new commitments.  ''On 14-15 September the Open Government Partnership’s Legislative Openness Working Group meeting will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia. The meeting will be chaired by the Congress of Chile and the National Democratic Institute. The meeting will unite the focused group of legislators, parliament staff and civil society representatives to share experience advancing legislative openness and explore ways to advance public access to legislative information and process''. In Full... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Taking into consideration high public interest, on August 5, 2015 the Public Defender has studied the decision made by the Public Affairs Collegium of Tbilisi City Court with regard to "Rustavi 2”. According to the decision, the court seized shares of partners in the "Broadcasting Company Ruastavi 2” LTD.  ''Based on the abovementioned, the Public Defender considers that the Court's judgment on application of measures of satisfying a complaint violates the principle of proportionality of restriction of rights. The court limited the property right to a greater extent than was required by the plaintiff's legitimate goal, which, in turn, could create a real threat to the realization of freedom of expression by television stations''. The Public Defender continues to watch and survey the events developing around the case within its mandate. In full... Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Organization "Young Barristers” convened Round Table to discuss problems related to reinstatement process of justice, judicial shortcomings and the deprived property cases. Young Barristers introduced legislative proposal to media representatives. "Presented legislative proposal is the real solution for the cases of those, having their property deprived, who are unable to manage reinstatement of justice and return of the property due to shortcomings and controversies existing in the legislation” - says the web-page of the organization. In full... Source:barristers.ge