Tbilisi. ”Social Entrepreneurship Forum” is an annual event and this year it will be conducted on November 19, the International Day of Social Entrepreneurship. One of the supporters of the Social Entrepreneurship Forum 2020 is the Civil Society Institute. To take part in the forum, please register at... Source: The website of Social Enterprise Alliance in a social network

Tbilisi. Europe Foundation supports the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. The Foundation calls upon the authorities to refrain from restricting these rights and to prevent further escalation of the situation. The organization joins public demand to conduct negotiations between the ruling party and other political subjects, participating in the elections, thus seeking a constructive way to defuse current political situation and ensure further stable, democratic development of the country. Read more… Source: www.epfound.ge

Tbilisi. “Bloggers from Zemo Racha” is one of the volunteer initiatives that won the "Ideas Competition for Voluntary Initiatives" announced by the Center for Education Development and Employment (EDEC) in the frameworks of the program “Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative”. Within the initiative, the initiative group from Upper Racha invites young people from Oni municipality aged 15-18 to take part in a program “Bloggers from Upper Racha”. The program aims to assist vulnerable groups, promote their integration into society, support formal and non-formal education, address local community issues, and promote volunteering”. The program “Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” was developed and is implemented by the consortium lead 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. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. Public Defender releases the special statement on freedom of expression and quarantine measures. "In a democratic society, members of society should have the opportunity to express their views on any restrictions, including to argue, through assembly and demonstration, about the lawfulness, effectiveness and appropriateness of the restrictions imposed for the purpose of protecting public health. It is exactly this type of opportunity that distinguishes a democratic state from an undemocratic one. In view of the above, the Public Defender calls on the state authorities to respect the freedom of expression of demonstrators and to refrain from sanctioning them for violating the regulations that prohibit movement in cities from 22:00 to 05:00". Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a blog post: The Overview of the Memory Politics of Georgia. In this report, IDFI discussed the memory politics of independent Georgia since 1991, achievements and challenges in the three basic directions – legal dimension, institutional dimension, and memorial dimension. Based on the report, it can be argued that there are challenges in the three directions.  “First of all, one of the most important challenges is that 80% of KGB documents were destroyed during the Tbilisi Civil War, which makes the full-scale lustration almost impossible in Georgia. Moreover, the assumption that part of the archives may still be preserved in Russia should be considered. This could possess particular threats for Georgia within the context of tense relations between Russia and Georgia”, - is mentioned in the report.  Read more…  Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. During the COVID-19 pandemic, European governments urged their citizens to stay at home by reviewing material prepared under the Women’s Information Center project. European governments urged their citizens to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Isolation was a necessity to prevent the spread of the virus. It is important to know what this decision meant for many women and children. People experiencing domestic violence paid the highest fees for public health care. European countries responded differently while fighting against the virus, however, most of them decided to impose isolation in March 2020. From that moment on, there have started talks not only about the COVID-19 pandemic but also about the domestic violence pandemic”... Read more…  Source: ginsc.net

Tbilisi. “Rights Georgia” conducted an individual survey of journalists and cameramen affected by the November 8 rally. The survey gives an impression that in some cases water cannons have been applied by law enforcers to target specifically media representatives. The organization considers that there are signs of a crime defined by the Criminal Code of Georgia, which entails the responsibility for unlawful interference in professional activities of a journalist.  Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Adjara. During the #COVID19 outbreak the #volunteers of the Georgia Red Cross Society #Batumi branch continue to distribute food and hygiene parcels to the specific group of the community in Batumi: • The socially vulnerable, single older people aged 70 and above; • The vulnerable people who are in self-isolation; Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI), International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Human Rights Center (HRC) and Transparency International Georgia (TI) respond to measures imposed by the Government of Georgia in regard to restriction on freedom of movement and consider that introduction of a curfew by the resolution of the Government of Georgia is unconstitutional as the Government of Georgia does not have a legislative authority to restrict freedom of movement. “Furthermore, this step is perceived as an attempt to suppress the ongoing wave of protests, while the restriction itself is not an effective, important and proportionate mean to achieve a legitimate goal”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Open Society Georgia Foundation responds to the October 31, 2020 parliamentary elections and subsequent developments. “We remind public that constitutional changes, made this year, and introduction of an almost proportional electoral system have entailed a real perspective to turn the legislative body into more pluralistic one and to take active steps to form a coalition government. However, we agree with appraisals of international and local partner organizations and consider that both the pre-election period and the Election Day, as well as the vote counting process went along with numerous violations. There were critically concerning tendencies like removal of the line between the ruling political party and the state, use of administrative resources, attempts to intimidate and bribe voters as well as to control their free will, which may challenge results of the elections and the issue of legitimacy of the legislative body elected as a result of these elections. With this in mind, on November 8, 2020, citizens of Georgia expressed their peaceful protest in front of buildings of initially the Parliament of Georgia, and later - the Central Election Commission of Georgia. During the rally, law enforcers applied special means for dispersal of meetings-demonstrations violating procedures stipulated by law, which fact contributed to escalation of tensions and resulted in harming participants of the rally”. Read more… Source:osgf.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia calls on both the ruling party and the opposition parties participating in the elections to immediately launch negotiations in order to find a way out of the political crisis caused by the election violations. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Center for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims - GCRT will provide free services to those citizens who have been affected during the November 8-9 rally. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) calls on the Government of Georgia to not impose those COVID-19 related restrictions that would intentionally affect freedom of assembly and expression. “On November 6, 2020, Prime Minister stated that restrictions would not apply to freedom of expression, although the next day, the Government of Georgia announced imposition of a curfew on seven major cities of Georgia starting on November 9. We hereby would like to respond to the clarification made by the Government of Georgia stating that the imposed restriction is not a curfew. In general, a curfew is nothing else than an intense restriction on freedom of movement. A blanket/general restriction on unauthorized movement, imposed on about 50% of population of the country in 7 major cities of the state, is not a point ban measure. It is the curfew - a large-scale measure of restriction of the right stipulated by the “Law of Georgia on State of Emergency”, which applies during a state of emergency or war in the state”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. ISFED expresses its extreme concern in regard to use of disproportionate forces by the state against participants of a protest rally that took place in front of the Central Election Commission on November 8. “It is noteworthy that the action was in an initial phase when water cannon was used. As long as the action did not go beyond the form and legal scope of peaceful expression, there was no ground for the use of force. Nevertheless, completely disproportionate coercive methods were used to disperse the rally while protesters were not preliminarily warned by law enforcement agencies. We call on law enforcement agencies to not use force against protesters and make sure the right to assembly and demonstration is exercised without hindrance”, is noted in the statement.  Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. “Rights Georgia” condemns all acts of violence and calls on the Government as well as all political forces to: take care of and protect life and health of every individual, public order, right to freedom of assembly and expression and respective scopes guaranteed by local legislation and international law; avoid violence against journalists and interference with their professional activities. “Rights Georgia” expresses its readiness to protect legitimate interests of all people who have happened to get affected by unlawful actions. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations (TI Georgia, Isfed, Gyla) release the statement and call on political parties to resolve crisis through dialogue. “Although the 31 October 2020 parliamentary elections were a clear setback for Georgia and the worst elections held under the Georgian Dream government, we believe that there is still a chance to find a way out of the political impasse through dialogue. We call on both the ruling party and the opposition parties to start talks, inter alia through the international community’s mediation, in order to resolve the crisis which the country faces”, is noted in the joint statement. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia has applied to precinct and district commissions submitting a total of 108 complaints on violations related to the October 31 parliamentary elections. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. The Network of Centers for Civic Engagement, within the framework of the “Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” project and with the support of the CSI, has prepared a Monitoring of state grants issued in 2018. “The present study appraises effectiveness of a state grant funding process, its stages and general principles. On the one hand, the focus is on certain rules of legislation, as to what form, stages and criteria are used by public institutions to administer grant competitions through budgetary funds, while on the other hand, there is carried out a survey of practical experiences of bidder and grant recipient organizations, thus allowing to use jointly obtained information in order to elaborate recommendations about how the mentioned process can be improved”. 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 (EU), while the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) is the co-financer.  Read more… Source: csogeorgia.org

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association has filed its final complaint in regard to 109 polling stations across the country, demanding annulment of summary protocols and recount of data. For litigation in court, the organization has prioritized those districts, where it filed more complaints in total. Besides, GYLA is not intending to pursue disputes related to those districts, where mainly majoritarian summary protocols were contested and, taking into account current differences between the first and the second, as well as the second and the third place candidates in accordance with preliminary data, annulment of contested protocols cannot affect results of the majoritarian elections. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) considers that actions, taken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in regard to incidents revealed across the country during the October 31 parliamentary elections, were ineffective. According to the organization, the law enforcement agency, in some cases due to its delayed response to facts of violence revealed on the Election Day, while in the other cases – absence of a will to prevent breach of law, failed to ensure proper maintenance of law, which fact intensified a sense of impunity for violence and elections-related breaches of law. At the same time, the lack of political dialogue during post-election days is problematic, which has a negative impact on the perspective of democratic development of the country. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. On November 1, 2020, within the “Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” project and with the support of the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC), Caucasus Cycling Network held a cycling competition “Zhinvali XC Adventure 2020” in Dusheti Municipality. The competition aims to promote a healthy lifestyle and encourage volunteering. In order to encourage volunteering, 10 volunteers from Dusheti Municipality were in charge of event management solving organizational issues throughout the competition. “Zhinvali XC Adventure 2020” is one of the winning initiatives of the Contest for Volunteering Initiatives announced by the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The Contest for Volunteering Initiatives is implemented within the ”Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” project. The contest aims to support the promotion of volunteering, raise awareness of civil society, and increase their participation in civic activities through volunteering. ”Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” was developed and is implemented by the consortium lead 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. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Imereti. Local Democracy Agency Georgia held online informational meeting for youth from Zestaphoni municipality, about these following issues: The importance of civic engagement; civil society organizations; International volunteering platform "Time Bank"; The project coordinator, Tamar Kitovani was leading the online meeting.  Online meeting held within the framework of the project, „Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative”. The project „Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” is implemented by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) in cooperation with the Civil Society Institute (CSI), the Consultation and Training Center (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 (EU) and co-funded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS).  Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network