Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes an article: Theories and models of political participation of non-dominant ethnic groups - review. “Review of the present literature aims at criticizing opinions in regard to the issue of political participation of non-dominant ethnic groups in the political life of the country in the light of academic knowledge and observations. The purpose of the review is not to declare a final and firm position on this issue. On the contrary, this work is an attempt to initiate an open discussion related to political participation, which will become the basis for elaboration of transformational policies based on academic knowledge”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

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

Tbilisi. Center for Participation and Development together with its partners from Civic Solidarity Platform had an amazing opportunity to be part of first fully online OSCE – The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Addressing All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination organized by the Albanian OSCE Chairmanship with the support of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on May 25-26 . „This meeting was a platform to exchange views among OSCE participating States, OSCE institutions, and other executive structures and a variety of international organizations, civil society, and other stakeholders on the implementation of commitments related to addressing all forms of intolerance and discrimination. Most importantly, during the session, we focused on the case of our late colleague Vitali Safarov and his murder on the grounds of hate, which is now being considered by the Tbilisi Court of Appeals“. Read more... Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. The Georgia Red Cross Society publishes recommendations for people with tuberculosis during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Do not stop treating tuberculosis. Retain close and constant contact with your doctor and consider his/her recommendations. If you happen to get infected with COVID-19, provide healthcare personnel with information on all medications you take to treat tuberculosis and inform your doctor about having been infected with COVID-19”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) calls on Chairperson of the Supreme Court to use a session of the plenum, scheduled for May 29, only to introduce a candidate for judge of the Constitutional Court. “This step will raise the standard of transparency of the court, allow public to express their opinion about the candidate, while help the plenum to make an informed decision”, -is stated on the website of the organization. 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...

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes an article: 5G technology, Russian disinformation and coronavirus. The article is about 5G technology related conspiracy theories around the world, including Georgia. Not a small number of people consider this technology to be life-threatening and, in the period of the pandemic, have even linked it to spread of COVID 19. There are two groups created in a social network in Georgia that oppose this technology, furthermore, there is even a manifesto related to restriction of introduction of a new generation wireless internet. “In reality, 5G is the fifth generation of a wireless communication technology used by smartphones and other mobile devices to connect to the Internet. Like 4G LTE and 3G networks, 5G is transmitted via radio waves that do not exceed an electromagnetic spectrum safe for humans”, - is stated in the article. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

“Republic - our tradition” is a cycle of short films that gets you acquainted with life of the first republic of 1918-1921. It is prepared within the framework of the “Civil Georgia” (civil.ge) project with the support of EWMI Access and USAID/Georgia – the US Agency for International Development. Read more… Source: The website of “Republic – our tradition” in a social network

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a blog post: Ivane Javakhishvili and independence of Georgia. “Two most important events preceded restoration of state independence of Georgia: restoration of the autocephaly of the Georgian Church (March 12, 1917) and establishment of the Tbilisi University (January 26, 1918). As historian Otar Janelidze states, Ivane Javakhishvili, a well-known Georgian scientist and public figure, has made an outstanding contribution to the both of these glorious causes. If in the fight for autocephaly he limited himself to just participation, establishment of the first national higher education institution of Georgia was entirely the result of his efforts”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes an interesting article by Yuri Slezkine, a Russian-born American historian, writer, and translator – “The Soviet Union like a communal apartment, i.e. how the Soviet Union encouraged ethnic specificity”. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

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

Tbilisi. According to information released by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), on August 2, 2018, the Georgian National Communications Commission established a N(N)LE “Mediaacademia”, the purpose of activity of which is to promote development of media literacy in Georgia. As the blog post states, the organization requested various types of information from “Mediaacademia”, however, IDFI got refused to receive information. There was submitted a complaint at the National Communications Commission against this decision, but the commission refused to conduct a thorough review of it. “IDFI filed a lawsuit in the Tbilisi City Court in order to protect its rights and inform public. IDFI hopes that the court will take a decision in compliance with law, confirm that “Mediaacademia” is an administrative body and oblige it to release public information”, - is noted on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. On May 22, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association presented alternative reports to the Parliament of Georgia, in which reports it appraises the state of execution of resolutions and rulings concluded by the European Court of Human Rights against Georgia. “In alternative reports, GYLA appraises individual and general measures, taken by the state, and calls on the state to take additional specific steps that are necessary for effective and complete execution of resolutions and rulings of the European Court”, -is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

New Thinking Institute launches an innovative project. “Despite the fact that a number of state and non-governmental organizations have been implementing awareness raising projects for years, the problem of early marriage is still acute in Georgia. Due to early marriage women do not have access to education and employment opportunities. Marriage at a young age also significantly hinders their engagement in social life. To resolve above-mentioned problems, New Thinking Institute offers parents a project - “School of Mothers”, which is going to bring 20 volunteer mothers, living in Sadakhlo, Molaogli and Khuldara villages, together to participate in 10 months seminars and trainings in various subjects, including civic education, Georgian and English (elementary level) languages, nature, mathematics, computer programs. Within the framework of the project, we will also carry out social activities, cooperate with local self-government and schools. Participants of “School of Mothers” have already been selected”, - 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. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) publishes a blog post: Facebook cleansing survivor fake media network. “Based on observation of ISFED, there are currently 5 sponsorship oriented closely linked to each other pages on Facebook, which also use other platforms and websites of social media. These pages of fake media have been reactivated on Facebook with the modified tactics since January 2020, however, their main strategy is unchanged: they attempt to present themselves as a real media and carry out a sponsored propaganda campaign through this veil. They create a unified coordinated network in favor of the Government. The average number of those who like and subscribe these fake media pages is around 5,000, however, posts published on them have a high level of interaction thanks to sponsored posts. Half of the published posts are sponsored. More than 99% of the total interaction of pages (the sum of reactions, comments and shares) comes on these posts”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC), together with the Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) and the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), publishes a report – “Access to courts - Results of a public opinion survey”. “The report summarizes results of a survey of Georgian-speaking, adult population of Georgia in regard to access to courts. It briefly overviews both various aspects of access to courts and public attitudes”. 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. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) responds to planned amendments to the Law on Public Health and considers that the presented bill contains direct and obvious risks of gross violation of human rights.  “Turning the initiative into law gives relevant bodies of the executive government the authority to take almost the same measures in the ordinary situation, which they have been able to do only in a state of emergency. The current version of the Law on Public Health has a lot of gaps and it certainly needs to be corrected, but not in the way of consolidating uncontrollable authority of the executive government at the legislative level. The presented initiative normalizes the state of emergency and, in fact, gives unlimited authority to the executive government, as the bill does not envisage even minimal parliamentary or judicial control over the decision-making process related to above mentioned issues”, - is noted in the statement of the organization.  Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition proposes to participate in a one-day action in support of journalists of Adjara TV and Radio of Public Broadcaster to be conducted on May 21.  “This is a continuation of the solidarity campaign, initiated by Media Advocacy Coalition, this time with non-governmental organizations/civil activists and supporters of the idea of public broadcasting. Above activity includes posting a cover, reflecting solidarity, on your organization and/or personal Facebook page. Our hashtag is - # SolidarityToAdjaraBroadcasterJournalists The action will take place on Thursday, May 21, 2020. You can use a published photo as a cover. Media Advocacy Coalition expresses its gratitude for your distinguished participation in the process of protection of the idea of public broadcasting”, - is stated on the website of the Coalition in a social network.  Read more…  Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. According to information released by the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, on May 13 a legislative initiative (N07-3/450) of Dimitri Khundadze, Ilia Nakashidze, Vladimer Kakhadze, Zurab Khachidze, Koba Nakaidze and Dimitri Mkheidze, members of the Healthcare and Social Issues Committee, related to an amendment to be made into the law of Georgia on Public Health was submitted to the Parliament of Georgia.  “We consider that though adoption of relevant regulations in regard to spread of the new coronavirus serves a legitimate purpose, transfer of authority of restriction of rights, mentioned in the bill, to the Government of Georgia does not comply with the standard of the Constitution of Georgia and the above restrictions should be imposed only in accordance with law. It should also be noted that the bill allows restriction of mentioned rights in a disproportionate volume and is not focused on a necessity that follows a specific case”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization.  Read more…   Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, 4 years have passed since murder of Giga Otkhozoria. "Giga was killed by so called Abkhaz border guards on May 19, 2016, near the occupation line of Abkhazia, at the checkpoint of Khurcha Nabakevi. The case of violation of the right of Otkhozoria to live is under revision by the European Court of Human Rights. Interests of Otkhozoria family members are defended by GYLA and EHRAC. Internal communication between parties in the European Court has already been completed and we are waiting for announcement of the decision”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition member organizations respond to information released by Head of the TV 25 News Service in regard to unequal treatment of the broadcaster. “On May 18, 2020, the journalist made a public statement that the Government of Adjara started to boycott them. The role of media in development of a democratic society is irreplaceable. It is the duty of journalists to inform taxpayers about actions of officials they hire and consequences, though this process may not depend on wishes of public servants because relation with media is an accompanying attribute of public activity”, - is noted in the statement. The Coalition addresses Mr. Tornike Rizhvadze, Chairman of the Government of Adjara, to reconsider the policy of relation with media, while requests Public Defender to study the case. Read more… Source: The website of the Coalition in a social network