Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) calls on the Plenum of the Supreme Court to suspend procedures for appointment of a judge of the Constitutional Court until the state of emergency is over. “Position of one judge is vacant at the Constitutional Court since December 5, 2019. Despite the call, Acting Chairman of the Supreme Court breached the law and, so far, did not take necessary steps to fill the vacancy. This process was initiated unexpectedly today in the circumstances of the state of emergency. Tomorrow, on March 31, at 15:00, there will be called a sitting of the Plenum, the only subject of the agenda of which is the appointment of a member of the Constitutional Court. The duty, imposed to the Plenum by law, is to strengthen trust and confidence of people in court, however, this step once again raises questions in regard to conscientiousness of court officials”, - is stated on the website of GYLA. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. On March 25 and 27, Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) applied to the Batumi City Court to defend interests of Shorena Glonti, former Head of News Service, and Maia Merkviladze, former Deputy Head, of Adjara TV and Radio of Public Broadcaster.  “We consider that decisions against both Maia Merkviladze and Shorena Glonti are taken with gross violation of law and aim at limiting authority of those responsible for editorial independence”, - is stated on the website of the organization.  Read more…   Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Center submitted a legislative proposal to the Parliament of Georgia, which proposal envisages amendments, to be made to the Law of Georgia – “Imprisonment Code”. “The legislative proposal, in case if it is accepted by the Parliament, should regulate types of disciplinary violations in a new way so as to ensure they are used adequately and proportionately”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. On January 30- February10, 2020, within the EU-funded project “Facilitating Implementation of Reforms in the Judiciary (FAIR)”, CRRC-Georgia conducted a phone survey to understand people’s knowledge of and attitudes towards the Supreme Court appointment process. “The public is divided in their trust towards judicial institutions, such as the High Council of Justice, Supreme Court, and the court system in general. More than half of the population has heard of the Supreme Court justice appointment process, however most of them do not trust the process and believe that the Parliament of Georgia did not lead the appointment process fairly. Despite this, few people found the Supreme Court appointment process to be among the most important events of the Autumn/Winter of 2019-2020. The majority of people in Georgia say that they have never heard about the candidates. Among those who are aware of the appointment process, attitudes are more negative than positive”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition member organizations call on the Government of Georgia to suspend the deadline for paying taxes, defined for the media, at least until July 2020 without any penalties or additional charges. “According to current data, due to the financial crisis caused by the pandemic, several national and regional means of media (TV, radio or online publications) experience imposition of collection on their accounts. While a number of them face the similar risk. Taking into account the current situation, we once again call on the Government of Georgia to take temporary measures and set certain concessions for the media immediately”, - is noted in the joint statement. Read more…

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) calls on the Minister of Labor to not satisfy unsubstantiated demand of Director of Adjara Public Broadcaster in regard to termination of mediation. “We consider that the demand of Director of the broadcaster in regard to termination of mediation is groundless and represents an attempt to bypass the labor law”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes an article by Mariam Shalvashvili and Aitaj Khalil: Missing needs, interests and history - Problem of teaching Georgian language in the Azerbaijani community of Georgia. “Present critical review evaluates textbooks, designed for Azerbaijani students, in terms of teaching Georgian language as well as historical place and self-identification of Azerbaijanis of Georgia in these texts. The document is essentially based on studies, existing in this area, as well as interviews with focus groups, conducted with Azerbaijani activists in Georgia, and teachers”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a research: Georgia in the Rule of Law Index 2020.  “The purpose of the IDFI research is to review indicators of the Global Rule of Law Index in Georgia as of 2020, compare them with those of previous years, identify problematic fields and show trends that have become possible as a result of evaluation by the Rule of Law Index. According to the Global Rule of Law Index 2020, the state of the rule of law in Georgia is rated at 0.60 points (maximum 1 point). Georgia ranks 42nd out of evaluated 128 countries. Based on these indicators, position of Georgia has deteriorated by 0.01 points and 1 step compared to the previous year”, - is stated on the website of the organization.  Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Kelly Degnan the United States Ambassador to Georgia releases the video address. “These are challenging times, and we are all trying to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe and healthy. We at the U.S. Embassy are particularly grateful for the pro-active efforts of the government of Georgia, including the NCDC the Prime Minister, the President, almost every ministry, and Parliament, doing their best to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus and minimize its impacts,“ Ambassador Kelly Degnan. Read more… Source: The U.S. Embassy’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) publishes a blog post: 10 disinformations of Kremlin in regard to COVID-19 in Georgia. “A coordinated campaign of discrediting and disinformation, intensified on the background of the Coronavirus, indicates that malicious actors, both inside and outside the country, were forming powerful news networks for the 2020 parliamentary elections. It was supposedly planned to use these networks actively for electoral purposes, however, at this stage, a crisis caused by COVID-19 appeared to be a favorable moment for their use”. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) responds to a campaign organized by leaders of the Georgian March, supporters and other interest groups in the last days in social networks.  “According to posts published by them, our organization has seemingly filed a lawsuit against Marneuli and Hujabi Dioceses, which serves to protest the fact of water blessing of streets of Marneuli carried out by priests after the quarantine regime was announced in the Marneuli municipality. This information is false, groundless and, as it seems, it is an attempt of certain interest groups to discredit our organization and to conceal actual needs existing at the Marneuli municipality”, - is stated on the website of the organization.  Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Take a look at the address of Carl Hartzell, EU Ambassador, as to how he appraises effective efforts of Georgia against COVID-19 and calls on everyone to take care of each other.  “I am reporting from home. These are clearly unprecedented times for Georgia and the rest of the world. Due to the Corona pandemic the world is turning upside down. I would like to use this opportunity to express my heartfelt admiration for the medical professionals, for doctors and nurses, for law enforcement and border guards, and others for working tirelessly these days for the safety and security of everyone here. This crisis is not only a health crisis but also a tremendous economic challenge, therefore I’m proud to be working alongside other international partners under the leadership of the Georgian Government to properly assess the needs and to set out the way ahead. The European Union stands with Georgia. The European Union is Georgia’s largest donor and strongest partner and we will remain that…”  Read more… Source: The website of the European Union in Georgia in a social network

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Tbilisi. “No to Phobia!” platform is concerned about the wave of xenophobia, which is a consequence of developments occurred in Marneuli.  “We call on the media, politicians and public officials to facilitate dissemination of correct, accurate and non-discriminatory information within the public as much as possible, while at the same time, play an active role in integration of ethnic Azerbaijani citizens”, - is stated on the website of the organization.  Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) responds to developments occurred at Adjara Public Broadcaster over the last days. “It is obvious that chain of decisions, taken by the new management over the last two months, contains clear signs of persecution of critical journalists and staff, interference with editorial independence of the broadcaster, as well as obtaining control, and requires immediate response from the Adjara Supreme Council and the Parliament. Decisions taken by the new management show not only gross violation of labor rights of particular journalists and staff of the broadcaster, but also clear and obvious signs of encroachment on their freedom of expression and independence of the broadcaster”, - is noted in the statement of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) and the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association respond to an unlawful decision of “Georgian Manganese” LLC in regard to unilateral reduction of salaries. “Our organizations respond to a statement, released by “Georgian Manganese” LLC on March 20, 2020, related to partial suspension of a production process of the Chiatura mining-enrichment plant, as well as reduction of salaries of those employed, due to a protest of Shukruti population, and consider that this decision grossly violates norms, stipulated by the Labor Code of Georgia, represents an obvious attempt to confront residents of Shukruti and people working at the company, and is a result of failure of the state to fulfill its obligation of a proper monitoring over terms of a license of the company”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

EuroClub Kvareli, a youth space created by Young European Ambassadors in Georgia is offering online discussions every day, at 21:00, on its Facebook page, where representatives/experts from different fields will share their experiences, will talk about EU opportunities created for Georgian citizens, interesting books, movies, and many other important topics. Read more… Source: Social network

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) calls on the Government of Georgia, the Ministry of IDPs, Labor, Health and Social Affairs and local self-governments to spend special efforts in order to ensure that the population, living under quarantine at Marneuli and Bolnisi municipalities, has access to first necessity medical supplies, food, clean water and other humanitarian resources.  Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Part of Georgian civil society organizations call on the state and the media to consider minority languages in information policy. “We, the signatory organizations call on the Government of Georgia, Public Broadcaster, private TV stations to facilitate dissemination of information, related to the COVID-19 virus and its prevention, on Armenian and Azerbaijani languages, as well as to take positive measures to prevent hate speech and spreading of information, approaches of discriminatory content”, - is noted in the joint statement. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi publishes the joint statement on the so-called “Presidential Elections” held in Georgia’s Abkhazia Region. “Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States of America do not recognize the legitimacy of the so-called “presidential elections” held in Georgia’s Abkhazia region on March 22, 2020. We reiterate our full support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders, and remain deeply concerned over the continued occupation of the territory of Georgia”. Read more… Source: ge.usembassy.gov

Tbilisi. Part of Georgian civil society organizations and independent lawyers address the state and religious associations. “It is noteworthy that a number of religious associations in Georgia already consider the recommendation regarding social distancing and limit or temporarily suspend the practice of collective worship and religious rituals in various ways. Unfortunately, the Georgian Orthodox Church still does not pay sufficient attention to those vitally important recommendations, which ensure that both its members and the public at large are not endangered. Religious rituals are also attended by children, which fact poses a particular threat to minors”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics calls on journalists to exercise caution when preparing material related to ethnic minorities. “The Charter calls on journalists to adhere to the imposed restriction and obey the prohibition of movement on a particular territory, as it threatens both the rule-breaker and those around him. Besides, the Charter urges those journalists, who have permission to work on the ground, to take maximum security measures. While it calls on media managers to adhere to and ensure safety rules for their colleagues in the workplace as much as possible”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: www.qartia.ge