Tbilisi. On September 30, the Batumi City Court took a historic decision regarding construction of a new mosque in Batumi and considered refusal of Batumi City Hall to build a new mosque discriminatory and unlawful. “Unfortunately, City Hall of Batumi Municipality appealed against mentioned decision of the court. Appeal of Batumi City Hall against the court decision shows that the local government not only fails to express its will to enforce fair decision of the court and ensure timely and effective reinstating of rights breached by discriminatory treatment, but also tries to artificially prolong and hamper the process by using dispute resolution mechanisms”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia points out that Countering different forms of corruption remains a significant challenge for Georgia. “In Georgia, 36% percent of those surveyed believe that abuse of power for personal gain by public officials is common (with only 15% saying that it is not common), while 51% think that instances of corruption are not investigated properly when high-ranking officials or influential individuals with links to the ruling party are involved”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On December5-6, The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) organized the 2nd international conference - Openness of State Archives and Memory Studies. „The open archives are primary facilitators of research aimed at rethinking of totalitarian past and state politics focused on the prevention of the re-emergence of totalitarian ideologies and rehabilitation of victims of the repressive regime. For this, since the day of its establishment in 2009, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) has been endeavoring to enhance the openness of state archives and the flexibility of their policy and services for researchers in Georgia and beyond” – Giorgi Kldiashvili has pointed out in his speech. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) responds to counter-demonstrations, organized by supporters of Georgian Dream in recent days in Tbilisi and regions against ongoing rallies where participants demanded to apply proportional representation electoral system, and to violent incidents connected with those counter-demonstrations. “The organization calls on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to take effective measures in order to prevent violence and ensure freedom of assembly and expression of participants of peaceful rally, as well as to safeguard their security”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. On 5 December 2019, Public Defender Nino Lomjaria met with the journalists of the Adjara Public Broadcaster, who have critical attitude towards the Broadcaster’s leadership. “The journalists spoke about certain cases, which suggested that critical broadcasting and editorial independence were at stake. The Public Defender stated that she fully supported the policy of non-interference with the activities of journalists and editorial independence, and that she would closely watch the developments”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) publishes a study: “Mandatory gender quota at parliamentary elections in the EU Member States”. “Applying a mandatory gender quota is an effective mechanism to tackle gender inequality quickly. We have studied laws and practices of the EU member states to see how they managed to increase representation of women in the legislative body and what reforms they implemented to achieve it. The research shows that a mandatory gender quota at parliamentary elections is applied in 10 out of the 28 EU member states. The first six of them also use a unified proportional representation electoral system (List PR)”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. UNDP, in partnership the UN Women and the governments of Czech Republic and Denmark, published a study on behavior of the domestic violence bystanders. “The study showed that in half of the cases of domestic violence the witnesses remain inert and those who are willing to help often do not know how. The study was presented within the ongoing 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence which this year runs under a slogan “Every Woman Has A Story”. Read more… Source: Social network

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Tbilisi. On December 4, The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) with the support of the European Union (EU) presented conducted the presentation of the analysis of legislation and practice of plea bargain. “Despite several reforms over the years, the practice of concluding plea bargains in Georgia is still very active and its use is well above the European average. Our research aims to identify gaps and challenges in plea bargaining and identify specific proposals to eliminate them.” – is mentioned in the blog post. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. An organization “Partnership for Human Rights” addressed the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in regard to the case of a 9-year-old beaten child with autism, who was not recognized as victim by the Prosecutor’s Office and court. “We would like to remind you that in September 2019 PHR wrote about the Prosecutor’s Office and court refusing to grant the status of victim to a child with a disability”, - 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. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes an article of Mariam Shalvashvili: Precarious being of Azerbaijani female workers. “In the conditions of precarious work people are often employed temporarily (daily or for a few weeks or months), this type of work does not include various guarantees for those employed, the most important of which is that employees have no feeling of stability and they do not even know whether they will have to work next day or not. The work of women occupied at greenhouses is difficult not only physically, women never know in advance whether their hand will again be needed in a few days in the greenhouse or not and how much they will be able to earn during the following days”. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes a blogpost: Gender imbalance in the self-government bodies of the municipalities of Adjara. “The representation of women in the city councils of Adjara has increased, although, in spite of this, there is a significant gender imbalance in the self-government bodies, especially in the executive organs of the municipalities. Women’s representation is still low in the factions and commissions of the city councils. Only 2 of the 29 factions (both in Batumi) in the region’s self-government bodies are chaired by women. As for commissions, only 4 of the 30 commissions in 6 city councils are chaired by women (in Kobuleti, Khelvachauri, Shuakhevi, and Khulo)”, is noted in the statement.  Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On November 29-30, The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) held the 2-day international conference - Good Governance Forum (GG Forum), which aimed to explore innovative mechanisms and the most cost-effective approaches of combating corruption, especially high-level corruption. The conference intended to do this by engaging local and international experts and stakeholders around several key related topics: anti-corruption monitoring and institutional solutions to combating corruption, beneficial ownership transparency, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), public procurement and open contracting. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. According to the decision of the Women's Fund in Georgia, this year the theme of the Kato Mikeladze award was cooperation and intersection among movements. There were nominated 16 women for the award, those who work in related fields, but whose activities are directed towards improvement of legal status of women. The winner of the Kato Mikeladze award for 2019 is Khatia Gogoberidze. The winner has been given a financial prize set by Mama Cash - the International Feminist Foundation, while the UN Development Program ensures her attendance at a meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women that is going to take place in March 2020 in New York. Read more… Source: www.womenfundgeorgia.org

Tbilisi. On the protection of the rights of persons living in high mountainous village the Public Defender of Georgia made a Recommendation for The government of Georgia.  ‘The village of Kvabijvari in the Adigeni municipality is a high mountainous region, 70,000 square meters of land (intended for mowing) of which was handed over to the Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church by the Government of Georgia free of charge’, - is mentioned in the Recommendation, - ‘For the purpose of protecting the rights of the villagers, the Public Defender addressed the Prime Minister with a recommendation on 25 October 2019 and asked him to resume proceedings with regard to the above decision, fully or partially abolish it and make a new, well-founded decision on the basis of fully examining all the circumstances of the case’.  Read more…  Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International urges dialogue with civil society during political crisis in Georgia. ‘Transparency International is deeply concerned by the political crisis and backlash against independent civil society groups in Georgia, which risk harming democratic progress in the country and undermining attempts to fight corruption. Transparency International has previously warned about the signs of state capture in Georgia. The failure to proceed with electoral reform weakens the health of Georgia’s democracy and threatens future anti-corruption efforts’ – Is mentioned in the statement.  Read more…  Source: www.transparency.ge

Samegrelo. On November 28, a German volunteer met association "Atinati" youth center members. “During the meeting youth talked about violence and oppression . "They simulated problematic situations, where the roles of the abuser and victim were adjusted and found alternative ways of solving the problems“. Read more… Source: Social network

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia made a Amicus Curiae Brief relating to the "Wake the Oligarch Up" Activists. ‘The 5 September ruling of the Ozurgeti District Court, on the basis of which, nine participants of the ‘Wake the Oligarch Up’ demonstrations held in the vicinity of Ureki Residence LLC in July-August were found guilty of violating the noise limits, is worth mentioning in this regard. According to the Court, since the purpose of the rally participants was to make noise, their action did not fall under the scope of the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations’, - is mentioned in the document, - ‘The Public Defender of Georgia considers that the decision represents a dangerous precedent of substantive restriction of freedom of expression’. Read more…  Source: http://ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. “Transparency International Georgia” studied entrepreneurial activities of all 50 members of Tbilisi City Municipal Assembly of VI convocation and, as stated in information disseminated by the organization, revealed several violations. More specifically: 10 officials of the Assembly incompletely declared either their own entrepreneurial activities or those of their family members; six of them transferred their shares in private companies to other people with the right of management; while one official remains on a position of a director in a private company, thus performing an activity incompatible with his work. “Transparency International Georgia” addresses the “Civil Service Bureau” to examine property declarations of these officials and respond respectively. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Public Defender Assesses Investigation into Ia Kerzaia’s Death.  ‘The Public Defender’s Office has completed the examination of investigative materials relating to the death of Ia Kerzaia and found the same systemic gaps in the case, which were characteristic of many other cases investigated by the Prosecutor's Office’, - is mentioned in the information of the Public Defender’s Office, - ‘Although the Prosecutor's Office interviewed all persons linked to the case after the launch of the investigation, it was not possible to obtain crucial evidence or establish the truth in the case due to the delayed launch of the investigation’.  Read more…  Source: http://ombudsman.ge

Ajara. The association “Foreji” opened a trout incubation demonstration farm in the village of Tsoniarisi, Keda Municipality. The initiative is supported by EU and is part of the ENPARD Keda LEADER project implemented by CENN in the municipality.  Within the project, a modern fish incubation demonstration farm has been established. The farm ensures the breeding of healthy and high-quality fish and a sufficient supply of fish to fish farms throughout the year.  Implementation of the project will support and promote the optimal use of the water resources of the Adjara region, develop modern fishery standards, provide a sufficient supply of fish to local fish farms and strengthen existing fisheries in the region.  Read more… Source: http://enpard.ge