Tbilisi. According to information of Partnership for Human Rights (PHR) both the Prosecutor's Office and court did not consider a 9-year-old beaten child with autism spectrum to be a victim.  “The father restricted to include Petre in therapeutic courses and blamed the mother of the child for his diagnosis. He brutally punished the child because of a diagnosis of autism. An investigation, initiated in September 2018 in regard to the fact of domestic violence, revealed that victims of both physical and emotional abuse were the mother and sisters of Petre as well, in whose presence the father used to beat and throw various objects onto his wife and son with disability. The Prosecutor's Office recognized the mother and two children as victims of violence, while refused to grant Petre the status of affected”, - is stated on the website of the organization.  Read more… Source: phrgeorgia.wordpress.com

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. Media Development Foundation (MDF) published a new research, ‘Hate Speech – 2018’.  This report reflects the results of media monitoring and the data obtained through focus groups that were conducted between 1 January and 31 December 2018. The objective of the study was to reveal various forms of hate speech and sources of hate speech in media and public discourse as well as to analyze main trends.  Read more… Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. Mayors of Rustavi, Kutaisi, Ozurgeti and Lagodekhi municipalities have signed the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life. The signing ceremony was initiated by the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia. The document, developed by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) in May 2006, aims to both establish gender balance and take respective measures within the frameworks of their jurisdiction in order to improve equality between men and women at municipalities. Read more… Source: http://nala.ge

On 23 September 2019, the Public Defender of Georgia, Nino Lomjaria, opened the Rule of Law Session at the 2019 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting of OSCE Participating States in the Polish Capital of Warsaw.  While addressing participants of the meeting, the Georgian Public Defender spoke about the human rights challenges in Georgia and in the region. She was the only head of a national human rights institution to receive such an honor this year.  Read more… Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring (EMC) publishes a blog post: “Report of the Advisory Committee of the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities on Georgia”. “The Advisory Committee considers that the process of implementation of the Framework Convention has not been substantially changed since the previous monitoring. The Committee welcomes enactment of anti-discrimination legislation, special strategies, action plans and programs in the field of integration to support equality and integration, however, it observes substantial challenges in terms of implementation the Framework Convention and ensuring equality in reality”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Representatives of EU’s partner organisations – Mercy Corps, CARE and People in Need – implementing the EU-funded ENPARD project “Strengthening Rural Development Models in Georgia” and the members of EU-supported Borjomi, Lagodekhi and Kazbegi Local Action Groups (LAGs) participated in Leader Inspired Network Community, LINC Conference in Estonia.  LINC is a European Leader conference which combines European exchange of experience with sport events and European culinary. It is an initiative from LAGs and National Network Units for rural development in Austria, Germany, Estonia and Finland. The conference aimed to present the results and innovative methods achieved using the European LEADER approach to rural development, exchange the professional experience of representatives of the European LEADER areas and establish links for international cooperation.  Read more… Source: http://enpard.ge

Tbilisi. Today, Europe Foundation (EPF) presented its recent survey report entitled Knowledge and Attitudes towards the EU in Georgia.  EPF has been commissioning the EU Knowledge and Attitudes survey biannually since 2009. The survey results are representative of the whole population of Georgia (excluding occupied territories). All waves of surveys have been carried out using identical questionnaire to allow for the comparison of changes in populations knowledge of and expectations towards the European Union, Georgia-EU relations and European integration. In 2019 2,746 interviews were conducted.  Read more… Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. The Media Development Foundation (MDF) publishes an analysis of one-year media monitoring results - hate speech, 2018. “During the monitoring period there have been published 1814 statements with discriminatory content in the surveyed means of media. The biggest part of them is about xenophobia and constitutes 44.1%, while those regarding homophobic statements - 40.4%, discrimination on religious grounds (8.5%) and inspiration of hate speech on the basis of various factors - (4%). Statements with racist content form 3%”, - is stated on the website of the organization in a social network. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

USAID needs your help! A message from USAID/Georgia Mission Director Peter Wiebler: We are designing a new development agenda for the next five years and we need your input. What would you like to see Georgia achieve during the next five years?  Read more… Source: Social network

Tbilisi. ”Media Advocacy Coalition” responds to information released in regard to a “Batumelebi” edition.  “According to information released on September 21, 2019, relatives of a founder of “Batumelebi” are accused of attacking police. While Eter Turadze, Editor-in-chief, does not exclude that an action taken by police may be a message to the edition. “Media Advocacy Coalition” considers it necessary to determine whether the police action is linked with an activity of the media means and if so, the case should be given an appropriate qualification”, - is noted in the statement.  Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) critically appraises an initiative in regard to depriving Mayor Representatives of a status of professional public servant.  “We consider that Mayor Representatives of municipalities should have a status of professional public servant retained, because functions performed by them carry professional character, are not related to passing a policy of Mayor at the local level and to implement them it is not necessary to be in line with political visions of Mayor”, - is noted in the statement of the organization.  Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a blog post: Extent of SDGs Integration in the National Public Policy System of Georgia.  “The given analysis aims at ascertaining to what extent existing national policy documents contain obligations in line with SDG indicators. The evaluation will assist the GoG to identify challenges and take relevant steps in regards to nationalizing specific SDGs”, is noted in the statement.  Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. 19 September, at the Rooms Hotel Tbilisi, Network of Centers for Civic Engagement hosted a presentation of State Grant Funding-Existing Situation and Perspectives. The event was organized by “Network of Centers for Civic Engagement”, in the framework of the project “Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative”.  As a part of this project, within the support of Civil Society Institute, the Network of Centers for Civic Engagement and the Green Caucasus conducted monitoring of the process of grant issuing by public institutions. The monitoring period covered grants, issued in 2016-2017. Core objective of this event was to examine the actual situation as it stands in terms of state grant funding in Georgia and to discuss possible perspectives in this sense and to present monitoring outcomes.  The director of the Network of Centers for Civic Engagement, Nina Khatiskatsi and Civil Society Program Officer of EU Delegation Georgia, Dominika Skubida welcomed the audience. “We note that the scale and scope of funding for Civil Society in Georgia remains still insufficient to meaningfully improve the sustainability of the sector. Enhancement of enabling environment for diversification of funding, including support for refining state granting system, is therefore our main priority aimed at this objective. We welcome therefore the commitment of the Government of Georgia under the Open Government Partnership Action Plan to increase efficiency and allow local governments to use granting mechanism” - said Dominika Skubida.  The first part of the event was dedicated to present the major findings of the monitoring conducted by both organizations. More specifically, some of the crucial aspects have been emphasized: how clearly the particular details related to grant issuance are defined beforehand and to what extent the state agencies fulfill their commitments, considering each stage of providing grants; as well as the experience of granted CSOs in terms of administering state funds. It is worth mentioning that neither monitoring, nor the reports intend to evaluate the quality of the grant projects or its’ content. The legal environment related to the state grant funding was reviewed during the second part of the event. Levan Paniashili, the representative of Civil Society Institute, talked about CSOs’ State Grant Funding Reform Concept, elaborated by CSI expert team. One of the primary aspects he mentioned were the challenges, which reveal the importance and the need of mentioned reform. Moreover, the speaker analyzed current situation in regard to the reform concept and shared the key findings and recommendations of the document, along with its reflection in the legislation. The representatives of the public institutions, media, local CSOs and international organizations attended the presentation. They had an opportunity to address speakers with questions and get involved in the follow up discussions, after the presentations. In addition, the call for applications for the second cycle of the sub-granting competition on the State Grant Funding Monitoring was announced. The participants were able to receive detailed information about the term and conditions.  Project “Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” was developed and is implemented by the consortium, led 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 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Project aims to improve working environment for CSOs in Georgia, to support their capacity building, accountability and transparency and to strengthen their ties and cooperation with other actors.

Tbilisi. On September 17th and 19th, results of the new CRRC-NDI survey were released. The survey was conducted in July 2019 and 2,131 adult people were surveyed all around Georgia (excluding occupied territories).  Read more… Source: crrc.ge

Tbilisi. The “Open Society Georgia Foundation” has published individual portfolios of candidates for judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia today. The portfolios offer profiles of twenty candidates selected/nominated by the High Council of Justice as a result of verbal interviews with judicial candidates, combine facts obtained from public sources and contain less appraisals. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

The web portal www.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” responds to a briefing of the President of Georgia of today, during which she announced a moratorium on the use of an exclusive authority of pardoning entrusted to the President. “Announcing a moratorium on the use of an authority of pardoning with an indefinite period of time in response to the criticism emerged within the society after using a discretionary authority of pardoning by the President without any justification, brings harm to those convicts at penitentiary institutions, for whom the pardoning mechanism is often the last opportunity for justice“, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. ”No to Phobia!” platform member organizations release a statement concerning expressions used in regard to the Batumi Mosque.  “We call on government representatives and public officials to refrain from making statements of xenophobic and discriminatory character and to adhere to the principles of freedom of religion, rule of law and equality, guaranteed by the Constitution”, - is noted in the statement released by “No to Phobia!” platform member organizations.  Read more… Source: www.humanrights.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia joins the public criticism regarding the pardoning of certain individuals by the President of Georgia and calls on the President to ensure maximum transparency and public involvement in the exercise of pardon power.  ‘The Public Defender explains that the discretionary nature of the pardon power does not imply its use without any justification. Pardoning should be aimed at achieving a specific task – be it in light of state, political, judicial, or special individual circumstances.1In each case, the use of such an exceptional power must be as perceptible and understandable as possible for the public’, - Is mentioned in the statement of the Public Defender.  Read more… Source: The web-page of the organization

Kakheti. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) under the ENPARD programme of the European Union, held a Farmer Field Day for the farmers and stakeholders in Lagodekhi, Georgia. The event was held in support to the agricultural extension services which is one of the components of the FAO-ENPARD project which supports the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia (MEPA) in the implementation of the National Strategy for Agricultural Extension 2018-2019. FAO organizes farmer field schools, theoretical and practical training activities for lead farmers, ICCs and interns from Agrarian University. Within the project FAO experts arrange various types of demonstration plots of potatoes, wheat, maize, cucumber, eggplant and sweet corn, focusing on the municipalities of Dedoplistskaro, Akhalkalaki, Khazbegi and Lagodekhi. Read more… Source: http://enpard.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics compiled guidelines for combating hate speech. “Hate speech is often associated with all types of negative expressions. Abusive, defamatory or discrediting materials are perceived as hate speech. In reality, there is a big difference among them. Due to the fact that every country has a different unique contexts, it is difficult to determine what hate speech is, which terms, phrases and expressions may enhance a negative attitude toward any person. Notwithstanding, there is agreement as to what hate speech is based on. According to a recommendation, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 1997, “Hate speech implies all forms of expression that disseminate, propagate, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other forms of intolerance, including nationalism, ethnocentrism, discrimination and hostility towards minorities or migrants”, - is stated in the information released by the Charter. Read more… Source: The website of the organization