Tbilisi. ''Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association'' and ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC) respond to a strike organized by workers of the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant.  ''The strike aims at realization of basic labor rights and obtaining minimum guarantees for social security. Organizations call on employers and the state to ensure execution of labor legislation and protection of labor rights of those employed'', - is noted in the statement. Read more... Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Following almost a week-long impediment, video-materials placed on the official Facebook page of WISG and links shared from the organization's website are once again accessible. ''However, what happened demonstrated the increasing scale of action of homophobic and extremist groups on the Facebook platform, which on one hand interrupt the work carried out by human rights defenders and LGBTQI activists by mobilizing fake accounts, reporting and hacking pages, and on the other hand, spread purposefully false information before vast audience, containing homophobic, misogynistic, racist or other types of hate speech'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: women.ge

Tbilisi. ''Fair Elections'' publishes a blog post written by a researcher Ana Andguladze in Brussels in regard to the European Parliament election, to be conducted on May 23-26, and its importance for Georgia. ''New composition of the European Parliament is interesting also for Georgia. The European Parliament of 2014 convocation often stated its opinion related to the support of the European integration course and territorial integrity of Georgia, and, at the same time, continuously monitored political processes ongoing in Georgia'', - is stated in the blog post. Read more… Source:isfed.ge

Tbilisi. According to the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), the May 19, 2019 mid-term and extraordinary election day has passed without substantial violations, however there has been revealed a negative trend that is connected with both control of expression of will of voter and tense environment. ''Unfortunately, in some cases it turned into physical confrontation and violence'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Kakheti. "Knowledge House” was opened with support of the EU in the village Arkhiloskalo of Dedoplistskaro municipality. With the support of the EU-funded project "Promoting Citizen Engagement for Economic Development” (PROCEED) and Dedoplistskaro Local Action Group (LAG), a rural development initiative "Knowledge House” was launched in the village Arkhiloskalo. The initiative aims to give a start to several after school circles that will help the engaged children to better develop their community spirit, social skills and creativity through the mutual support, integrated learning, knowledge sharing and interactive intellectual games. The children will be also given an opportunity to regularly meet people who share similar interests. Read more  Source: http://enpard.ge

Tbilisi. On 19th May snap elections are going to be held in several electoral districts. During the last few weeks political activities in Zugdidi electoral district reached the highest threshold of tension. ''We consider that all the parties involved in electoral processes must abstain from escalating the situation in all the possible ways. It is really important to give all the candidates the opportunity to carry out their electoral campaign in a peaceful environment and the voters as well mustn’t be precluded from the free expression of their will'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The May 19, 2019 mid-term elections will be monitored by up to 240 short-term observers and 10 mobile groups of ''International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy'' (ISFED). According to the information released by the organization, observers of ISFED will be present at all polling stations in Zugdidi, Marneuli and Mtatsminda districts and monitor the elections based on the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) methodology. Read more... Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Public defender, Nino Lomjaria, publishes the statement on International day against Homophobia and Transphobia. ''The International Day Against Homophobia and Transparency is not being openly celebrated by LGBT+ community, LGBT rights defenders and their supporters this year, due to lack of security guarantees, which is a step backward on the path of improvement of the rights situation of the LGBT community and realization of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. It should be emphasized that celebration of this day is aimed at condemning violence and expressing solidarity towards LGBT people. Unfortunately, celebration of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia has been related to violence and endangered people's safety in recent years in Georgia'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. 13-14, Tbilisi hosted a conference ''Localization of 2018-2020 National Action Plan of Georgia for Implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security''. The participants of the conference were representatives of Sakrebulo , City halls , Gender Equality Councils and 1325 working groups, as well as IDPs and conflict affected population of 10 target municipalities of the project (Gori, Kaspi, Khashuri, Kareli, Dusheti, Zugdidi, Tsalenjikha, Sachkhere, Stepantsminda and Tskhaltubo). Read more… Source: The page of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics publishes a handbook for covering children issues. ''Coverage of a child is unconditionally necessary when s/he is a victim of violence/crime. Consent of a guardian does not exempt a journalist from responsibility. S/he should personally evaluate negative consequences that identification of a child may entail''', - is stated on the website of the Charter. Read more... Source:www.qartia.ge

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...

On 6-10 May 2019, a study visit to Austria was organized for the Keda Local Action Group (LAG) members. Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of Ajara A/R and Deputy Mayor of Keda Municipality also took part in the visit. The study tour was supported by the EU ENPARD program and was organized by the Austrian Institute for Regional Studies and Spatial Planning (ÖIR) in partnership with CENN. The aim of the visit was to learn more about LEADER principals, the LAG role in the development of the Local Development Strategies and the section process of local development sub-projects. In the framework of the visit, participants held meetings with representatives of the Austrian Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism, Austrian Development Agency and the Ambassador of Georgia to Austria. Participants also visited two LEADER regions and met with respective LEADER managers and LAG representatives. Read more  Source: http://enpard.ge

Tbilisi. On the background of the upcoming midterm elections, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) responds to the information spread by media in regard to the violent incident and alleged electoral crimes, which took place on May 14 in Zugdidi. ''Fair Elections'' considers that an action involving signs of any crime, revealed during the election campaign process, requires immediate, effective and timely response by law enforcement agencies'', - is noted in the statement released by ISFED. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. On 14 May 2019, Public Defender Nino Lomjaria presented the Special Report on Monitoring the Child Care System – Effectiveness of Alternate Care. The report was prepared by the Public Defender's Office with the support of the European Union and UNICEF. ''Identification of child victims of violence, management of complex behavior and crisis situations, prevention of and timely response to the cases of child abuse, and psycho-social assistance remain problematic. The state does not have a systemic vision to tackle poverty and raise the social function of families. The available programmes cannot meet the needs in this direction, which negatively affects the rights of children. Shortcomings in the field of child care, the lack of specialists, psychologists and social workers and the problem of their effective engagement remain problematic'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia responds to the alleged criminal offenses committed during the campaign of the Zugdidi mayor snap elections in recent days, which could hinder the holding of elections in a free and fair environment and violate human rights. ''These actions clearly contain signs of criminal offense and it should not be difficult to identify the attackers'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. According to the information of the Odishi TV Company, on May 14, representatives of ''Georgian Dream'' confronted their respondent Sandra Roelofs, a Zugdidi mayoral candidate from the United Opposition, while recording a program ''Lustration'' in the yard of the Zugdidi Museum of History. ''The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics addresses law enforcement agencies to investigate the incident in a timely manner and raise the issue of responsibility of particular people'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:www.qartia.ge

Tbilisi. According to information of ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC), ''Biblus'' has lost a court dispute in regard to a defamation case. ''In May 2017, the company sued its employees due to those video addresses, in which they were both describing improper labor conditions, created at ''Biblus'', and calling on public to express support and solidarity'', - is noted in the statement released by EMC, - ''the Tbilisi City Court did not satisfy the claim of ''Biblus'' due to groundlessness''. In court, interests of defendants in the case were defended by EMC. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) welcomes the initiation of drafting the new Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan for 2019-2020 by the Secretariat of Anti-Corruption Interagency Council and hopes that the document will cover all the important objectives for corruption prevention. ''Analysis of the practice of combating corruption in Georgia shows that the independence of the agencies fighting corruption is the most challenging. IDFI has been highlighting the deficiencies in the existing anticorruption system for a long time in various formats'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) is implementing several projects aimed at raising awareness about the Democratic Republic of Georgia and commemorating the 100th anniversary of its creation. One such project involves publishing a memorial album featuring Nikoloz (Karlo) Chkheidze, a prominent politician of the time. The album will include previously unpublished archival and photo materials, with extensive annotations and details about Karlo Chkheidze's biography and work. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a blog post: Compliance with deadlines for case review and decision-making in the Tbilisi City Court - practice of 2015-2018 years. ''The purpose of the current study is to reveal compliance with/breaching deadlines for case review and decision making by judges in the Tbilisi City Court, which is the busiest court in the country'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source:idfi.ge

Lawyers of the organization ''Partnership for Human Rights'' visited the Martkopi boarding house for people with disabilities in order to get familiar with existing situation there. ''While visiting the boarding house, there were noticed tense, conflicting relations between residents of the institution and the personnel. According to the residents, cases of theft of various items from rooms are frequent at the institution, which fact is not responded by the administration and staff'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:phrgeorgia.wordpress.com

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...