Tbilisi. November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. “The Social Justice Center considers that the existing policy of the state should be substantially improved and based on more multi-layered vision and approaches in regard to the elimination of violence. It is important to enhance significantly working on real needs and long-term empowerment of women victims, on the one hand, while on the other hand, to establish a systemic policy based on inter-disciplinary knowledge and inter-agency (police, justice, social and penitentiary fields) coordination, which will address structural causes of violence, create conditions for real change of behavior, awareness and attitudes to perpetrators of violence, and manage introduction of more prompt and refined methodologies for measuring risks of violence”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, one of the main landmarks of the Georgian capital, the TV tower, was lit up in orange once again. “With this symbolic gesture, the capital of Georgia joined the global campaign against gender-based violence. The campaign started on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and will last for 16 days. The initiative, which has already become a tradition, has been implemented by UN Women with the support of Tbilisi City Hall since 2016”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center held a conference on “Inter-community relations, micro-conflicts and an integration policy”. “The purpose of the conference was to actualize challenges related to inclusive society and politics, encourage dialogue on this issue among political, expert and community groups, and propose recommendations for real changes to the state once again”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.  “Violence against women is a widespread problem. In Georgia, 1 in 5 women report having experienced sexual violence and/or sexual harassment at least once in their life - including sexual abuse as a child”. Find out more… Source: eu4georgia.eu

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center responds to a statement of Irakli Garibashvili in regard to tightening of a drug policy. “We consider that use of a repression and punishment-oriented rhetoric by the Prime Minister is extremely problematic. Instead of promoting a care-oriented policy, the statement of the Prime Minister causes stigmatization of drug users and their further exclusion from the society, while opinions expressed in the context of so-called prescription drug addiction are not aimed at elimination of root causes of the problem”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

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Tbilisi. An organization “Sapari” publishes a study: Human rights defenders needs assessment in Georgia. “Human rights defenders play an important role in the democratization process and often experience violence, imprisonment, torture, defamation, expulsion from workspace, restriction of freedom of movement, while in certain countries death and enforced disappearance. They confront numerous risks and dangers in recent years. Often threats posed to human rights defenders are not accidental; in most cases, violent attack is a deliberate and well-planned response to their activity. These challenges require introduction of comprehensive and dynamic strategies for security in the daily work of human rights defenders. It is no longer sufficient to give a simple piece of advice to human rights defenders “to take care of themselves”. Good management of their security and a specific strategy is needed”. Read more… Source: sapari.ge

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center became a Coalition Chair Organization. Participants elected the Steering Committee composed of nine organizations: Social Justice Center, Georgian Democracy Initiative, Georgian Young Lawyers Association, Transparency International Georgia, Open Society Georgia Foundation, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, Rights Georgia, Human Rights Center, and Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information. Read more… Source: coalition.ge

Tbilisi. The Coalition calls on the Parliament of Georgia to refrain from appointing Supreme Court judges until a systemic justice reform takes place and a political consensus for deciding such issues becomes mandatory. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center publishes an analytical document: Parental leave before and after the labor reform 2020. “The main problem for those employed is remuneration of a parental leave, which envisages one-time payment of GEL 1 000 by the state for the entire duration of the leave. It is obvious that in the circumstances of minimum remuneration parent is unable to provide adequate care for child, which fact ultimately results in incomplete use of a parental leave, return to work as quickly as possible, and, as a matter of fact, restriction of the right to a parental leave. The 2020 reform allowed fathers to take a paternity leave to care for child, however, at present, mother and father of child are unable to take a parental leave simultaneously. Despite small positive improvements entailed by the labor reform, the legislative standard of a parental leave still fails to ensure adequate protection and execution of the right to fair labor, as well as equality of those employed”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. On November 15, 2021, the Public Defender of Georgia, for the first time in the history of the Public Defender’s Office, has started fulfilling the duties of a member of the Board of Directors of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI). The Public Defender’s Office will represent the European region in the Board. The Office was elected a member of the European region in 2019. The Board of Directors oversees the organization's activities and makes decisions about its future activities. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by ISFED, two citizens have been reinstated to their jobs and got compensated for the forced loss with the help of the organization. “As plaintiffs state, their alleged political persecution started right after they rejected a proposal of Giorgi Tatuashvili, Mayor of Dmanisi Municipality, to be involved in the pre-election campaign. The decision was made unjustifiably and without proper study of legal grounds". The organization continues to provide free legal assistance to those dismissed unlawfully. Read more…  Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. The undersigned civil society organizations express grave concern regarding the frequent verbal assaults against the Ombudsperson of Georgia. “The office of the Public Defender of Georgia is the only independent constitutional institution in the country, which, in these circumstances of the ongoing state capture, is beyond the control of the ruling party. All impartial observers recognize that the activities of the Public Defender adhere to the highest standards of independence and professionalism. A clear testimony of this are the recent statements by the US State Department , Members of the European Parliament or Amnesty International. We, the undersigned civil society organizations, call on the government and the ruling party to stop their attacks against the Public Defender of Georgia and create all conditions necessary for its continued and unhindered work”.  Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. According to the UN Women Geogia the signatory companies of Women’s Empowerment Principles teamed up to engage girls in technology. “Georgian-American University GAU, Kant’s Academy and Geolab have launched WE-Tech - a new 6-months educational platform for women. Combining 4 main educational components, the program will help participants develop technological and entrepreneurial skills”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Kakheti. Qedeli community wishes you a happy St George's day and offers you a discount on their handmade production until 26th of November. „Text us in inbox and we will send them directly to your home by post“. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Guria. The village of Laituri was visited by UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia Sabine Machl, UN Women Country Representative in Georgia Kaori Ishikawa and the writer Ekaterine Togonidze. “With the support of UN Women and the Government of Norway, local women opened the first bakery as well as a café and a mushroom enterprise in Laituri in 2018, bringing new life to their village. Now they already have a local NGO and are going to implement a number of initiatives for the benefit of the community. The initiative was realized as part of the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality in Georgia, funded by the Government of Sweden”. Read more… Source: The organizations page on the social network

Tbilisi. According to the decision made by the Constitutional Court on June 7, 2019, judicial acts endorsed as a result of open hearings should be available to public, however, the Parliament has not yet adopted relevant legislative changes. “We call on the Parliament of Georgia to ensure proper and timely execution of the decision of the Constitutional Court of Georgia made on June 7, 2019”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center has prepared a brochure that aims at informing society about legal restrictions and penalties related to narcotic drugs. “A number of legislative changes aimed at introducing liberal approaches have been implemented in recent years in the field of drug policy, in line with the decisions made by the Constitutional Court. The amendments concerned, inter alia, the regulation of marijuana consumption. Regrettably, however, public perceptions pertaining to drug-related crimes or offenses often are not in conformity with the current legislative framework”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. At the 21st plenary session on October 26, 2021, the Anti-Corruption Network of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/ACN) was planning to approve a report on the assessment of the anti-corruption environment in Georgia. However, the Georgian government refused to give its approval to the report and demanded additional time with the aim of amending the text of the document. This step of the Georgian authorities causes a serious damage to the country’s external image and to its long-standing productive relationship with the OECD/ACN. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. With the assistance of “Rights Georgia”, a citizen of the Arab Republic of Egypt, won a dispute with the Public Service Development Agency (PSDA) regarding a Short term Residence Permit. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. In March 2021, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), in collaboration with the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia and with the support of USAID/PROLoG, started implementation of a pilot project that aimed at providing legal assistance to prisoners.  “In accordance with preliminarily elaborated criteria, there were selected cases of a total of 10 prisoners, who got subjected to various measures of disciplinary responsibility. In the court, prisoners were represented by GYLA. By this time, hearings of 5 cases have already been completed in Rustavi and Tbilisi city courts. In all five cases, courts satisfied claims and, respectively, imposition of disciplinary sanctions on prisoners by specific penitentiary institutions was declared unlawful. Legal proceedings on the other five cases are continued so far. The Office of the Public Defender and GYLA anticipate that the pilot project they launched and positive outcomes achieved, as well as standards set by court, will have a positive impact on the existing practice of applying disciplinary measures against prisoners in penitentiary institutions”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. IDFI informs that corruption indicators in Georgia are showing the increase of corruption risks. According to the TRACE International's new Business Bribery Risk Index Georgia lost one point and moved down in the ranking.  Read more… Source: idfi.ge