Tbilisi. Social Justice Center presents an interview with Paata Zakareishvili, Natia Chankvetadze and Giorgi Kanashvili, experts having experience in political and academic work. The topic of the interview is conflict. “A few days ago, the Prime Minister and the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality presented long-term strategic visions for reconciliation and confidence building. The Government of the Georgian Dream has further enhanced the importance of the policy of reconciliation and confidence building at the discourse level, however, it continues to work in this direction with paradigms, tools and methods of the previous Government, and these efforts have not yielded significant political and social results”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia and ISFED consider that the composition of organizations invited for selection of members of the CEC advisory group and the decision-making procedure cannot ensure selection of qualified and credible people on the basis of consensus. Organizations leave the process of selection of members of the advisory group. “It is unfortunate that, despite setting an ambitious electoral reform as a goal, both staffing the CEC with new members and selection of an advisory group have turned to be flawed and are likely going to fail to increase confidence in the election administration”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center (formerly EMC) calls on the Government to set protection and security of villages, located around the dividing line, as well as their social and economic support as its immediate priority and spend active efforts on taking care and well-being of residents of war-affected villages as well as on development of their vital social infrastructure. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Adjara. What is a failure that, in reality, signifies taking a step towards success and strong motivation? With the support of UN Women, women entrepreneurs shared their experiences on this matter with an audience on 26 July in Batumi at the popular events series Fuckup Nights. “The event, organized by Tbilisi Startup Büro, consisted of presentations by four women entrepreneurs. Through the stories they told to the attendees, they once again displayed the obstacles they had overcome in their business pursuits and tried to motivate other women with their personal examples. After the speakers’ speeches, a panel discussion was held, during which the women entrepreneurs also answered audience questions”. Read more… Source: georgia.unwomen.org

Tbilisi. On August 6, Education Development and Employment Center was held an online meeting with regional hubs within the “Civil Society STAR Initiative: CSOs as Sustainable, Transparent, Accountable and Resilient Development Actors in Georgia” project. The meeting aimed to introduce and discuss the planned activities for the establishment and development of the Youth Councils. Learn more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies publishes a blog post of Davit Batashvili, a researcher of the organization: Why it is important to know on which date the 2008 war started. “There is a kind of confusion in Georgia regarding the start date of the 2008 war. People sometimes mention August 7, sometimes August 8 as the day when the war started, as if there is no difference between these two dates. In fact, there is a key, fundamental difference between them. August 7 is the day when the Russian army actually invaded Georgia and thus started the war against it. While August 8 is the date on which Moscow lies - as if it launched a military operation against Georgia on that day and not before. This lie has a very important political purpose. Saying that, Russia declares that its attack on Georgia began only after Tbilisi launched a military operation in the Tskhinvali region. Supporting this lie of Russia by Georgians via mentioning August 8 as the start date of the war is an inconceivable folly and negligence. Superficial attitude towards history and facts that often characterizes us, is, in this case, an action that causes direct harm to interests of own country and supports Russian disinformation”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source: www.gfsis.org

Tbilisi. On August 6, there was held a rally of those employed at “Tbilservice Group”, a company owned by Tbilisi Municipality. “The statement of participants of the rally reveals a number of violations of labor rights. Social Justice Center expresses its solidarity with striking workers and calls on the Labor Inspection Service to take the initiative and immediately inspect working conditions of those employed at “Tbilservice”, while it urges “Tbilservice Group” and the City Hall of Tbilisi Municipality - to study concerns of participants of the rally and take prompt steps to meet fair demands of employees”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, on behalf of Ruslan Gvaradze, a former civil aviation maintenance technician, appealed to the Constitutional Court in regard to constitutionality of reduction of financial assistance to him based on a Government decree. “On June 14, 1987, a helicopter of Ruslan Gvaradze had a flight in the direction of Tbilisi-Telavi-Omalo. During landing, the helicopter fell into a ravine, due to which accident Ruslan Gvaradze received an industrial injury, lost 80% of his ability to work and became a person with significantly apparent disability (at that time a “second group disabled person”). Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. As FactCheck informs, there are spread fake quotes of Amiran Gamkrelidze on a social network, in particular, “Keep distance, wife and husband contact each other via messenger!” - Amiran Gamkrelidze.  These posts have thousands of comments and hundreds of shares by users on Facebook. According to verified data, “a quote or comment, similar to that of Director General of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health regarding the necessity for distance to be kept between wife and husband, cannot be found in publicly available/open sources. It is assumed that Amiran Gamkrelidze has not made the above-mentioned statement about keeping distance between couples and contacting each other via messenger”. Read more… Source: factcheck.ge

Tbilisi. Social Justice Center expresses its concern about the fact that even one month later, the ongoing investigation into the mass, collective violence, organized by extremist groups on July 5-6 in streets of Tbilisi, remains ineffective. “So far, investigative bodies have not only failed to perform complete identification of people committing the violence, but they have not defined the responsibility of organizers of mass violence either, besides, the investigation into organization of violence is also passive and weak”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. Public Defender assesses refusal of reappointment of school principal as discrimination on political grounds. “The applicant had been working as a principal of one of the public schools in the Mtskheta municipality since 15 October 2014. In October 2020, she was not reappointed as acting principal and was replaced by another person. In the applicant's view, the refusal of the Ministry of Education to reappoint her was conditioned by the political activity of her husband and son, who were supporters of an opposition party. According to the Public Defender, given the increased risks of politicization of the education system and dismissal of persons on discriminatory grounds, the fact that the refusal of reappointment of the applicant coincided with the political activity of her spouse and son raises suspicions. In addition, the respondent failed to present a justification that would have refuted the suspicion of discrimination”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. As the Institute for Tolerance and Diversity (TDI) informs, by the order of the Minister of Health, from July 22, there came into force a regulation, which allows foreigners, residing in Georgia, to benefit from the state immunization program and get vaccinated against COVID-19. However, the order envisages specific conditions and it applies only to a certain group of foreign beneficiaries. According to the regulation, vaccination will not be available for foreigners residing without documents, as well as for those who are legally present in Georgia but had to cross the Georgian border and re-enter during the last three months in order to ensure their legal stay in Georgia. Meanwhile, restrictions against Indian students still remain unchanged. They can enter Georgia only by charter flights. On the other hand, charter flights are either canceled or limited and students are unable to return to Georgia for their studies. The organizations call on the Government of Georgia and the Interagency Coordination Council on Pandemic Issues to lift above-mentioned restrictions, which limit human rights, endanger their lives and increase the risk of spreading the virus. Rights Georgia joins the statement. Read more… Source:tdi.ge

Samtskhe-Javakheti. Civil society organizations working in Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli address the Government of Georgia in regard to the vaccination process. According to the organizations, residents of regions populated by ethnic minorities (Samtskhe-Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli) are especially skeptical about vaccination and turn to be influenced by Russian propaganda. They do not intend to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Even if informed and convinced, residents have a lot of other barriers: they do not speak the state language, which fact makes it difficult for them to register on a Georgian-language portal, even hotline operators speak to them only in the Georgian language. “We, as the civil society organizations working for years in a region densely populated by ethnic minorities, consider those ethnic minorities living in Georgia should have an opportunity to register on the vaccination portal and receive information from hotline operators in a language they can understand. We hope the state fulfills its responsibilities towards citizens properly and ensures improved access to the vaccination process for ethnic minorities in the nearest upcoming days”, - is noted in the joint statement. Read more… Source: The website of the Union of Democrat Meskhs on a social network

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Kakheti. Representatives of various fields held a working meeting on August 3 aiming to update the communication strategy of the “This Country is Yours” campaig. The meeting was preceded by online focus groups sessions, interviews of people involved in different fields and campaigns, who evaluated the large-scale campaign, launched three years ago, on the one hand, while on the other hand, presented their views on renewal of the existing communication strategy. We would like to remind you that the large-scale campaign “This Country is Yours” has been launched three years ago and it serves to establish civic values as well as facilitate civic activism and activities of civil society. The meeting was organized by the Civil Society Institute within the framework of the Civil Society Initiative project, financial support of which is provided by the European Union (EU) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS).

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia continues to research the business interests of the relatives and associates of Anzor Bolkvadze, a member of the Georgian Parliament elected from the Georgian Dream as a majoritarian in highland Adjara. “None of our findings regarding the activities of Anzor Bolkvadze published in 2020 have received a response from the relevant agencies. However, new circumstances have emerged that revealed additional corruption and conflict of interest risks. This study summarizes the income received by the majoritarian MP's family members, the companies belonging to his relatives, and associates from public procurement, when Bolkvadze was a majoritarian MP, which we think depicts the MP's influence”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. As FactCheck updates, there was spread a disinformation on a social network, according to which Chief Nurse of Archimedes Clinic in Tsnori died of vaccination against the coronavirus. Verification with the Ministry of Health revealed that “Nana Kachlishvili, Chief Nurse of Archimedes Clinic, died indeed, however, her death had nothing in common with vaccination. The nurse was vaccinated with a single dose of Sinopharm, a vaccine against the coronavirus, on July 21. Later, on July 24, she was tested positive for the coronavirus. As the Ministry stated, the nurse was a patient with severe chronic illnesses and died on August 3, however, her death was not connected with vaccination”. Read more… Source: factcheck.ge

Tbilisi. ISFED will provide a legal assistance to those dismissed from work on alleged political grounds during the 2021 pre-election period. The organization has filed several lawsuits in common courts in order to protect interests of people fired from their jobs on discriminatory motives. ISFED will continue to provide free legal assistance to those dismissed from work on discriminatory grounds. “If you consider that you have been fired based on your political beliefs: Call - 0 800 100 143 or Write to us at - info@isfed.ge Lawyers of ISFED will provide a legal assistance and consultation to you throughout the country”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. On August 3, in cooperation with the State Inspector's Service, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) held the opening event of the joint summer school on personal data protection. “The 3rd and 4th year students, as well as the Master's students of the Law School students of the universities authorized in Georgia participate in the summer school. Within the scope of the summer school, participants will learn about current issues related to personal data protection”. Learn more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Center expresses its concern over the rapid spread of the new coronavirus - COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia. “While according to current data, only 5% of population is fully vaccinated, and that is when the positive indicator of transmission of the virus reaches 6 to 8 percent per day. If the state ensures diversity in choices of European and American quality vaccines recognized by the World Health Organization, as well as takes into account the attitude towards vaccination (for instance, there are vaccines that require one-time vaccination), it will speed up the vaccination process to some extent. It is also important to properly disseminate information among public as trust in new types of vaccines is low due to the fact that they have not been tested over years and causes people to fear for the future. Besides, it should be considered that it was in Georgia in particular, where the case of death took place and obstructed the vaccination process leading to distrust in medical staff. Provision of access to registration for a vaccine technically is a crucial issue”. Read more… Source: www.hrc.ge

Tbilisi. Public Defender of Georgia publishes a special report: “The Administration of Justice on Crimes of Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of Children”.  “The study of Public Defender’s Office revealed that, State does not have services specifically focused on rehabilitation or provision of support to child victims of sexual abuse, which would allow relevant professionals to plan long-term work with both children and their families. The currently available state services are drastically inconsistent with the needs existing in the country”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations consider that the Government uses the State Security Service as a tool for total control. "The material related to activities of the State Security Service and broadcasted on the air of Mtavari Channel once again indicates the gravest practice of mass control and violation of human rights existing in the country. On the background of a fragile democracy and severe political crises, the State Security Service has emerged as a strictly politicized agency protecting interests of influential political figures, which attempts to retain political power of the particular group through surveillance, intimidation and blackmailing tools”, - is noted in the joint statement. Read more... Source: gyla.ge