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Lately, the government of Georgia and the ruling party – United National Movement [UNM] became targets of strict criticism from two international institutions simultaneously. Co-rapporteurs from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and OSCE PA Pre-Election Mission laid out particular concerns about current situation in Georgia and demanded the government to create equal conditions for all political parties during pre-election campaign.

Four years have passed since the armed conflict of August, 2008. Hundreds of people – including peaceful civilians -died during the Russian-Georgian hostilities. Thousands of Georgians were displaced and the territories of Akhalgori district and Kodori Gorge were occupied by Russian military forces. Georgia completely lost control over enclaves in South Ossetia which were previously inhabited by ethnic Georgian people.

Natural disasters are a common problem in Georgia. Floods, landslides, storms, hurricanes and other natural disasters often destroy houses and residential areas for people. According to Georgian legislation, people uprooted by natural disasters, so called eco-migrants, do not have IDP status and are not entitled to the social benefits of internally displaced people (IDPs). One of the main shortcomings in dealing with natural disasters is the lack of risk assessments which leads to damages that end up costing the state millions of lari. Most often, the government chooses to deal with the results of natural disasters instead of investing in preventive measures.

In his report, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, voiced alarm at the increasing climate of fear and intimidation against opposition parties, labour unions and members of non-governmental organizations.

Peaceful demonstrations celebrating the 10th anniversary of World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, and the International Day against Homophobia were met with violence and retaliation.

Violations of the presumption of innocence; revealing the identity of underage victims and defendants; copying of positions and narratives of law enforcement agencies; unethical epithets; superficial reporting and lack of professionalism – these are the main findings of the Human Rights Center’s monitoring of the Public Broadcaster’s news program and various print media outlets.

The most important human rights problems reported during the year were: 1. Abuse of prisoners and detainees by government officials as well as dangerously substandard prison conditions. 2. Shortfalls in the rule of law such as concerns about ensuring the judiciary’s independent and even-handed application of due process protections. 3. Government interference with unions’ fundamental freedom of association in several areas including interference with strikes, arbitrary dismissals, interference with collection of dues, and harassment and intimidation of labor activists.

More and more trees have been cut down in Tbilisi recently. Despite public protest, trees have been cut down on Moscow Avenue, in Kikvidze Square, in Victory Park and finally on Baratashvili Street as well. Sometimes trees are cut down to make way for police stations, but in Victory Park they were removed for the construction of a media library. Tbilisi City Hall claims that it was necessary to cut down the trees because they could not find alternative space for the police station.

Human Rights Centre condemns the dispersal of a march organized by the organization Identoba in observance of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.