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The new amendments to the Law on the Operative-Investigative Activity of Georgia, adopted in September of 2010 raise concerns regarding internet freedom in Georgia. The following provisions were added on September 24, 2010 to the Law: paragraph H (according to English alphabet) of part II of Article VII envisages obtaining information from communication networks and computer systems and installing relevant programs for this purpose and paragraph L (according to English alphabet): “monitoring of internet communications” – observing the open and closed internet communications in the global information network and participation in them.”

The Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) condemn the excessive use of force by the police against peaceful anti-government protest in Tbilisi on the night of 26 May 2011. Read the organisations’ joint letter of concern below and right.

The intermediate reports on the implementation of European Neighborhood Policy in 2010 were published on 26 May in Brussels. 12 country reports evaluate the progress made in the implementation of ENP Action Plan.

As a result of the dispersal of the 26 May demonstration in Tblisi, 4 persons died (1 policeman and 3 civilians), tens of civilians were injured and, according to the Young Lawyers’ Association, 48 people are considered to have disappeared.

On May 26, more than a dozen journalists covering the dispersal of a demonstration in front of the parliament building in Tblisi were physically injured by Georgian riot police. Some journalists were beaten. Cameras and other equipment were confiscated or broken. Reportedly, in most of the cases, the attacks on the journalists were targeted and conducted deliberately.

Right after midnight of May 26, 2011the special forces units used rubber bullets, tear gas and water canons to disperse a protest rally organized by the Public Assembly. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia, 8 policemen, one journalist and 27 civil citizens were injured. Two people died – a policeman and a civilian. 90 people are placed in the preliminary detainment cells imposed with two-month administrative imprisonment. Criminal Case has been filed against several of them.

On May 23, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) publishes a new report on Georgia with the title, Unable or Unwilling? Georgia’s faulty investigation of crimes committed during the Russo-Georgian war of August 2008. Based on interviews with a large sample of witnesses to and victims of alleged crimes, the NHC concludes that Georgian authorities are at least both partly unable and partly unwilling to conduct an effective investigation into crimes falling within the jurisdiction of International Criminal Court (ICC) allegedly committed during and after the August 2008 war.

Amnesty International 2011 Human Rights Report evaluates the human rights situation in 157 countries for the year of 2010. With regards to Georgia, four issues are emphasized: the aftermath of armed conflict, internally displaced people, police and security forces, and violence against women and girls.

More than 240, 000 disabled people live in Georgia today, which is more than 10 percent of Georgia’s population; the majority of them are unemployed, lacking of personal realization and the possibility of enjoying all rights. In 2001, the law on “social security of persons with disabilities” was adopted. According to this law, the state undertakes an obligation to provide disabled persons with an equal environment and to ensure their engagement in social, economic and cultural life.