Latest

The Draft Law on Personal Data Protection adopted by the first hearing of Georgian Parliament contradicts its aim of strengthening data protection mechanisms and restricts the inviolability of private life. Moreover, it fails to reach a balance between the right of private life and freedom of information, thus violates Georgia’s international obligations.

A delegation from the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court today concluded a two-day visit to the Russian Federation.

On October 1st of 2010 the new Criminal Code of Georgia came into effect. One of its main the main new innovations is the Jury Institution. The Jury Court will operate until July 1st of 2013 in Tbilisi only, and will cover cases of deliberate murder under aggravating circumstances. After two years, it will cover all crimes envisaged with the suppression of liberty in the throughout the country. As of yet, the Jury has not heard any cases. It will be able to hear all cases that lie within its jurisdiction only if the defense and prosecution do not oppose it. It should be noted that when Georgia adopted the corresponding amendment to the Georgian Constitution, the Strasbourg Court invalidated the November 16th 2010 jury decision in the Taxquet vs Belgium case and accused the state of Belgium of violating Article 6 of the European Court (the right to a fair trial) and imposed payment of EUR 8,173.22 in favor of the plaintiff.

A new criminal procedure code came into force on the first of October 2010. The code was adopted in October of 2009 after several changes and amendments were made to it, including amendments made in September of 2010 (two weeks before coming into force of the code) as well as several ammendments were made even after the new code entered into force.

International human rights organization Human Rights Watch issued report of 2010. The big part of it concerns Georgia. It is indicated that numerous human rights violations occurred in Georgia during 2010. Report also touches the process of IDP eviction and notes that the state evicted thousands of IDPs from the temporary residence places, often leaving them homeless and without adequate compensation or accommodated them in the remote regions in inadequate conditions; here is the report covering situation in Georgia. Georgian translation belongs to Human Rights Center.

The Human Rights Center condemns the forced eviction of the IDPs from the TSU students’ dormitory in Bagebi settlement, from the former building of the Custom’s Department in Orkhevi settlement, from the Kipshidze Street # 34, from the former building of execution bureau in Vazha-Pshavela Avenue 3rd MD and from other buildings of IDP settlement in Tbilisi on January 20 and 21.

The new amendment to the Law on Police clearly demonstrates the undemocratic trend that Georgian legislation is moving towards. It shrinks the scope of fundamental human rights and freedoms, thus, violates the individual liberty enshrined in the Georgian Constitution.

The two independent organisations Human Rights Center in Georgia and Georgian Young Lawyers Association go today to Geneva to meet various state delegations to lobby them to raise concerns among others about freedom of expression, assembly, and the rule of law in Georgia. This is part of the independent human rights sector’s preparations for Georgia’s UPR, scheduled for the 10th session, end of January 2011.

On December 3, the HRH Tbilisi and its member organizations (Article 42 of constitution, HRIDC, GCRT, Union Sapari and the Center for Human Rights and Conflicts Studies Caucasia) launched the Human Rights Week which ended on December 10, the International Day for Human Rights. Within the Week, different events were organized including workshops, documentary film screenings and discussions. The purpose of the week was to popularize and bring increased recognition to the International Human Rights Day and to raise the awareness of the Georgian students, journalists and human rights defenders in the fields of human rights.