Rule of Law, Human Rights and Freedom of Media

22 February 2019

The Government of Georgia reduces its efforts to implement OECD-ACN Recommendations

Anti-Corruption Network of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD-ACN) published its second progress report on anticorruption recommendations issued for Georgia in its Fourth Round Monitoring Report. Of the 22 total recommendations, none of them showed significant progress, 17 were assessed as having some progress, and four of them indicated lack of progress, while no rating was granted to the remaining one.

21 February 2019

Selection of Supreme Court Judges: Public Knowledge & Attitudes About the Process

On December 24^th, 2018, High Council of Justice (HCoJ) of Georgia nominated ten candidates to the country’s Supreme Court. The nomination caused controversy among the representatives of civil society organizations as the nominated judges were either leaders or close associates of a group of judges (so called “clan”) exercising an informal power over Georgia’s judiciary.

4 February 2019

Prosecutorial Reform – Review of System Changes at Onset of 2019

December 2018, after the inauguration of the President of Georgia, marks also a commencement date for the new constitutional amendments. As a result of these changes, Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia was separated from the Ministry of Justice and became a fully independent agency. The head of the institution is the Prosecutor General, while independence, transparency, and effectiveness of the system are guaranteed by the Prosecutorial Council.

24 January 2019

Recommendations Regarding Criteria and Procedures for the Selection of the Supreme Court Justices

Coalition for and Independent and Transparent Judiciary submitted recommendations regarding criteria and procedures for the selection of the Supreme Court justices to the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Chair of the Fourth Wave Judicial Reform Working Group.

21 December 2018

Implementation of the Judicial Strategy and the Action Plan

The report prepared by IDFI and EMC analyzes implementation of the activities of the Judicial Strategy and Action Plan (developed based on the requirements of EU-Georgia association agenda) which deal with the most compelling and pressing issues of the judicial system reform.

19 December 2018

Venice Commission Published its Opinion on New Provision on Prosecutorial Council

European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) has published its opinion on the new provisions on the prosecutorial council in the draft organic law on the Prosecutor’s Office. The opinion briefly assessed the provisions in the draft law that were prepared for the purposes of harmonizing the law on Prosecutor’s Office with the new edition of the Constitution.

5 December 2018

Knowledge and Attitudes of the Population of Georgia towards Judiciary: Results of the Public Opinion Survey

Within the framework of the EU-funded project – “Facilitating Implementation of Reforms in the Judiciary (FAIR)”has been implementing by Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) in cooperation with the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), CRRC-Georgia presented the results of the Public Opinion Survey, which was carried out between 30 August and 15 September, culminating into 2080 completed interviews.

16 November 2018

Established Practice of Tbilisi City Court Puts Efficiency of Declaration Monitoring System under Risk

IDFI analysis gives an overview of the lawsuits related to declaration monitoring results and judgments delivered by Tbilisi City Court. Established practice reveals that the Court rules in favor of officials.

14 November 2018

IDFI Organized a Training on Discrimination on the Grounds of Gender and Sex for Prosecutors and Investigators of Prosecution Service

Prosecutors and investigators from various territorial authorities of the Prosecution Service of Georgia participated in the training on gender discrimination and sexual harassment. The event was organized by IDFI with the support from the European Union, in cooperation with the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia.

5 October 2018

IDFI's Opinion on the Draft Organic Law on Prosecutor’s Office

The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) presented the opinion on the draft organic law on Prosecutor’s Office to the Parliament of Georgia. Draft organic law and related draft legislative acts were registered in the Parliament on September 20, 2018.