on the Rights of Persons

with Disabilities in Georgia (project funded by OSGF):

The project will study CRPD

implementation experiences of

other countries; will raise the

awareness of DPOs, represen-

tative of local self-governments

and administrations, as well as

media on the expected changes

after CRPD ratification; will

draft recommendations on

CRPD implementations, and

presented to the legislative

and executive bodies.

Promotion of Electoral Sys-

tem Reform in Georgia

(project funded by the Na-

tional Democratic Insti-

tute): project team will ana-

lyze the current gaps of the

system and other models of

different countries.

Solving religious conflicts in Nigvziani and Tsint-skaro (project funded by Public, Advocacy, and Civil Society Development in Georgia (G-PAC)): On May 1, 2013 EMC started implementing a 6-month pro-ject to study on-going reli-gious conflicts in the villages of Nigvziani and Tsintskaro. Within the framework of the project a package of recom-mendations will be prepared to be presented to the local and central governments. At the final stage of the project EMC will be advocating for the recommendations.

Free Legal aid for reli-gious minorities (project funded by Democracy Commission Small Grants Program 2013): The one-year project will provide free legal aid to the religious mi-norities. Free legal aid activi-ties in the project cover two main directions, specially: 1) Representation of the legal

interests of religious minori-ties before the administrative bodies as well as the courts at all three instances; 2) Pro-viding strategic litigation on the cases related to the rights

of religious minorities before the nation and international courts.

Promotion of impelemen-

tation of UN Convention

Current Projects

EMC will then draft recommendations, and

present to the government and public with

the aim to influence the process of electoral

system reform planned in the country.

Promotion Criminal Justice Reform

through implementing awareness rais-

ing campaign in Ozurgeti (project

funded by the EU Delegation to Georgia:

3 Public discussions will be organized, which

aim to empower local population, including

targeted groups with the information on im-

plemented and ongoing activities by govern-

ment on all problematic issues Main guest

speakers will be representatives of relevant

governmental institutions.

Supporting and Enabling Secular and Tol-

erant Environment in Public Schools

(project funded by: UK Embassy in Geor-

gia): This project will prepare the report depict-

ing the extent of tolerance and secularism in

the education system. It will reveal the existing

problems at both school and government’s pol-

icy levels. The project will examine govern-

ment’s policy towards religious infringement

and tolerance at the public schools and conse-

quently, we’ll develop a set of recommendations

for the government.

August 1, 2013 Volume 1, Issue 1

NEWSLETTER

human rights Education and

Monitoring Center

EMC UNITES PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THE

FIGHT FOR EQUALITY AND INDIVIDUAL

FREEDOMS IS OF VI-

TAL IMPORTANCE

WE:

Teach

Advocate

and

Report on

HUMAN RIGHTS

Inside the

Newsletter:

Rights of Religious

and Ethnic Minori-

ties

2

Socially Vulner-

able Groups

2

UN CRPD 3

Human Rights

Violations on May

17

3

Constitutional

Changes

4

Organic Law on

The Constitu-

tional Court

4

Law on Higher

Education

5

One of the major component of

EMC work is monitoring and

evaluating the human rights

violation cases of the ethnic and

religious minority groups in

Georgia.

EMC has been observing the

conflicts initiated on the

grounds of religious differences

since late November 2012,

when the Tsintskharo and Nig-

vziani incidents first took place.

Threats and abuses towards

Muslim minorities are systemati-

cally being inadequately

addressed by local authori-

ties, while existing law en-

forcemnt mechanisms stay

poor and inefficient.EMC

has released several state-

ments on violation cases

one of which was on March

9, 2013. EMC is expressing

its concern on the lack of

solidarity towards the rep-

resentatives of religious minori-

ties in parts of Georgian society,

while also emphasizing the fact

that the situation is aggravated

by the state’s inaccurate policies

of the past several years with

respect to religions . April 17,

2013 marked a day of another

incident in Tsikhisdziri. And on

June 3, non-governmental or-

ganizations issued a joint state-

ment responding to the gross

violation of the rights of the

Muslim population in Sam-

tatskaro. EMC staff has had 5

visits to Samtatskharo for ob-

serving situation on ground. On

June 14 NGOs held a manifesta-

tion in support of the local Mus-

lim population in the village of

Samtatskaro.On June 29 NGOs

(listed to your right) released a

joint statement about the ne-

cessity of the state’s timely and

effective response to the devel-

opments of June 28 in the vil-

lage of Samtatskaro. Observing

the gravity of the situation, EMC

expressed its opinion on the

fact that the state has an obli-

gation to take timely and mean-

ingful measures for ensuring

safety of local Muslims and re-

solving the conflict. Otherwise,

there are risks that the conflict

will be further deepened and

spread out to other similar set-

tlements.

Up to this moment situation in

Samtatskaro still remains prob-

lematic. Local muslims are not

gathering for prayers any more,

notwithstanding the fact that

the clashes have not taken

place anymore .

***

EMC representative, Lina

Ghvinianidze, gave a speech

regarding the on-going religious

conflicts in Georgia on a discus-

sion panel organized by Geor-

gian Democracy Initiative (GDI),

where the preliminary results of EMC research were presented

Ratification of the European

Charter for Regional and

Minority Languages: EMC

expresses its concern about the

fact that some political actors

within the country portray

the demands to ratify the

Charter for Regional and

Minority Languages as con-

taining threat of separa-

tism. EMC considers the

Charter not to be contain-

ing this type of threat and

that the demand of its rati-

fication coming from the

Georgian citizens is abso-

lutely legitimate and constitu-

tional. EMC expresses its soli-

darity towards the demands of

the language minorities living in

Georgia and addresses the

Georgian government to ratify

the Charter in extensively short

and rational period of time.

Calls for the government to

develop an action plan for the

proper implementation of the

Charter with the involvement of

the society and primarily of

those representing language minorities

EMC ON THE RIGHTS OF RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC MINORITIES

NGOs involved:

The Georgian

Democracy Initiative

(GDI),

Transparency

International –

(TI) Georgia

The Georgian Young

Lawyers Association

(GYLA)

Article 42 of the

Constitution of

Georgia

The International

Society for Fair

Elections and

Democracy (ISFED)

Page 2 NEWSLETTER

EMC has been covering the last protest actions organized by the socially vulnerable groups in Tbilisi,

particularly of those who occupied the state buildings and threatened not to leave the places before

government responded to their demands. EMC aimed to raise general public’s awareness regarding

the socially vulnerable groups. For seeing the video footage click here. One of the major goals of EMC

is to protect the social rights of those that are victims of mismanagement of governmental subsidies.

EMC has also been giving consultations to socially vulnerable people about these issues.

SOCIALLY VULNERABLE GROUPS

In May of 2013 EMC worked

on ensuring the Bureau of

Parliament of Georgia organ-

ize the hearing on UN CRPD

ratification within the Com-

mittee on Healthcare and

Social Issues. On Jun 11 the

committee discussed the

ratification of convention and

its addendum.

Georgia signed the conven-

tion on July 10, 2009 but has

yet to ratify the document.

The state is currently not

fulfilling its responsibilities

with respect to people with

disabilities and is thus con-

stantly violating human

rights. We believe the ratifi-

cation of proposed conven-

tion in Parliament will signifi-

cantly improve human rights

situation in Georiga.

Parliament of Georgia has not ratified the convention

as at this stage as the pro-posal lacked the package of legislative amendments that would have been necessi-tated by ratification.

On July 7 EMC participated

in a public discussion organ-

ized by the Regional Office

of Heinrich Boell Foundation

in Kutaisi on the topic: “The

society and people with dis-

abilities: what barriers and limitations they face”

standards. EMC thinks the law

enforcement bodies must

conduct a timely and detailed

investigation of the case,

identify all the offenders, and

hold them accountable. At the

same time, with the aim of

ensuring people’s safety, it is

crucial that the police develop

and implement a policy of

responding effectively to risks

of violence against LGBT per-

sons and ensuring their safety

in a timely manner.

The Georgian Apostolic Auto-

cephalous Church shall also

be kept responsible for not

taking effective preventive

measures to avoid violent

actions by its parishioners

and clergy.

EMC also observed and par-

ticipated in the demonstration

of May 24 running under the

slogan “No to Theocracy”

EMC has been observing and

evaluating the evolution of events before, during and after the days of the rally dedicated to the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. EMC has issued its 4 statements regarding the human right violation facts. In addition, together with five other NGOs EMC published a statement stressing the im-portance on defending consti-tutional principles of equality,

and of a secular state in which the government and the church are separate and independent from each other.

The state is kept responsible

for not taking effective steps

to ensure practical implemen-

tation of the aforementioned

principles and for not bringing

the legislation and the behav-

ior of officials in full confor-

mity with the constitutional

On May 29 EMC participated

in the public discussion or-

ganized by the South Cauca-

sus Regional Office of

Heinrich Boell Foundation on

the topic: “Who is afraid of

the secular democracy?”

EMC also participated in the

discussions on the draft

resolution presented by the

Committee on Human

Rights and Civil Integration

regarding the events taking

place on May 17. With this,

EMC published its comments

on the Committee’s final

resolution, accentuating the

fact that the resolution has

essential gaps in it and that

does not comply to the inter-

national standards of human rights

UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH

DISABILITIES (CRPD)

HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS ON MAY 17

Page 3 Volume 1, Issue 1

On May 14 EMC started organizing a volunteer-tutoring lessons for the children from socially

unprotected families. For this moment up to 15 volunteers are giving English and math lessons

On July 29 EMC has been observing the ousting process of socially unprotected groups from

the state buildings they had been occupying over last months. Leaving homeless poor people

and population under the poverty level without any perspectives is against the international

law that our government is responsible to conform to. See the official EMC statement on this.

Socially unprotected

families moving out

Former Public School

#13

May 17, Freedom

Square

EMC issued its legal conclu-

sion on the three draft laws

on the constitutional

amendments, initiated by

the members of the parlia-

ment on June 13, 2013.

EMC considers that despite

of several positive provi-

sions, some of the pro-

posed novelties do not

serve to the goals of

achieving political stability

and constitutional order in

the country and can be

considered as steps made

backwards.

According to the current

amendment package that is

abolishing the provisions of

2010 and 2011, the mecha-

nisms for making constitu-

tional amendments will be

kept simple, the provisions

on complicating the proce-

dures for constitutional

changes will be annulled.

This on its hand diminishes

the role of the main law of

the country (constitution)

and turns the constitution

into the ordinary parliamen-

tary tool. We believe, that

the ways for undertaking

constitutional changes

should be kept at the level

where they oppose to ad-

justing the main law of the

country to the political

processes, especially, to

the individuals. The consti-

tution should regulate state

politics – not vice versa.

One of the positive aspects

of the October 15, 2010

constitutional provision is

the clause “b” of the Article

44; Besides, EMC thinks

abolishing these provisions

without proper alternative

proposal is unacceptable

and therefore considers

Plural Voting as an alterna-

tive. Plural Voting would mean

the constitutional amend-

ments of the previous parlia-

ment to require approval by

the acting parliament in order

to be enacted. Such a proce-

dure minimizes the threat of

adjusting the constitutional

amendments according to any

specific political party and

ensures the legitimacy of the

constitution

***

On March 10, 2013, round

table discussion was organ-

ized by EMC. Topic: what is

our constitutional life experi-

ence & what should we estab-

lish new constitutional reform

on. The young researchers

from different universities

participated in the discussion.

The head of Georgian parlia-

ment’s Legal Committee Mr.

Vakhtang Khmaladze attended

the meeting

cases.

Given the Court’s relatively

poor practical experience and

resources, we recommend

extending the time to a rea-

sonable term. EMC urged the Parliament to

have public consultations with

the Constitutional Court re-

garding the extension of the

above mentioned term.

In addition, on March 12 EMC

issued a statement regarding

the Venice Commission Opin-

Together with 5 different

NGOs EMC issued a state-

ment on the draft law initi-

ated by the Parliament’s

Legal Affairs Committee

Chairman, proposing an

amendment to the Organic

Law on the Constitutional

Court of Georgia. The parlia-

ment was discussing possi-

ble amendments that would

grant the constitutional court

disproportionately small

amount of time for several

ion on the Draft Amendments

to the Organic Law on Courts

of General Jurisdiction. EMC

called for the government to

take Venice Commission opin-

ions into account.

***

Under the Human Dynamics

project supporting the Reform

Of the Criminal Justice System

in Georgia EMC organized a

roundtable discussion in Zug-

didi on July 24

CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

AMENDMENTS TO THE ORGANIC LAW ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

Page 4 NEWSLETTER

Center for Civic En-

gagement, Zugdidi Speaker: Sopho Verdzeuli

Parliament of Georgia adopted a law that has

already been proclaimed as unconstitutional

in the previous year. In June 2012 Court

ruled unconstitutional the statements within

the Law on Property Right to Agricultural

Land restricting foreign ownership of agricul-

tural lands in Georgia. But on July 28 the

Georgian Parliament adopted a similar law

according to which the Parliament is on the

one hand acknowledging the right to property

of foreign citizens and entities registered out-

side Georgia, but at the same time restricts

them to exercise this right from the moment

of the law enactment till the year of 2017 ◊

PROPERTY RIGHT TO

AGRICULTURAL LAND

CHANGES IN THE LAW ON HIGHER EDUCATION

EMC issued a statement calling for the legislators not to support the amendments to “the Law on Higher

Education” proposed by the government during the second hearing in Parliament. Several entrées rep-

resented open and direct intervention into the autonomy of the higher education institutions and in-

fringe the university independence. Proposed changes - that should been evaluated as a move back-

ward in the process of ensuring University autonomy - were against the expectations and desires exist-

ing within the society for the governmental policies to be directed towards increasing the already re-

stricted freedom of higher education institutions.

EMC called for the parliament not to support the proposed changes as they are now and to make steps

towards ensuring the university independence. Besides, coming from the importance and complexity of

the issue, it’s necessary public discussions to be initiated with the involvement of all interested parties.

The formation of the mechanisms ensuring the higher education institutions’ independence shall happen

with major involvement from the public. See the full statement here.

Page 5 Volume 1, Issue 1

Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center pre-

pared the package of comments on the draft law on

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination and pre-

sented it to the Ministry of Justice for consideration.

EMC considers that the proposed draft law needs

significant improvements and that its adoption in the

existing form won’t respond to the systemic chal-

lenges which currently exist in the country regarding

discrimination.

With this EMC is requesting the institute of equality

protection inspector to be integrated with the Public

Defender's office and its competencies to be

strengthened.

ELIMINATION OF ALL

FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION

ELECTORAL SYSTEM IN GEORGOA

On July 30 EMC held a round table discussion on the topic “Electoral System in Georgia – its challenges and perspectives”. The participants were representatives from the local and international organizations working on electoral systems. The meeting discussed existing gaps in Georgian electoral system, the recommendations of local and interna-tional institutions, challenges of Georgian and examples of other optimal electoral sys-

tems. ◊

Primary Business Address

3 Shanidze st. Tbilisi, Georgia email:

humanrightsemc@gmail.com

Giorgi Noniashvili Chairman

Mobile.:+995597955055 email: g.noniashvili@gmail.com

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF EMC

See the Mission Statement here

CONTACT

INFORMATION

Page 6

Vakhushti Menabde Director

Mobile.:+995599 304 204

email: vakhushtimenabde@yahoo.com

Facebook: Human Rights Education and Monitoring

Center (EMC)

Vakhushti Menabde

Institutional Reform Support Program

Giorgi Noniashvili

EMC Chairperson

Tamta Mikeladze

Program of Promoting Civic Education and Activism

Tamta Mikeladze Mobile.: +995 593 409005

email: t.mikeladze@yahoo.com

Lina Ghvinianidze Mobile.:+995 599 209960

email: ghvinianidzelina@gmail.com

EMC MEDIA COVERAGE

EMC activities are being actively covered by different media outlets and since March

2013 its staff has been featuring in different TV and radio shows, as well as public dis-cussions and newspaper interviews.

EMC staff were invited as speakers at up to 10 different radio shows, and at up to 20 different TV shows.

Photos by EMC

The Newsletter prepared by: Tatuli Chubabria

EMC ADVISORY BOARD

Eka Gigauri

Transparency International Georgia, Executive Director;

Kakha Kojoridze

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Chairperson;

Nino Lejava

South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell

Foundation, Director;

Nino Danelia

Assistant Professor at Georgian Institute of Public Affairs

Levan Gigineishvili

Associated Professor at Ilia State University

Lina Ghvinianidze

Human Rights Program