To the President of Georgia, Mr. Saakashvili:Upcoming local self-governance elections 2010 is perceived both inside and outside the country as another test of the readiness of the Georgian authority and the political spectrum of the country to hold fair and free elections and promote strengthening of democratic institutions. The initiative of the ruling party and the president on selecting of the Central Election Commission (CEC) chairperson candidates to be presented to the representatives of opposition parties in CEC in consultation with non-governmental organizations has received positive feedback; but we, the representatives of the 27 non-governmental organizations that have offered you a common candidate have several questions regarding the three candidates that you have ultimately selected; namely:
2010-01-18 08:04 See moreWith the help of the Centre for Legal Protection of Media within GYLA the complaint of Studio Monitor journalist, Nana Naskidashvili has been satisfied by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. The journalist was requesting public information from the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia, more specifically information on construction and project works of the new MIA department, although her application submitted on November 17, 2009 was never responded.
2010-01-14 08:06 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) condemns illegal actions of the Ministry of Interior Affairs’ (MIA) officers against Inclusive Foundations and calls for immediate response to campaigns waged against NGOs recently. According to the December 23 press release of Inclusive Foundation, on December 15, 2009, at 7:00 pm the organization was raided by the police, who did not wear police uniforms and did not provide a search warrant at the request of the organization members. The also refused to reveal their identity. The police officers searched thirteen individuals present at the office, while making degrading, humiliating, abusive and threatening remarks toward the organization members. Paata Sabelashvili, the leader of the organization was arrested and charged with drug possession.
2009-12-25 07:45 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) filed a coplaint at self-regulation commission of Rustavi 2 TV Company.GYLA considers that the December 12 report broadcasted in ‘Post Scriptum’ programme on release of citizens of Georgia unlawfully detained by the Ossetian side and negative role of our organization in the noted matter:
2009-12-22 08:57 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) responds to the report broadcasted in programme ‘Courier P.S.’ on December 12 about GYLA’s work regarding release of persons who were illegally arrested and disappeared after the August war. As author of the report and programme producer significantly distorted certain details and subjective, unverified opinion of journalists was based on essentially wrong facts, GYLA deems it necessary to make the following announcement.After the August 2008 conflict GYLA filed 55 complaints on behalf of more than 350 victims to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). GYLA based its case selection criteria on the scope of human rights violations and presence of evidence corroborating the violation, but by no means on victim’s nationality. GYLA deems discrimination of people based on ethnic origin or any other distinctions unacceptable human rights protection without discrimination is the founding principle of our work.
2009-12-13 13:41 See moreIn frames of the human rights week, GYLA in association with Green Alternative presented results of Vaziani-Gombori-Telavi road rehabilitation project. The monitoring was implemented in frames of the Coalition “Transparent Foreign Aid to Georgia”, with support of Open Society Institute and Open Society-Georgia Foundation. Implementation of Vaziani Gombori-Telavi road construction and rehabilitation project started in 2009. Works performed by now were funded from the State budget, while main portion of the project will be funded from resources provided by the World Bank as a loan.GYLA monitoring aimed to examine legitimacy of state procurement process, control rational spending of financial resources, prevent identified violations of law, and to furnish society with information.
2009-12-09 13:36 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association organized a roundtable on December 9, at Courtyard Marriot Hotel, where draft of amendments to the Election Code prepared by lawyers of GYLA was presented to other non-governmental organizations.NGOs and international organizations that focus on elections, also representatives of the Central Election Commission and chairman of the Parliamentary Legal Issues Committee attended the session.
2009-12-08 15:34 See moreGYLA’s Foundation for the Support of Legal Education and Civil Law Group invite you to the public discussion on the topic of whether Georgia needs a new constitution.Our honorary guests, Mr. Davit Usupashvili and Mr. Avtandil Demetrashvili along with students of Civil Law Group will review the applicable constitution, the history of its drafting and outlines of the new constitution. The role of the supreme law of the country in protecting human rights and liberties and maintaining checks and balances among different branches of the government will be discussed; along with how effectively the applicable constitution performs the role and what mechanisms would the new constitution employee to fulfill noted mission.
2009-12-05 07:47 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association endorses draft of organic law initiated by the National Democratic Party in Parliament of Georgia – “On Amendments and Addendums to the Election Code of Georgia’, which aims at limiting participation of public officers in pre-election agitation and prohibiting the use of administrative resources.It shall be noted that the draft law initiated by the National Democratic Party is based on GYLA’s recommendations “Regarding the Matters of Pre-Election Campaigning and the Use of Administrative Resources”, which was presented by GYLA to political parties working to reform the Election Code of Georgia in November 2009.
2009-12-04 07:39 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association condemns illegal actions leveled against journalist of the Batumelebi newspaper, Tedo Jorbenadze by officers of Georgian MIA Special Operation Department (SOD) of Adjara A.R. on November 25, 2009.GYLA assesses threats against the journalist to release video/photo material exposing his sexual orientation as violation of fundamental human rights.
2009-11-27 09:47 See more