We, the undersigned organizations, recognize the importance of the enactment of the Anti-Discrimination Legislation for the introduction of high standards of the human rights and the democracy. We welcome the efforts of the Government of Georgia in this regard and at the same time, we would like to note, that the enactment of the Anti-Discrimination Legislation package is prescribed under the Visa Liberalization Action Plan and is one of the EU requests to revoke the short-term visas for the citizens of Georgia. However, we consider that it is important to introduce a number of corrections to the draft law to make it more effective and to ensure that each individual is able to exercise their rights, provided under the legislation of Georgia, effectively and in equality, despite their race, skin color, language, sex, age, citizenship, origin, birth, residence, property or title, religion or beliefs, national, ethnic or social affiliation, profession, family status, health condition, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, political or other views or any other feature.
2014-04-28 12:37 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) was addressed by the association “Hope of Future”, which informed GYLA of child birth certificate falsification for the purpose of taking the infants abroad. According to the information provided by the “Hope of Future” the presumably criminal scheme operated in the following way: the infants were conceived using the donor cells; the obtained embryos were then transplanted to and nurtured in the uteruses of the surrogate mothers.
2014-04-25 14:55 See moreThe Coalition of an Independent and Transparent Judiciary presents its opinions regarding a draft law prepared by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, which proposes a system of evaluation of judges appointed for a probation period.
2014-04-24 17:51 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association has already started the 2014 Local Self-Government Pre-Election Observation. GYLA implements the observation through the regional branch offices in 8 regions: Adjara, Guria, Imereti, Shida Kartli, Kvemo Kartli, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Samegrelo and in the capital - Tbilisi.
2014-04-23 17:05 See moreWe, the signatories to this statement express our dissatisfaction and criticism towards the Draft Law On The Elimination Of All forms of Discrimination submitted by the Government of Georgia to the Parliament of Georgia. We believe that the current version is a substantial step backwards from the model and the standards elaborated by the Ministry of Justice, with active participation from the NGOs. The previous version was also positively evaluated by international organizations. However, the current version the Government initiated, absolutely lacks effective repressive and preventive mechanisms, which, previous version included by introducing financial sanctions towards those violating the Law.
2014-04-15 15:21 See moreOn April 11, 2014, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) filed an application in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on behalf of 19 dwellers of Dvani Village against the Russian Federation. In September-October 2013, Russian and Ossetian “border guards” installed barbed wire for the purpose of marking the so-called border, pushing the boundary line 400-600 meters into the Georgian territory, leaving agricultural land plots of up to 50 families in Dvani on the territory controlled by the Ossetian authorities. If the process of installment of the barbed wire continues, houses of three households in Dvani will also be left on the other side of the so-called border. In its application filed in the ECHR, GYLA is arguing violation of the right to use property without interference, with respect to land plots and houses of Dvani dwellers.
2014-04-14 14:03 See moreWe voice our concern regarding several acts of aggression against representatives of an opposition political union that occurred in various parts of the country and urge all parties involved in the political process to reject violence.
2014-04-11 11:23 See moreUnder Article 14 of the Constitution of Georgia, Everyone is free by birth and is equal before law regardless of race, colour, language, sex, religion, political and other opinions, national, ethnic and social belonging, origin, property and title, place of residence.” In order to ensure enforcement of the most important principle of equality guaranteed by the Constitution, effective legislation for combating discrimination must be created.
2014-04-09 17:14 See moreWith GYLA’s assistance some public servants were restored to the office GYLA provided court representation to L.S. who worked as the head of the department in one of the Ministries and was dismissed on December 2012 from the position. Court found his dismissal illegal, therefore the respondent Ministry was ordered to restore him to the office and to compensate for the missed salary for three months as provided for in the legislation.
2014-04-07 18:44 See moreThe local self-governmental elections will be announced in the nearest future and electoral campaign will commence officially. The upcoming elections are unprecedented, since members of the local councils and Mayors/Governors will be directly elected on a local level. This is a significant step forwards to decentralization and strengthening of the local self-government.
2014-04-02 08:17 See more