On December 19, 2011, within the series of human rights events, Georgian Young Lawyers‘ Association held a public presentation of the labor rights research. Since late 2010, GYLA has been implementing the EU-funded project Young Lawyers for Effective Protection and Promotion of Basic Labor Rights in Georgia. Under the project auspices, GYLA provided free legal assistance to victims of labor rights violations. As one of the key objectives of the project is to improve national legislation and harmonize it with European standards, the analysis of the Georgia labor law covers the following: • Analysis of key problems in national legislation; • Reccomendations in consideration of international standards.
2011-12-19 12:21 See moreOn behalf of former employee of Kutaisi machine installation bureau Beniamin Abramidze, GYLA filed in Constitutional Court of Georgia, seeking certain provisions of the Resolution of the Government of Georgia N53 on the Procedure for Compensating Health Injuries Sustained by Workers in the Course of their Job to be deemed unconstitutional. GYLA believes that the Resolution of the Government of Georgia N53 contradicts para. 1 and 2 of Article 21, Article 39 and para. 9 of Article 42 of the Constitution of Georgia. Instead of reasonably decreasing the amount of pecuniary assistance, necessary for saving budget funds, the disputed normative act completely abolished the monthly subsistence allowance. Furthermore, this state was not authorized to fully reject the right of an individual to receive a monthly subsistence allowance, as the request was based on a legal expectation derived from court’s decision or an administrative act. Legal expectation of social welfare from the state derives from the principle of legal security, which is an essential characteristic of a rule of law based state envisaged in the Preamble of the Constitution.
2011-12-16 10:19 See moreThe Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) with its December 2011, 14 statement strongly disagrees with the assessment of NGOs regarding the conflict of interests of the GNCC chairperson. Furthermore, the statement also notes that the company Magi Style Media “produces and places advertising”, while “placement of advertising is not regulated by the Georgian National Communications Commission”.We believe that the noted statement of the commission fails to clearly explain the field of work of Magi Style Media and the Commission’s powers with regard to placement of advertising in television broadcasting. More specifically, the statement does not specify where the company is placing advertising and whether the Commission is able to influence unlawful placement of advertising in any way.Therefore, the civil monitoring group of GNCC addresses the Commission with the request to elaborate to public on the following:
2011-12-16 08:30 See moreWithin the series of human rights event, GYLA traditionally presented the December 10 reports to public. Freedom of information is a fundamental right, and one of the legal grounds for government control and informed participation in the process of decision making. Obligation of public entities to submit to parliament and the president of Georgia detailed reports about practice of the noted right at the entity concerned, is one of the important guarantees for its protection. The fact that public entities are accountable to both executive and legislative branches of the government highlights particular importance of realization of freedom of information. GYLA regularly observes and examines practice of stipulations of Article 49 of the law. Report of the outcomes of the December 10 Reports was published in 2010, covering the reports submitted from 2000 to 2009.
2011-12-15 10:37 See moreOn December 14, 2011, within the series of human rights events, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association organized a meeting on the topic of administrative imprisonment. At the meeting GYLA presented opinions on key problems in law and practice of administrative imprisonment. The fact that use of administrative imprisonment as a sanction violates most of the human rights was highlighted. Furthermore, administrative imprisonment is sentenced by evading necessary procedural guarantees. Judges of city court and court of appeals, representatives of various state entities, including the Interior Ministry and the High Council with the Ministry of Justice participated in the meeting; the meeting was also attended by representatives of local and international organizations.
2011-12-14 14:39 See moreIn frames of the series of human rights events, the Foundation for Support of Legal Education established by Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association traditionally held an Olympiad “Young Lawyers for Constitutional Rights” at the Constitutional Court of Georgia. The Olympiad has been held annually for the last five years, in cooperation with the Constitutional Court, concurrently with GYLA’s traditional Human Rights Week. This year the Olympiad was financially supported by the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ). This year total of 8 teams participated in the Olympiad, representing 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students of BA program of different schools. The Olympiad was guided by the jury composed of members of the Constitutional Court, field specialists, professors, teachers and a judge from Germany. Qualifying rounds of the Olympiad where semi-finalist teams were selected was held on December 9;
2011-12-14 12:56 See moreWithin the series of human rights event, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association held a presentation of the second report at the office of the Open Society – Georgia Foundation, entitled Monitoring of Works Undertaken in Support of Internally Displaced Persons. First part of the report focused on monitoring of state’s spending of funds allocated by donors to Georgia for construction and rehabilitation of IDP housings. As for the second report, it focuses on monitoring of funds spent for installment of means of communication in IDP housings. GYLA examined works undertaken at specific areas for provision of water, electricity and gas supply. Furthermore, it inspected actual works performed by means of site-visits. The research revealed the necessity to take local population’s needs into account in the process of planning works to be performed and to ensure participation of local population in decision-making process.
2011-12-13 14:49 See moreGYLA’s Georgian Medial Legal Defence Centre is representing interests of journalists Maia and Nino Edilashvilis. Nino and Maia Edilashvilis worked at Georgian Business Week Ltd., Nino Edilashvili worked as an executive editor From May 1, 2008 to October 14, 2009, and Maia Edilashvili worked as a chief editor from May 1, 2007 to October 14, 2009. Although they were faithfully performing their duties, Georgian Business Week Ltd. refused to pay due salaries to them for months. The employer failed to provide the final settlement to the journalists upon dismissal from work.
2011-12-12 16:08 See moreOn December 12, 2011, journalist Tea Tadashvili of Tbilisi City Court’s Board of Administrative Cases examined collective lawsuit of journalists (total of seven applicants) filed against the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia. The plaintiffs, Netgazeti journalists Konstantine Stalinski and Tamaz Kupreishvili, Guria News journalist Nato Gogelia, Batumelebi newspaper Ltd, Chokhatauri Matsne Ltd, Akhali Ambebi Ltd, Radiocenter Plus Ltd have applied to court to have the respondent ordered to restore original condition/reimburse property damage and compensate damages to health. Representatives of MIA declared that they recognize the claim for compensating health damages. As for the claim concerning equipment, they state that it is impossible to restore original condition as MIA can not return the same exact equipment and footage that journalists had. More specifically, the Ministry recognized facts of inflicting health damage to Konstantine Stalinski, Tamaz Kupreishvili, Nato Gogelia, and recognized the claim of Batumelebi newspaper concerning seizure of two cameras and the claim of Akhali Ambebi Ltd concerning one flip-chart that was seized from its journalist on May 26 at night by law enforcers.
2011-12-12 16:06 See moreToday, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), and the Transparency International – Georgia held public discussion on Draft Joint Opinion of OSCE/ODIHR on the Draft Election Code of Georgia. Representatives of local and international organizations, media outlets and political parties participated in the meeting. The discussion was supported by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in Georgia, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In addition to the Draft Joint Opinion of OSCE/ODIHR on the Draft Election Code of Georgia, the meeting also discussed legislative amendments to the text of the draft Election Code of Georgia prepared by the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament. The proposed amendments were prepared in consideration of comments of OSCE/ODIHR and local NGOs.
2011-12-12 13:44 See more