Freedom House: Georgia remains ‘Partly Free’
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, March 5
The international human rights organization Freedom House published the report Freedom in the World 2021 on March 3, which reflects the situation in terms of political rights and civil liberties in 195 countries around the world.
Georgia remains a partially free country and has 60 points out of 100. The country's rating has been deteriorating in recent years. Georgia had 64 points in 2017 and 2018, 63 in 2019 and 61 in 2020.
According to the report, political rights in Georgia are rated 23 out of 40, and civil liberties - 37 points out of 60.
International watchdog wrote Georgia is holding regular and competitive elections, and its democracy trajectory showed signs of improvement in 2012-2013, which was due to a change of government, although it has been experiencing setbacks in recent years.
Freedom House writes that the recent parliamentary elections, in which the ruling Georgian Dream party won a third term, were overshadowed by vote-buying, incidents of violence and blatant vote-counting errors, prompting the opposition to boycott.
It also highlighted that “oligarchic influence affects the country’s political affairs, policy decisions, and media environment, and that the rule of Law is politicized. Civil liberties are inconsistently protected.”
The report discusses the significant informal influence of Bidzina Ivanishvili on legislative and executive decisions in Georgia and on the goodwill of the government towards the ‘co-investment fund’ established by Ivanishvili. According to Freedom House, even though Georgia has made significant progress in the fight against petty corruption, corruption within the government remains a problem.
The organization emphasizes that the media environment in Georgia is pluralistic, but in many cases biased, accusing the public broadcaster of favoritism towards the government, and several media outlets critical of the government complaining of political pressure. The report included the closure of fake pages and accounts related to the Georgian Dream government by the company Facebook.
Freedom House also writes that the Constitution of Georgia guarantees freedom of religion, however, it gives unique privileges to the Orthodox Church. Representatives of religious minorities complain of discrimination and hostility, including from the Orthodox clergy and parishioners and from being improperly protected by the state.
According to the report, freedom of assembly is mostly protected in Georgia, however, sometimes the police use excessive force. The report also states that in June, the Georgian government refused to guarantee the security of the LGBT Pride planned in Tbilisi.
Despite the judicial reform implemented in Georgia, the interference of the executive and the legislature in the work of the judiciary and the problem of transparency and professionalism in litigation remain a problem. The report criticized local and international organizations, which followed the process of electing judges to the Supreme Court of Georgia.
The authoritative human rights organization also draws attention to the restrictions imposed in the spring and fall of 2020 due to the coronavirus epidemic, noting that these measures were largely proportionate to the threat, although pro-government businessmen won public health tenders.
Freedom in the World index annually measures the degree of political rights and civil liberties on a scale of 0 to 100 in 195 countries and 15 disputed territories (100 points denoting “absolutely free”). Russian occupied regions have scored 40 (partly free) and 10 points (not free), respectively. In 2021, out of 195 countries, 82 were marked as ‘free’', 59 as partly free and 54 as not free. The human rights organization generally indicates that global freedom has been declining for fifteen years. Out of 195 independent countries, by 2020, the overall score deteriorated for 73 and only 28 progressed.
