The ombudsman responds to the discrediting campaign against human rights defenders
By Liza Mchedlidze
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
The Public Defender of Georgia Nino Lomjaria issued a statement and responded to the discrediting campaign against human rights defenders.
The Public Defender's statement states that in August 2022, the ruling party did not include the "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" (ISFED), which has many years of experience in this direction, in the group working on election issues created in the Parliament to implement the recommendations of the European Union, due to the loss of political neutrality.
"Such an approach contradicts one of the conditions defined for Georgia to receive the status of a candidate for EU membership, which implies the involvement of civil society in the decision-making process and damages the process of effective and in-depth implementation of changes.
This is evidenced by the fact that, as a result of this fact, other non-governmental organizations, whose expert knowledge is very important in the process of implementing reforms in the country, stopped their participation in the groups created in the parliament.
It is significant that the decision was followed by an attempt by high political officials to discredit non-governmental organizations and reduce their credibility in society.
A clear expression of the problem is one of the last statements of the chairman of the party "Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia" Irakli Kobakhidze, in which he pointed to the non-transparent and risky nature of the expenses of non-governmental organizations.
In the background, when the data about the funding sources and implemented projects of non-governmental organizations are publicly available on their websites, the public defender believes that presenting information in a similar form aims only to create negative attitudes towards the civil sector in the society", the statement reads.
The statement also said that the objects of attack by government representatives are mainly non-governmental organizations critical of its activities, which the Public Defender has repeatedly assessed as an unacceptable practice in the past.
The Public Defender called on the officials to refrain from engaging in the discrediting campaign of organizations working on the most important issues for democratic development;
"In the future, ensure the essential involvement of civil society in the decision-making process and prevent the admission of relevant organizations based on how acceptable their positions are," said the ombudsman Nino Lomjaria.
