The outbreak of the global pandemic demonstrated that the legal framework of many states was not sufficiently refined to respond to the challenges posed by COVID-19 with minimum harm on human rights and civic freedoms. Georgia was no exception.
Previous months have shown that the adopted legal procedures under the first and second wave of restrictions created risks of disproportionate and undue interference by the government in human rights without necessary oversight over this process. Among others, the government introduced:
- Disproportionately high fines for violating rules during the state of emergency;
- Amendments to the Law on Public Health to give more power to the government without parliamentary oversight;
- Disproportionate offences and fines during the second wave of restrictions.
These restrictions have had impact over civil society work, particularly organizations promoting and safeguarding human rights. As of now, current emergency provisions are in force until July 1, 2021.
With our partner, the Human Rights Center in Georgia we continue to monitor emergency measures and their implementation and will release quarterly updates on how they affect civic freedoms. For more detailed information on the situation in 2020, please see the first report and the analytical briefer below:
The quarterly report and the brief were prepared by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) and supported by the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law Stichting (ECNL) under the INSPIRES program, made possible by the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and financed by USAID.