The state of civic freedoms has significantly deteriorated in Georgia since December 2020. The measures adopted by the Government to fight coronavirus led to human rights restrictions and remained in force. Some of these were eased around the Christmas holidays and New Year’s Eve. However, the limitations on the right to free movement had a negative impact on freedom of assembly and freedom of religion:
- The government applied discriminatory approach against religious minorities: the Catholic and Protestant community was prevented from moving freely for their religious holidays.
- The so-called curfew and the restriction of freedom of movement created obstacles for the full realization of the right to peaceful assembly. This limitation has particular importance in light of the protest movement, which has grown stronger in Georgia as the political crisis continued to escalate.
On February 11, 2021, the Constitutional Court of Georgia delivered a decision in relation to the amendments to the Law on Public Health which authorized the government to restrict freedom of movement, right to property and gatherings for social purposes under quarantine measures. The Court found that the restriction of labour rights was unconstitutional. As for other rights, the Court did not find that the new provisions contradict the Constitution and the restrictions were found not to affect the long-term socio, economic, cultural, legal, and political development of the country. However, the reasoning of the Court in this regard is questionable considering that the new restrictions had big impact on citizens’ economic activities o and the country’s economic development.
Some of the other developments captured in the quarterly report include the initiative of the ruling party to ban the state financing for political parties who refused to enter the Parliament and engaged in boycott.
With our partner, the Human Rights Center in Georgia we continue to monitor emergency measures and their implementation and will continue releasing quarterly updates on how they affect civic freedoms. For more detailed information on the situation from December 2020 – February 2021, please see the second report below.
The quarterly report was 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.