April 8, 2015, Tbilisi – Members of the campaign This Affects You have presented an appeal to the Constitutional Court of Georgia, requesting abolishment of the amendments to secret surveillance legislation adopted by the Georgian Parliament in November 2014.

The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary welcomes development of the Juvenile Justice Code by the Ministry of Justice.  Development of the Code corresponds to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which obliges the signatory states to establish special policies, procedures and institutions for the juveniles dealing with the Justice system.

The Parliament of Georgia is planning to adopt with first reading a draft of Amendments to the Criminal Code of Georgia, prepared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and initiated by the Government of Georgia. One of the aims of the draft is to criminalize public calls for violent action. According to Article of the 2391 of the draft, public calls for violent action for the purpose of instigating conflict between different racial, religious, national, regional, ethnic, social, political, language and/or other groups will be punishable by up to two years in prison.

The Coalition is examining the Prosecution Reform Concept, put forward by the Criminal Justice Reform Inter-Agency Coordination Council on April 8, 2015, which proposes several amendments to the rules of appointing the chief prosecutor. According to the concept, the Prosecutorial Council becomes part of the process, and reviews the nominations by the Minister of Justice. The candidate supported by the Council is nominated to the government, and upon its consent, the parliament reviews the candidacy and makes a decision with a simple majority.

With GYLA’s Assistance an Individual was Relieved from Administrative Liability

On December 13, 2014 RMG-Gold released the statement in media about resuming mining activities in Sakdrisi-Khachagiani #1 site. Moreover, in parallel to the company’s statement it became known that explosion has taken place at Sakdrisi. 

May 1st is the International Labor Day. Labor right, which also includes the right to safe and adequate working conditions is a fundamental human right and one of the primary obligations of the state enshrined in the Constitution of Georgia and Laws, as well as in international obligations undertaken by Georgia.

On 6 May 2015 GYLA held the conference, “Russia’s responsibility during August War and at present: cases of GYLA at the European Court”, in the Georgian National Library. The cases, in which GYLA invoked the Responsibility of Russian Federation before the European Court, were discussed at the conference.

With GYLA’s assistance a citizen of Iran received residence permit 

In the national library GYLA Foundation for the Support of Legal Education held closing ceremony of the project “Promotion of Civil and Legal Education” on May 25, 2015.

The project aims public awareness raising about civil and legal education, development of professional skills among civil education teachers and provision of civil education through intensive training course. In the framework of the project Street Law guidebook, published in 2014 by the Foundation for the Support of Legal Education in cooperation with GIZ, was introduced in public school curriculum.