Human dimension

Democratization

The Mission focuses on processes that allow effective public participation in social and political decision-making, civil society development, good governance and democratic institution building. Activities also include support to the reform of local governance and civil society development in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict and in Abkhazia, Georgia.

Strengthening Georgia's democratic institutions

After the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2004, the Mission has focused on helping the Government to strengthen Georgia's democratic institutions, to ensure that:

• Parliament can represent the voters effectively: The Mission actively supported the creation and use of a new code of ethics for Members of Parliament to guarantee they are publicly accountable.
• Local government can meet the demands of the local population: The Mission supported the Council of Europe in developing a national association of local councils to provide them with a discussion forum. It also supported the publication of the Tbilisi city budget to make sure that the budgeting process is transparent.
• The media is free to provide unbiased information: The Mission implemented a media development project with Ajara state TV. In addition, it raised awareness among Georgian media professionals of national media legislation and international standards of freedom of expression, and provided training for media professionals in Abkhazia, Georgia.
• Civic diplomacy: The Mission is financing, through a contribution from the Belgian government, a civic diplomacy project aimed at empowering disabled young people in Georgia and Abkhazia, Georgia. The project supports community-based advocacy campaigns and public education activities, and provides information about  disabled people's rights to inclusive education. In addition, the project strengthens co-operation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the zone of conflict contributing to the confidence building process.

The Georgia elections assistance programme

Through the Georgia elections assistance programme (GEAP) the OSCE provided support in 2004 for a comprehensive package of technical assistance activities for both the January 4 presidential elections and for the repeat parliamentary elections of 28 March. The Mission administered 4 million EUR of the donation pledged by the OSCE participating States at the Maastricht Ministerial Council Meeting in December 2003.

The first phase of GEAP (the January 4 presidential elections) was focused on setting up an adequate mechanism for managing and monitoring project implementation with maximum transparency for donors and other interested parties.

The second phase of the GEAP (the 28 March parliamentary elections) was intended to deepen the assistance provided for the presidential elections, with an expanded effort to build capacity within Georgian institutions.

Action against trafficking in human beings

The Mission supports the Georgian Government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to develop a framework for effective anti-trafficking activities in line with OSCE commitments and based on protecting the human rights of trafficking victims.

Support for anti-trafficking legislation

Through the Anti-Trafficking Fund of OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Mission has supported a project to review Georgian legislation on trafficking. As a result of the project, a draft law was prepared by a group of Georgian government and non-government experts assisted by international expertise from ODIHR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), ABA/CEELI and the US Department of Justice. The draft law was discussed in the Georgian parliament in spring 2005.

Victim Protection

In June 2004 the Mission organized a study visit to Ukraine for 20 government and non-government anti-trafficking practitioners. These practitioners later formed the core of a working group that prepared a new Georgian Action Plan to Combat Trafficking. The plan was presented and discussed at a conference financed by OSCE/ODIHR and held in Tbilisi in November 2004. The two-year Action Plan was signed by President Saakashvili on 29 December 2004.

The Mission supports implementation of the plan in co-ordination with other key international organizations. In the implementation of the plan, the Mission focuses on co-ordination and victim protection. In order to develop a programme of activities for victim protection, the Mission carried out a comprehensive assessment of the national referral mechanism with financing from ODIHR.

Involving communities in peace-building processes

To reach beyond the divisions in Georgia's conflict areas, the Mission encourages local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the media to become more active in community development activities. The Mission created a small grants programme for local NGOs and initiative groups that work for the benefit of both the Ossetian and Georgian communities living in the zone of conflict. Under this programme, during 2004-2005, more than twenty different projects have received financial support from the Mission. To further increase the flow of information between communities across the conflict line, the Mission worked to establish joint Georgian-Ossetian media outlets.

Human dimension activities in Abkhazia, Georgia

The UN Human Rights Office Abkhazia, Georgia (HROAG) was set up in 1996. On 29 April 1997, a Memorandum of Understanding between the OSCE and the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights (UNHCHR) was signed on the deployment of an OSCE Mission member to HROAG in Sukhumi. As a result, the OSCE Mission to Georgia contributes one of its human rights officers to participate in carrying out the mandate of the UN Human Rights Office Abkhazia, Georgia (HROAG).

The OSCE Mission to Georgia developed a series of human dimension projects in Abkhazia, Georgia. In some cases, the UN facilitated the projects, while the OSCE funded and implemented them. In other cases the roles were reversed.

Ongoing projects include: supporting young teams advocating for people with disabilities, making an assessment for wheelchair manufacturing, providing training in conflict resolution for internally displaced people and for former combatants, engaging in capacity-building for non-governmental organizations, promoting human rights to children, and making a needs assessment study of media freedom.

Human rights and fundamental freedoms

The Mission promotes international standards of human rights aiming to integrate human rights principles into society and legislation. The Mission supports Georgian national human rights institutions, such as the Public Defender's Office and the Human Rights Department of the National Security Council and of the General Prosecutors' Office. The Mission is creating networks of Human Rights Defenders in the regions throughout Georgia, thereby raising awareness on human rights, rights of minorities and women's rights. 

Human rights activities of the Mission aim to:

• support the integration of human rights principles into society and legislation;
• protect victims of human rights abuses;
• improve human rights awareness and implementation of international standards throughout Georgia, in particular in areas of potential tension, such as Kvemo Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti and in the zones of conflict;
• promote gender equality;
• combat torture and ill treatment of detainees.

Law enforcement and anti-torture

In the area of law enforcement, the Mission helps the Government to implement the National Action Plan against Torture 2003-2005. The Mission set up a procedure to combat torture and ill-treatment by:

• conducting, with relevant state bodies, unannounced monitoring visits to police stations and prisons;
• organizing training sessions for law enforcement staff on international anti-torture standards;
• building up a network of both state and civil society human rights advocates;
• increasing anti-torture co-operation with the Public Defender's Office in areas of concern, such as the Samegrelo region bordering with Abkhazia, Georgia.

To support the Government in implementing its OSCE commitments, the Mission works to strengthen national human rights institutions and deals with individual human rights complaints. In addition, the Mission trained the staff of all six regional branches of the Public Defender's Office and arranged roundtables on current key human rights issues. It also supported the Public Defender in drafting a law on the rights of internally displaced persons.

Human rights activities in areas of potential tension

The Mission arranged training on human rights teaching for ethnic Armenian and Azeri teachers from regions of Georgia that have large ethnic minority populations. Following the end of the Ajara crisis, the Mission started comprehensive human rights training, advocacy and awareness-raising activities in all Ajaran districts.

To further promote human rights and to build up confidence in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, the Mission established a human rights Sunday-school, organized weekly joint human rights sessions for Georgian and Ossetian children, and trained human rights teachers. Another project for training Ossetian law professionals and Georgian and Ossetian law students had to be suspended due to the security situation in the Ossetian conflict zone late summer 2004. In Abkhazia, Georgia, the Mission supported human rights television programmes and civil society organizations.

Rule of Law

The Mission focuses on the process of strengthening state structures and procedures guaranteeing justice; that is, on the legal system in general, legislative developments, judiciary independence and transparency of the law-making process and its perception as legitimate and fairly and consistently implemented.

Particular attention is given to reforms in judiciary, penitentiary, security and law enforcement services.

Together with ODIHR, the Mission financed training for 20 prison security staff to improve the professionalism of penitentiary officers. The training was organized with the help of international and local experts.

The Mission supported the initiative of the Ministry of Justice in setting up a legislative basis for the draft execution code. It also began looking at ways of assisting the practice of using alternative sentences as a means of reducing the number of prisoners.

To raise awareness of the need for Georgian legislation to comply with international standards, a Legal Discussion Forum has been held twice a month with the support of the Mission. Legal professionals took part in this Forum and submitted their recommendations to the Ministry of Justice.

When the Ministry of Justice was considering to amend the Constitution, the Mission in co-operation with the Venice Commission to the Council of Europe provided expert opinion on the draft amendments.

Freedom of the Media

The Mission's efforts in this area aim to ensure commitment with the norms and standards accepted by the OSCE participating States. Understanding that a stable democracy can only develop when freedom of expression is observed, the Mission has identified as key issues the financial independence and the capacity of media outlets to fulfil their basic function. The particular priority is given to underdeveloped post-conflict or geographically-isolated areas. The Mission is also involved in supporting media professionals to become active in defending their rights through media associations. The Mission acts on the assumption that basic freedoms must be protected in order for media to fulfil their role as public watchdog.

In a joint event organized together with the Mission in October 2004, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media held in Tbilisi the First South Caucasus Media Conference attended by media professionals from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia as well as by international experts.