Separation of Powers Program

PROMOTING RULE OF LAW IN GEORGIA (PROLoG)

CA # AID-114-A-15-00004

QUARTERLY REPORT YEAR THREE APRIL 1, 2017 – JUNE 30, 2017

PROMOTING RULE OF LAW IN GEORGIA ACTIVITY (PROLoG) QUARTERLY REPORT YEAR THREE APRIL 1, 2017 – JUNE 30, 2017

Prepared under the USAID’s Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia (PROLoG) Activity, Cooperative Agreement Number AID-114-A-15-00004

Submitted to: USAID/Georgia as of July 28, 2017

Implementer East-West Management Institute, Inc.

Responsible Parties: Giorgi Chkheidze, Chief of Party, Tbilisi, [email protected] Mark Dietrich, Project Director, Washington, D.C. [email protected]

Disclaimer This report is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of East-West Management Institute, Inc. and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government

2 TABLE OF ACRONYMS

ACCESS Advancing CSO Capacities and Engaging Society for Sustainability ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution CA Cooperative Agreement CEPEJ European Community for the Efficiency of Justice CIDA Civil Development Agency CRRC Caucasus Resource Research Center CLE Continuing Legal Education COE Council of Europe COP Chief of Party DCOP Deputy Chief of Party ECtHR European Court of Human Rights EHRAC European Human Rights Advocacy Centre EMC Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center EWMI East-West Management Institute Free-Uni Free University of Tbilisi GDI Georgian Democracy Imitative GBA Georgian Bar Association GIZ German Society for International Cooperation GTUC Georgian Trade Unions Confederation GYLA Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association HCOJ High Council of Justice HRC Human Rights Center HRCS Human Rights Center of the Supreme Court HSOJ High School of Justice JAG Judges Association of Georgia LAS Legal Aid Service L-N Lexis - Nexis M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MOJ Ministry of Justice NCCL National Center for Commercial Law NIHR Free Uni national Institute for Human Rights NGO Non-governmental Organization Coalition The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary PDO Office of the Public Defender PROLoG Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia TSU Tbilisi State University TDI Tolerance and Diversity Institute TOT Training of Trainers TI Transparency International - Georgia USAID United States Agency for International Development USG U.S. Government WUSL Washburn University School of Law

Executive Summary

Sub-Purpose 1: Strengthen Legal Framework

Judicial Reform

On May 23, the Judicial Strategic Committee approved the final text of the National Judicial Reform Strategy and the 2017-2018 Action Plan, both of which were developed through a year-long process that actively involved representatives of state organizations, the NGO Coalition and international experts, including from PROLoG, GIZ, CoE and EU4Justice. The Strategy is designed around four strategic areas: Independence and Impartiality; Accountability; Efficiency and Quality; Access to Justice, Transparency and Public Trust. The HCOJ approved the National Judicial Strategy and 2018 Action Plan on May 29.

On June 16, in response to a Constitutional Court decision of February 15, the Parliament of Georgia adopted amendments to the Organic Law on Common Courts refining the appointment process for former and current judges with three or more years of judicial experience so as to abolish the probation requirement for these judges. PROLoG expert U.S. Judge Timothy Baland provided key suggestions to the Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs that were incorporated into the amendments adopted by the Parliament.

Human Rights Legislation and Policy Development

PROLoG expert Maggie Nicholson returned to Georgia to present the findings of the “Report on Progress in the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights in Georgia, 2014-2020, and Recommendations as to Future Approaches.” The report is the first to assess the implementation of the Strategy to determine whether the adopted activities are likely to achieve the Strategy’s objectives in a reasonable timeframe, and recommends approaches for improving the implementation process.

Another PROLoG expert, Rusudan Mikhelidze, finalized the report “Towards Inclusive Human Rights Policies in Georgia: Efficient CSO Engagement in Policy Planning, Implementation and Monitoring.” The report analyzed the current situation of civil society participation at various levels of human rights policy planning, implementation and monitoring, and put forward practical proposals and recommendations to help the Human Rights Secretariat, CSOs and other stakeholders build a better framework for dialogue on human rights issues. The findings of the report were presented to stakeholders at a roundtable on the development process of the 2018-2020 Human Rights Action Plan organized by the Human Rights Secretariat. The report’s recommendations are expected to be piloted during the drafting process of the new Action Plan.

PROLoG, together with OSGF, finalized grants to strengthen civil society awareness by supporting the development of tools for monitoring and reporting in a systemic manner on the Human Rights Strategy and Action Plan, as well as other connected Government strategies and action plans. Three grants, each with a different focus, were awarded. A grant to monitor topics such as the right to physical security and liberty, the right to a fair trial, the right to due process and the prohibition of torture was awarded to the Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI); a grant to monitor freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the right to equality, and minority (ethnic, religious, LGBTQ) rights was awarded to the Women’s Initiatives Supportive Group (WISG); and a grant to monitor women’s rights, gender equality, efforts to combat domestic violence, the rights of children, and the rights of the disabled was awarded to the Human Rights Monitoring and Training Center (EMC).

PROLoG expert Professor Andrea Broderick developed recommendations on the concept of reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities to help the Georgian Government determine the legislative changes needed to bring Georgia into compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Civil Society Engagement in Judicial Reform and Legislative Development Process

On May 11, the Coalition held a public forum at which it presented a comprehensive report on “The Judicial System: Past Reforms and Future Perspectives,” which provides an analysis of reforms carried out since 2012 and explores current institutional problems. In their presentations the Coalition representatives noted that, despite certain improvements achieved through the so-called “Three Waves” of judicial reform, the objective of making the judicial system independent and transparent has not been fulfilled. The Coalition also raised concerns as to the influence of elite groups of judges within the court system. The Coalition also argued that the independence of the judiciary is weakened by institutional problems in the areas of: judicial selection and appointment, judicial probation, evaluation and promotion, number of judges and caseload, court administration and management, and judicial discipline. The Coalition plans to hold additional meetings with representatives of the Parliament and the judiciary to promote the recommendations of the report.

The Coalition’s Steering Committee, led by GYLA, developed an opinion paper on the draft revised Constitution and sent it to the Venice Commission. The paper criticizes a number of provisions of the draft, such as maintaining probation for newly appointed judges, removal of the provision from the previous version of the draft according to which open voting and reasoned decisions are required for the appointment of judges, appointing HCOJ non-judge members by a simple majority vote in the Parliament, and delegating exclusive power to the HCOJ to nominate Supreme Court judicial candidates. The Venice Commission considered several of these recommendations in its opinion adopted on June 16-17, 2017, including reiterating its previous recommendation to remove a trial period for judges in order “to remove factors that could challenge the impartiality of judges.” The Opinion also recommends that non-judge members be elected by “a qualified majority in Parliament in order to prevent the domination of the majority in the election of the members of the Judicial Council in order to better guarantee the independence of the Judiciary.” The Venice Commission also recognized “that the current High Council is subject to a lot of criticism in Georgia,” which can be a reason to reform the legislation on the Council, rather than preventing it “from playing its role also as regards the nomination of Supreme Court judges.”

Commercial Law Reform

PROLoG, in cooperation with UNDP and GIZ, continued its support for the development of a draft framework mediation law. The MoJ organized a presentation of the draft Mediation Law, which incorporates the majority of recommendations provided by PROLoG’s international expert Aleš Zalar.

The ISET Policy Institute, contracted by PROLoG and GIZ during the previous quarter to conduct a comprehensive Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of the draft Law on Entrepreneurs, completed its Inception and Interim Reports, the first two of the three RIA milestones. Once completed, the RIA will provide evidence for political decision-makers on the advantages and disadvantages of policy options by assessing their potential impacts.

Sub-Purpose 2: Improve Management of Justice System Institutions

Legal Aid Service

PROLoG assistance to the state-funded Legal Aid Service (LAS) focused on supporting the expansion of the LAS mandate into civil and administrative law starting in January 2018. A major component of this effort was conducting a survey of legal professionals to identify the key civil and administrative issues on which socially vulnerable people need legal assistance, which will help the LAS to focus its expansion of services on its beneficiaries’ most acute legal problems.

PROLoG also supported LAS to strengthen the professional skills of LAS and registry lawyers (lawyers registered with LAS to provide free legal aid at the state's expense) by launching a series of trainings on the cases brought against Georgia that were reviewed by the European Court of Human Rights.

Improve Civil Society Capacity to Raise Awareness and Provide Justice System Oversight The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and Transparency International- Georgia (TI) planned to present their fifth monitoring report on the High Council of Justice (HCOJ) on May 30. The organizers invited representatives of the judiciary, the Government, the Parliament, international organizations and legal experts to the event. However, developments in the days before the presentation caused the NGOs to use the meeting to make public statements instead of presenting the report. In statements by Ana Natsvlishvili (GYLA) and Eka Gigauri (TI) at the May 30 event, the leaders of the two organizations noted that they considered it inappropriate to hold an academic discussion on the results of the monitoring based on what they considered to be the HCOJ’s failure to perform its functions. In particular, in the previous week the Coalition published a statement calling on the HCOJ not to appoint court presidents through the existing appointment procedures, which the Coalition considers unclear and arbitrary, leading to increased powers of influential groups in the system. Despite this request, on May 29 the Council made a number of appointments using the existing procedures, including appointing judges criticized by CSOs to high administrative positions. At the end of their statements, GYLA and TI called on Parliament to start a discussion on immediate and fundamental changes in the justice sector with the involvement of the Coalition and other stakeholders.

Sub-Purpose 3: Enhance Capacity of Legal Professionals

During the reporting period PROLoG engaged its international resource partners from Washburn University School of Law to help local experts to develop a model course for Ph.D. candidates on teaching methods. The first of two workshops was held in May, and brought together interested law professors who were introduced to the core concepts of active teaching.

PROLoG also continued its support for the development of manuals on Academic Writing and Legal Writing, which are being developed by Anna Dolidze and Free University, respectively. A retreat was organized to help the Free University team to develop editorial standards for the Manual and develop the first draft chapters.

PROLoG continued its support for gender and human rights scholarship. The GIPA Human Rights Chair largely completed his work on a model human rights course and the accompanying teacher’s manual. The course and manual were presented to an interested group of professors from Tbilisi and the regions and were received with great interest. The

Ilia Human Rights Chair continued her work on the model course and organized a series of public events aimed at raising human rights awareness and knowledge among students and professors. The gender moot court organized by TSU’s Gender and the Law Chair was held this quarter, the first of its type in Georgia, and was received by the law student community with great interest. More than 170 students participated.

The PROLoG-supported Georgian Bar Association (GBA) Training Center started offering modules on legal writing, plea bargaining and administrative proceedings. During the reporting period more than 400 GBA members received training on these subjects.

The GBA submitted amendments to the Law on Advocates to the Parliament of Georgia, and Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee reviewed those amendments in June. Through PROLoG’s grant, GBA also hosted three bench-bar meetings between judges and practicing attorneys, two meetings in Tbilisi and one in Batumi, developed video instructions for the bar examination, conducted visits of Ethics Commission members into the regions in Kakheti, Imereti and Samegrelo, and drafted a curriculum for the GBA internship program.

PROLoG continued strengthening the Association of Law Firms of Georgia (ALFG), issuing a grant for ALFG to conduct an assessment of lawyers’ training needs, develop guidelines on how to organize a law firm, and ethical standards for law firms. This quarter ALFG established a working group to draft a concept paper on the organization of law firms in Georgia, and conducted one lunch meeting on tax law and one training on labor law issues.

During the reporting period PROLoG put in place an intensive human rights training program for Supreme Court judicial assistants, covering both basic and practical aspects of human rights. The training program includes workshops to teach related skills, such as legal writing and reasoning. At the same time, PROLoG’s experts continued mentoring the Tbilisi City Court judicial assistants who had previously been trained on human rights relevant to criminal justice, assisting them in their research for actual cases.

PROLoG, together with GIZ, published the first volume of Georgian Civil Code Commentary in May 2017, organized a public presentation event, and distributed hundreds of free copies of the Commentary to judges, law schools, NGOs and other major stakeholders.

Sub-Purpose 4: Improve Access to Justice of Marginalized Groups

During this quarter alone, PROLoG grantees provided legal advice to up to 5,000 citizens, and represented 706 clients in the courts of Georgia and at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

In this quarter, five NGO’s started implementation of their newly awarded legal aid grants (Georgian Democracy Initiative, Partnership for Human Rights, Union Sapari, Human Rights Center, and Tolerance and Diversity Center). The aim of the grants is to identify strategic litigation and other cases appropriate for promoting the rights of women and marginalized groups, including the LGBTQ community, before the courts of common jurisdiction, the Constitutional Court and the ECtHR. In addition, an awareness raising grant for a nationwide campaign on the rights of minorities was approved for Tolerance and Democracy Initiative (TDI).

GYLA successfully concluded a case submitted to the Constitutional Court under the JILEP project in June 2014. In that case the Constitutional Court held unconstitutional provisions prohibiting a Georgian citizen from being elected as a city mayor or a municipal council

7 member if the candidate had not lived permanently in Georgia for two years before the election. The Court held that the residency requirement imposed by the challenged provisions discriminated against persons forced to leave Georgia because of political persecution.

TI Georgia Advocacy and Legal Advice Centers operated in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Zugdidi and Batumi. During the reporting period 712 persons contacted ALAC offices. All were consulted verbally and provided with free legal advice. Of the 712 initial contacts, 147 were summoned to the ALAC offices for further consultation and assessment of their documents. Sixty-three of those cases were relevant to the scope and focus of TI’s activities and the ALAC lawyers represented beneficiaries directly at the courts or state institutions.

In addition, TI’s Tbilisi office successfully finalized 18 cases of illegal dismissals. TI’s Batumi office successfully finalized two cases of property rights violation and one case of illegal dismissal from public service. The Zugdidi office successfully finalized six cases, four cases related to property rights and two case of illegal dismissal from public service. In this reporting period TI Georgia also conducted mobile clinics, including to Ganmukhuri, the village near the de facto border with the Abkhazia Autonomous Republic.

PROLoG, in a new project with the Centers for Civic Engagement and the Human Rights Secretariat, conducted four regional visits in Telavi, Marneuli, Kutaisi and Gori, as well as two public lectures at Gori ERSU University and Akaki Tsereteli University in Kutaisi, to disseminate information in the regions of Georgia on the ongoing and planned reforms promoting human rights protection.

SUB-PURPOSE 1: STRENGTHEN LEGAL FRAMWORK

A. Significant Results, Accomplishments, Activities

Judicial Reform

Legislative amendments:

Acknowledging the importance of continuous judicial reform-related legislative amendments, this quarter PROLoG initiated collaboration with the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee and provided the Head of the Committee with a list of further legislative amendments needed to strengthen the independence of the judiciary.

In response to the PROLoG initiative, the Head of the Legal Affairs Committee, Eka Beselia, requested technical assistance in drafting legislative amendments required in light of a February 15 decision of the Constitutional Court. In that decision the Constitutional Court ruled that current and former judges with three or more years of judicial experience that could be objectively evaluated could not be required to serve a three-year probationary term before being considered for lifetime appointment as a judge; the Court also directed Parliament to amend the Organic Law to comply with the ruling by July 1. PROLoG engaged its expert on judicial selection and appointments, U.S. Judge Timothy Baland, to advise the working group and draft legislative amendments establishing a rigorous vetting system for judge applicants who are exempt from probation. Judge Baland discussed the draft amendments with various stakeholders and took part in a workshop on May 13-14, where representatives of the Legal Committee, High Council of Justice (HCOJ) and international donor organizations discussed the draft amendments.

The draft amendments initially proposed by the Legal Affairs Committee and presented during the workshop provided for the automatic reappointment of judges currently on probation with three or more years of judicial experience, without any competitive process, evaluation or clear procedures, but based only on the decision of the HCOJ. Similarly, there were no specific criteria, evaluation mechanisms or procedures for the appointment of former Supreme and Constitutional Court judges. After follow-up working group meetings, the amendments were revised based on the expert’s recommendations, submitted to the Parliament, and adopted by Parliament on June 16. The amendments entered into force on June 27.

As recommended by Judge Baland, the adopted amendments establish a definition of judicial candidates’ eligibility that will reduce the risk of subjective decisions by the HCOJ and increase the likelihood of equal treatment and consistency of practice in the lifetime appointment of experienced judges. Under the revised amendments, a judge is eligible to seek a lifetime appointment in a judicial vacancy competition if s/he was either: (a) an active judge with three or more years of judicial experience, or (b) a former judge who held judicial office within ten years of the date on which s/he submitted an application for a judicial vacancy.

In response to Judge Baland’s recommendations, the revised amendments also established a requirement that both judicial candidates with three years of prior judicial experience and current and former Supreme/Constitutional Court judges go through the competition process. As with other candidates, the process for these current and former judges includes gathering information on the judges, evaluating the candidates’ competency and integrity, a mandatory interview, independent completion of evaluation forms by all members of the HCOJ after the completion of interviews, and the right of candidates to appeal an HCOJ decision rejecting

9 their application. However, for the limited number of judges already on probation with three or more years of judgeship experience, the procedures differ from those for other applicants in that, despite Judge Baland’s recommendation to the contrary, the HCOJ is not required to gather additional information about these judges before making a decision on their appointment for life.

It is worth noting that but for a single judge’s independent action, the Constitutional Court ruling and the amendments adopted by the Parliament would not have happened. Omar Jorbenadze, a judge from the Tbilisi Court of Appeals, filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court requesting it declare unconstitutional the appointment of current and former judges with three or more years of judgeship experience for a probationary three-year term. This case is a clear demonstration that a single judge is able to make a difference to a large number of judges.

Judicial Reform Strategy and 2017-2018 Action Plan under the HCOJ Judicial Strategy Committee:

On May 23, the Judicial Strategic Committee (JSC) arranged the final session to approve the final text of the National Judicial Reform Strategy and 2017-2018 Action Plan, both of which were developed through a year-long process that actively involved representatives of state organizations, the NGO Coalition and international experts. The Strategy was developed as part of the continued assistance of PROLoG, GIZ, COE and EU4Justice to the Georgian justice system. The Strategy is designed around the four strategic areas: Independence and Impartiality; Accountability; Efficiency and Quality; and Access to Justice, Transparency and Public Trust. PROLoG’s international expert Aleš Zalar facilitated the final session of the Strategic Committee. Eka Beselia, Head of the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, also attended the JSC meeting and shared her positive feedback on the work of the JSC and the text of the Strategy. At the end of the discussion the final text was approved by the Committee and submitted to the HCOJ for final adoption, and the HCOJ approved the Judicial Reform Strategy and the 2017-2018 Action Plan at its May 29 session. Judicial Strategy development has been a responsibility of the HCOJ under the EU Association Agreement.

Improving the Judicial Selection and Promotion Process:

As noted above, during the reporting period the Parliament, in accordance with PROLoG’s judicial selection expert Judge Baland’s recommendations, made important legislative changes with regard to the rules governing judicial selection and appointment.

In addition to these developments, during the quarter the HCOJ conducted a competition to select and appoint judges applying the “Third Wave” legislative changes. The new procedures introduced concrete selection criteria to be used when evaluating judge- candidates; a point-based system to score the candidates’ competence when determining judicial appointments; background checks for those applying for judge positions; and conflict of interest rules for the HCOJ.

Despite these positive legislative changes, through monitoring PROLoG and its partners observed irregularities with the actual judge appointment process. On May 11, the HCOJ finalized the eighth competition on judicial selection and appointment since enactment of life-term system and appointed 64 judges out of 108 candidates. Among these judges, there were 58 former judges and six less experienced lawyers who graduated the High School of Justice (HSOJ). In total, 59 judges were appointed for a three-year term, and only four former

10 or current Supreme Court judges and one former Constitutional Court judge were appointed for life terms as they were exempt from probationary appointments under the new rule adopted by the “Third Wave” legislative amendments. The most controversial appointment was that of then-Supreme Court Judge Mikheil Chinchaladze to a position on the Tbilisi Court of Appeals, and ultimately as the head of that court. Mr. Chinchaladze had served as a Deputy of the Chief Justice and was severely criticized for his undue influence over individual judges during the previous UNM administration and for not personally hearing cases.

Judicial Discipline and Accountability:

The “Third Wave” reform legislative amendments adopted during the previous quarter included JILEP/PROLoG recommendations related to judicial accountability that were developed with the assistance of U.S. expert Victoria Henley, Director-Chief Counsel of the California Commission on Judicial Performance. While the changes presented in the Third Wave are positive and important, there are still numerous critical issues that need to be addressed by further amendments. To transforming the current disciplinary system into an effective accountability tool, the Law on the Disciplinary Responsibility and Disciplinary Proceedings of Judges should be further amended to: introduce a detailed list of disciplinary misconducts and their clear definitions, and remove the general reference to “judicial ethics”; stipulate the processes to be used by the HCOJ to screen and investigate complaints; create standards of proof guiding the HCOJ in its determination of complaint admission and referral to the Disciplinary Collegium; and increase transparency of the process.

During the reporting quarter the HCOJ did not manage to comply with the Third Wave’s requirement to appoint Disciplinary Inspector, a new position introduced by the legislative amendments. A competition was announced and 33 candidates submitted applications, but the names of the candidates and their biographies were not available to the public. As was clear at the HCOJ session on June 20, which was observed by a PROLoG representative, judge- members of the HCOJ had their own favored candidate, Vako Gavasheli, current head of HCOJ Ethics Department, and the Chief Justice had her own favored candidate, David Sulakvelideze, a former judge of the Supreme Court and law professor. An agreement between the Chief Justice and other judge-members was not reached, and it was announced at the session that these two candidates had withdrawn their candidacy from the competition. Ultimately, the HCOJ voted on the other candidates, whose names were not known to the public, and none received more than two votes. As a result the HCOJ failed to appoint an Independent Inspector, and accordingly failed to comply with the Third Wave’s requirement that all disciplinary complaints submitted to the HCOJ after March 14 be reviewed by the Independent Inspector first and be presented to the HCOJ with his/her recommendations on commencement or dismissal. It is not clear what will happen with disciplinary complaints submitted to the HCOJ after March 14.

PROLoG plans to follow-up with work done by Ms. Henley and assist both the HCOJ and Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee to develop legislative amendments to the Law on Judicial Discipline, including those related to the grounds for disciplinary liability of judges and the procedures for determining such liability.

Provide Management Assistance to the HCOJ:

Two Conferences of Judges were held in the reporting quarter, primarily to renew the composition of the HCOJ. On April 8, the Conference of Judges elected two new judge members of the HCOJ. In June, the terms of eight HCOJ members expired. On June 21 the

Parliament elected four new members of the HCOJ, and on June 24 the Conference of Judges elected four additional new judge members of the HCOJ, including the new Secretary of the Council. All the new members of the HCOJ are elected for four-year term. It should be noted that the Parliament made gender-balanced selections and included new members with different backgrounds, i.e., experience at the judiciary, Prosecutor’s Office, Bar and CSOs. It is hoped that this quarter’s selection of ten new members for the 15-member HCOJ will substantially revitalize the HCOJ.

As part of the selection process, Giorgi Mikautadze was elected as the HCOJ Secretary. Mr. Mikautadze was the Chairman of Tbilisi City Court, but as the Law on Common Courts prohibits the chairman of any court or court chamber/collegium from being elected as the HCOJ Secretary, after being named as a candidate Mikautadze announced he would resign if elected. Unlike the election of the HCOJ members, both candidates were requested to give a speech before the conference. Mikautadze received 246 of 299 votes.

Support HCOJ in Judicial Reform Strategy Development Planning Process:

See the above section on the Judicial Reform Strategy and 2017-2018 Action Plan under the HCOJ Judicial Strategy Committee.

Judicial Qualification Examination:

During this quarter the HCOJ once again raised the issue of selecting a date for judicial examinations but an examination date was not selected. In parallel, the HCOJ requested PROLoG’s support in updating its judicial examination and evaluation software, which had been developed with EWMI-JILEP support. The software update is needed for to ensure: up- to-date security to eliminate the possibility of unauthorized access to data/exam content; update modules to collect/submit information; and better flow of exam questions from the authors directly to the system without third-party involvement. PROLoG and the HCOJ also discussed involving the National Assessment and Examination Center (NAEC) to train the writers of examination questions before the next judicial examination.

The issue of the software update and training of exam writers were initiated at the HCOJ session in April. Due to the upcoming changes in the composition of the HCOJ, a final decision on these matters was postponed until next quarter.

Support of the Judges Association of Georgia

On April 28-29, the Judges Association of Georgia (JAG) hosted an international conference dedicated to Performance Evaluation of Judges, Mediation and Juvenile Justice. JAG and the HCOJ requested that PROLoG provide technical support for the conference from U.S. federal Judge Anthony Trenga to review Georgia’s current rules on performance evaluation of judges, as well as to review the assessment done by EWMI-JILEP’s experts in 2012. Judge Trenga was also requested to provide recommendations to improve the system of individual judicial evaluation with the overall goal of improving the quality of judges without infringement of judicial independence.

The conference hosted forty guests from the judiciaries of many countries, as well as the Chairman of Georgia’s Parliament and high officials from government agencies and international organizations. During his visit, Judge Trenga met with representatives of the HCOJ, including members of the HCOJ and the judicial evaluation department, and made a presentation at the conference on Judicial Performance Evaluation in the U.S.

Human Rights Legislation and Policy Development

Support to the Human Rights Council:

During this quarter PROLoG continued to support implementation of Georgia’s National Human Rights Strategy for 2014-2020. PROLoG, together with UNDP, brought Maggie Nicholson, former Deputy Head of Office of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to Georgia to present the findings of her “Report on Progress in the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights in Georgia, 2014-2020, and Recommendations as to Future Approaches.” The report is the first to assess the implementation of the Strategy to determine whether the adopted activities are likely to achieve the Strategy’s objectives in a reasonable timeframe, and recommends approaches for improving the implementation process. The report welcomed the significant progress made, to greater and lesser degrees, in almost all subject areas addressed in the National Strategy. In addition to general recommendations, the expert made specific recommendations in relation to justice, penitentiary systems and the prevention of torture and ill-treatment, the right to privacy, freedom of expression, assembly and demonstration, minority rights, rights of the child, persons with disabilities, internally displaced persons, migrants, gender equality and right to work. Priorities for further action were also identified. During her visit, Ms. Nicholson took part in multiple meetings with state and non-state actors. A major, high-level conference was also held to present the report. Tamar Chugoshvili, First Deputy Chairperson of Parliament, and others opened the presentation and stressed the importance of the Human Rights Strategy. Sopo Kiladze, Chair of Parliament’s Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee, and Ekaterine Skhiladze, Deputy Public Defender, reflected on the current state of human rights in Georgia, and the audience had an opportunity to raise problematic issues and comment on the findings. Apart from the conference, thematic working group meetings were organized on gender equality, violence against women, domestic violence, minority rights, and criminal justice. These meetings enabled representatives of state institutions and civil society organizations to have in-depth discussions about the expert’s recommendations, take stock of the progress made, and identify remaining challenges and necessary future steps.

PROLoG, together with OSGF, finalized the grant awarding process to strengthen civil society awareness by supporting the development of tools for monitoring and reporting in a systemic manner on the Human Rights Strategy and Action Plan, as well as other connected Government strategies and action plans. Three grants, each with a different focus, were awarded. The grant to monitor topics such as right to physical security and liberty, right to fair trial, right to due process and the prohibition of torture was awarded to the Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI) and its partner Institute for Democracy ad Safe Development (ISDS); the grant to monitor freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, right to equality, and minority (ethnic, religious, LGBTQ) rights was awarded to the Women’s Initiatives Supportive Group (WISG) and its coalition members Safari and EMC; and the grant to monitor women’s rights, gender equality, efforts to combat domestic violence, rights of the child, and right of peoples with disabilities was awarded to the Human Rights Monitoring and Training Center (EMC) together with GYLA and PHR.

PROLoG’s expert Rusudan Mikhelidze finalized the report “Towards Inclusive Human Rights Policies in Georgia: Efficient CSO Engagement in Policy Planning, Implementation and Monitoring.” The report analyzed the current situation of civil society participation at various levels of human rights policy planning, implementation and monitoring, and put forward practical proposals and recommendations to help the Human Rights Secretariat, CSOs and other stakeholders build a better framework for dialogue on human rights issues.

The recommendations were addressed to the Secretariat, NGOs and the donor community. The report’s findings were presented at a roundtable on the development process of the 2018- 2020 Human Rights Action Plan, organized by the Human Rights Secretariat June 10. The purpose of the event was to have a joint discussion with stakeholders on the process of drafting the new Action Plan as well as some key issues related to its structure. Following a recommendation by Mikhelidze, the Secretariat developed a timeline that ensures clarity over the Action Plan process and provides more opportunities for CSO involvement from the beginning of the process. Other recommendations are also expected to be piloted during the drafting process of the new Action Plan.

Due Process Rights:

PROLoG continued its support for CSO activities aimed at reforming the legal framework and addressing pressing challenges to ensure the effective observance of due process guarantees.

During the previous quarter, with PROLoG funding GYLA initiated development of an advocacy strategy in support of administrative offenses reforms. Due to a lack of human resources and other pressing issues, GYLA could not fully implement the advocacy strategy. GYLA organized meetings with the Chief Justice, who has certain concerns about the reform model suggested by the Government’s Administration, which transfers some offenses to the Criminal Code, but is open to in-depth discussion. GYLA also met with the Parliamentary Secretary of the Government’s Administration, who confirmed that the administration plans to initiate the reform in Fall 2017, but said there is no clear consensus on the exact direction of the reforms. Next quarter PROLoG will continue supporting GYLA and other CSOs in the process of advocating for reform of the administrative offenses legislation.

During the previous quarter, PROLoG issued a targeted grant to ALFG to promote the equality of arms in criminal proceedings by assisting advocacy in support of the parties’ equal rights to collect, introduce and investigate evidence. The project is expected to develop draft amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code. During this reporting period, ALFG collected all the recommendations developed up to now and drafted a policy paper. ALFG also held another meeting with GYLA’s court monitoring project to gather updated information on the results of its monitoring on equality of arms. In addition, with PROLoG’s funding ALFG retained an international expert, U.S. Judge Richard Gebelein, a senior judicial and prosecutorial expert with more than thirty-five years of experience in prosecution, defense, judicial reform, sentencing policy, legal education, criminal law reform, ethics and professional discipline. During the upcoming quarter Judge Gebelein will assist ALFG by advising on the respective U.S. and international standards and best practices, and he will travel to Georgia in July to take part in bilateral meetings with the main stakeholders.

Anti-Discrimination Legislation:

PROLoG continued its support to the Public Defender’s (Ombudsman’s) Office (PDO) with regard to the Law on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination. The absence of the concept of “denial of reasonable accommodation” in Georgian legislation is a core issue that impedes the work of the PDO’s Equality Department. As a result, PROLoG contracted with Professor Andrea Broderick of Maastricht University to analyze and provide an interpretation of the concept of reasonable accommodation contained in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Professor Broderick then traveled to Georgia where she conducted meetings with the PDO, as well as representatives of Government, Parliament, Judiciary and NGOs, to discuss the situation in

Georgia with regard to discrimination against persons with disabilities and the reasonable accommodation. Based on the outcomes of the meetings Professor Broderick developed recommendations to help the Georgian Government determine the legislative changes needed to bring Georgia in compliance with its obligations under the CRPD. Professor Broderick also advised on measures and activities that should be considered before implementing the reasonable accommodation duty in Georgia. These efforts will enable the Equality Department to adjudicate cases related to reasonable accommodation, and to gain much- needed experience in investigating cases and applying the CRPD in the Georgian context. On May 2, PROLoG, in cooperation with the PDO, OSGF and NGO Coalition for Equality, organized a conference in observance of the third anniversary of the adoption of the Law on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination. The conference put on display the main tendencies identified during the Law’s three years of operation, particularly the spheres where discrimination is a significant problem and the core sources of discrimination. The panelists at the conference, including the Public Defender, MPs, and representatives of the Ministry of Justice, common courts and NGOs, spoke about the significance of the adoption of the anti-discrimination law in protecting human rights, especially equality rights, and also shared their opinions about the gaps in the laws and necessary changes for their improvement. Tamar Chugoshvili, First Deputy Chairman of the Parliament, and Sofio Kiladze, Head of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee of Parliament, noted that the Parliament supports the draft amendments to the anti-discrimination law and will work for their speedy adoption to strengthen the efforts to combat discrimination in Georgia. The conference served as a good opportunity for various stakeholders to discuss the obstacles hindering the full effect and implementation of the law and necessary future steps and to once again demonstrate that the changes to the anti-discrimination law is necessary.

Follow-up to Gender and Law Study:

During the previous quarter, PROLoG worked with Partnership for Human Rights (PHR) and representatives of Parliament’s Gender Equality Council to develop an approach by which the Gender and Law study will result in legislative initiatives to be submitted to Parliament. First, the authors of the study prepared documents which showed whether and how the study’s recommendations were already reflected in the legislative package submitted to the Parliament by the government and currently pending (related to the ratification of the “Istanbul Convention”). Next, PHR and the Council identified priority areas and developed briefs. For each selected topic, the authors compiled the current regulations, problem statement, international standards and recommendations. The issues include the necessary changes to the Law on Gender Equality and Family Law as well as regulation of femicide. The documents will be used by the Council’s Secretariat to draft concrete legislative initiatives. Preparing the legislative initiatives on these issues is also part of the Council’s 2017 Action Plan and aims to improve the legislative framework on gender equality and women’s rights.

In addition, at the request of the Gender Equality Council, together with UNDP, PROLoG is supporting the first comprehensive study on the fulfillment of Georgia’s international recommendations in the areas of gender equality and women’s rights. The report will help the Council identify, prioritize and initiate the reforms needed to fulfill Georgia’s international obligations and received recommendations. For these purposes, two local and one U.S. expert will work in a team; U.S. expert Lori Mann and one local expert were contracted by PROLoG, and the second local expert was contracted by UNDP. Experts have begun their work, which is expected to be completed next quarter.

Support Constitutional Reform Commission:

As reported last quarter, PROLoG’s international expert Sir Jeffrey Jowell’s opinion on the draft constitutional changes was distributed among the respective stakeholders and members of the Constitutional Commission. This quarter Sir Jowell participated in an international conference on the constitutional reforms organized by GIZ in Berlin on May 22-23. At the event the draft constitutional amendments were discussed by Georgian stakeholders, external experts and the Venice Commission. Participants included the Speaker of the Parliament, First Vice-Speaker, MPs from both Georgian Dream and the Parliamentary opposition, representatives of the President's Administration, Government and Venice Commission, and national and international experts.

A number of PROLoG’s expert’s recommendations, such as adding new rights on educational freedom and administrative justice, were taken into account by the Constitutional Commission and are reflected in the revised draft amendments. The Venice Commission and PROLoG’s expert also gave the same or similar recommendations concerning adding a principle of proportionality, introducing rights of the child, and the election of Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges as well as the members of the HCOJ. The revised draft constitutional changes were adopted with the first and second hearing during the reporting period. The third and final hearing on the proposed changes is expected in the coming months.

Civil Society Engagement in Legislative Development Process

Coalition’s Advocacy to Improve Judicial System:

This quarter PROLoG continued its support for the Coalition’s advocacy activities aimed at the reform of the justice system. The highlights were: a Coalition forum that presented the Coalition’s study on the state of the judiciary, election of the Coalition’s leadership, and advocacy activities related to the constitutional changes concerning judiciary. The Coalition also organized meetings with media representatives and diplomats, and developed eight statements, most of which were dedicated to the problems of judicial selection and appointment.

On May 11, the Coalition held a public forum to discuss next steps for the reform of Georgia’s judicial system. The Coalition presented a comprehensive report titled “The Judicial System: Past Reforms and Future Perspectives,” which provides an analysis of reforms carried out since 2012 and explores current institutional problems. Opening speeches were made by Nino Gvenetadze, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Eka Beselia, Head of the Parliament’s Legal Committee, Nicholas Berliner, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy, and Janos Herman, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia. In their presentations the Coalition representatives noted that, despite certain improvements achieved through the so-called “Three Waves” of judicial reform, the objective of making the Georgian judicial system independent and transparent has not been fulfilled. The Coalition also raised concerns as to the influence of elite groups within the court system. The Coalition also argued that the independence of the judiciary is weakened by institutional problems in the areas of judicial selection and appointment, judicial probation, evaluation and promotion, number of judges and caseload, court administration and management, and judicial discipline. The report also raised the issue of gender-related stereotypes and gender- insensitivity by members of the bench. The Coalition plans to hold additional meetings with representatives of the Parliament and the judiciary to promote the recommendations of the report.

The Coalition also participated in the discussion of the constitutional changes concerning the judiciary. The Steering Committee, led by GYLA, developed an opinion paper on the draft revised Constitution and sent it to the Venice Commission. The paper criticizes a number of provisions of the draft, such as maintaining probation for newly appointed judges, removal from the previous draft of the provision requiring open voting and reasoned decisions for the appointment of judges, appointing the HCOJ non-judge members by the Parliamentary simple majority, and delegating an exclusive power to HCOJ to nominate Supreme Court judicial candidates. On May 18, the Coalition held a press conference to inform the press about the major criticisms raised in the opinion paper. The Venice Commission considered several of these recommendations in its opinion adopted on June 16-17. Specifically, the Venice Commission Opinion reiterates its previous recommendation to remove a probationary period for judges in order “to remove factors that could challenge the impartiality of judges.” The Opinion also recommends that non-judge members be elected by “a qualified majority in Parliament in order to prevent the domination of the majority in the election of the members of the Judicial Council in order to better guarantee the independence of the Judiciary.” The Opinion also discusses the issue of election of Supreme Court judges. The Venice Commission’s recommendation is to allocate decisive power to the HCOJ in the process of electing Supreme Court judges. This position is at odds with the Coalition’s opinion, but the Venice Commission also recognized “that the current High Council is subject to a lot of criticism in Georgia,” which it considers a reason to reform the legislation on the Council rather than preventing it “from playing its role also as regards the nomination of Supreme Court judges.”

The Coalition made several critical statements on the problems of judicial selection and appointment. On April 4, the Coalition called on the HCOJ to halt judicial appointments until the election of the new HCOJ members and adoption of legislative amendments called for by the Constitutional Court regarding the introduction of rules of appointment for judges with prior judicial experience. In its May 16 statement, the Coalition criticized the appointments made by the HCOJ on May 11. The statement says that these appointments demonstrated that the legislation still leaves the Council legal opportunities for arbitrary decisions, specifically allowing for appointment without substantiation and argumentation via secret ballot. The Coalition also made a statement on the appointment of court chairs. The Coalition’s May 29 statement raises possible collusion among the HCOJ members, an indication of which is the Tbilisi Appeals Court Chair’s unexpected resignation on May 25, allowing the then-existing HCOJ members to appoint their desired candidate to this position before their terms expired. The Coalition also addressed the Parliament on issues of judicial selection in the June 5 statement concerning the draft legislation on the lifetime appointment of former judges. The Coalition criticized several provisions of the bill, such as a secret ballot for appointing judges, setting different rules for appointing former and acting judges of first instance and appellate courts on the one hand and former and acting judges of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts on the other, and the absence of a clear procedure for the appointment of the latter.

The Coalition made a number of statements on other problematic issues and developments concerning the justice sector. The Coalition harshly criticized the proposed draft legislation creating the Investigative Department for Cases of Ill-Treatment. The June 9 statement says that the department proposed in the bill does not meet the minimum requirements for independence and transparency, and clearly demonstrates the government’s lack of political will to create an effective mechanism for investigating crimes committed by representatives of the law enforcement bodies. The Coalition also reacted to the controversial court decisions in cases involving violations allegedly committed by representatives of law enforcement bodies (the case of induced suicide committed by Demur Sturia and the criminal case of the band “Birzha Mafia”). The June 15 statement says that these cases are indicative of severe

17 problems that can be solved by reforming law enforcement, creating an independent investigative mechanism, freeing the courts from political influences, and revising the current repressive drug policy. In response to developments at the HCOJ, the Coalition decided to reactivate the public campaign in support of judicial reforms. Members of the Steering Committee met representatives of the largest TV outlets in Georgia to increase their awareness of the processes taking place at the HCOJ and persuade them to cover the problems of the court system more extensively. Meetings were held separately with each media outlet: Rustavi 2, Imedi TV, TV Pirveli, Maestro and the Public Broadcaster. The Coalition representatives briefed journalists and producers about the problems of the HCOJ, including dubious appointments, connections with the ruling political party, and the lack of clear and transparent decision-making processes. On June 7, the Coalition Steering Committee also met representatives of business associations and activist groups to brief them about the processes taking place in the court system and request their support in public campaign activities. On June 12, the Coalition Steering Committee members had a similar information-sharing meeting with foreign diplomats. The U.S. and EU Ambassadors, as well as representatives of the German, Swiss, and Dutch embassies, attended the meeting. The Coalition members asked the diplomats to keep the problems of the judiciary at the top of the agenda in their communications with the Government of Georgia. The Coalition also took a more radical step to attract public attention to the problems of judiciary: they cancelled the HCOJ monitoring report presentation and turned the event into a press conference to talk about the problems of the HCOJ (see below).

This quarter the Coalition leadership was renewed. On June 22, representatives of twenty-two organizations met to elect the Steering Committee. As a result of the elections the Georgian Democratic Initiative (GDI) joined the Steering Committee (Human Rights Center was voted out). The Steering committee then elected Transparency International Georgia as the Chair and GDI as the Deputy Chair. On the same day the Coalition members brainstormed about its immediate advocacy plans and longer-term actions, including more active communication with judges in order to stimulate internal pressure in support of reforms.

Coalition Working Group grant projects:

During the reporting period the Coalition Working Groups carried out studies through grant- funded projects supported by PROLoG.

TI-Georgia, GYLA and EMC concluded a project that studied the state of the judicial system in light of the legislative changes carried out since 2012. The NGOs published a report with a comprehensive analysis of the gaps and challenges in the judicial system and recommendations aimed at their solution. The report was presented at the May 11 Coalition Forum (see above). The authors of the report are now working on legislative initiatives based on the report’s recommendations.

Last quarter PROLoG awarded a grant to EMC to support the Coalition’s advocacy in the area of criminal justice reform. The project “Reforming the Criminal Investigation for Creating Fair and Effective Criminal Justice System” commenced on June 1, and will run for 13 months. The project aims to investigate and evaluate the relations between the investigators and prosecutors in legislation and practice to improve the investigatory system so that it is focused on human rights and is institutionally and procedurally effective. The adversarial nature of criminal proceedings will be the key lens used for analyzing the investigation system. The project will produce a final report that contains recommendations

18 and will also develop a concept note for reform. EMC has started preparatory activities, but the bulk of the work will be conducted during the coming quarter.

Support to GYLA and TI Advocacy Efforts:

PROLoG provided sub-awards to both GYLA and TI to support, among other things, advocacy campaigns aimed at improving justice system-related legislation and policy.

GYLA had several important advocacy initiatives. During the reporting period GYLA presented a proposal to amend Parliament’s regulations governing the election of members of the HCOJ and Judicial Disciplinary Board to the Procedural Committee of the Parliament. The Legal Affairs Committee was also planning to consider the issue. However, considerations were postponed until the Fall Session. Meanwhile, the Parliament elected four non-judge members. Despite the fact that GYLA’s proposal was not considered prior to these elections, GYLA’s advocacy had some effect, because compared to the previous years the procedure was improved. More specifically, the Legal Affairs Committee conducted a public hearing of the candidates and the Parliamentary Minority faction held a meeting during which representatives of the public were allowed to pose questions to candidates.

GYLA published a statement concerning amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses. The amendments proposed by the Government of Georgia specify differing terms of administrative detention for work and non-work days. Under the proposal, administrative detention taking place during work days is limited to 12 hours, but detention that takes place during non-work days can be continued until a body considering the case makes a decision. GYLA’s position is that the time of detention should be irrelevant to the term of detention. In general, GYLA advocates for the abolishment of administrative detention and a fundamental and systemic revision of the Code of Administrative Offenses. Despite these concerns, the Parliament adopted the amendments in an expedited manner.

GYLA was an active member of the Constitutional Commission. Some of GYLA’s recommendations were considered in the final version of the draft amendments. Namely, the clause prohibiting discrimination has been worded as an open clause (the list of grounds of discrimination is not exhaustive). The principle of substantive equality was introduced. According to the draft, the state takes an obligation to ensure special conditions for the fulfillment of rights and interests of people with disabilities. The right to fair trial was defined according to the ECHR standards, i.e., the draft says that the state ensures the right to fair and timely consideration of a case. Another noteworthy change concerns the prosecutorial system, which for the first time was described as independent from the executive and judicial branches. The Commission did not consider the Coalition’s recommendation to include a provision requiring that judicial appointment decisions be substantiated; however, it considered the proposal to indicate that judges are appointed based on the criteria of competence and integrity. The new text also says the HCOJ is created to ensure the independence and effectiveness of judiciary, while the rules of its work, authority and formation procedure is established in an organic law.

TI took a lead in some of the Coalition’s public campaign activities, such as organizing meetings with the representatives of media, business associations, and foreign diplomats (see above).

TI continued to work on the study of corruption risks in the court system. The study will explore the regulatory framework and practice by considering legislative gaps that create a risk of corruption and consider specific cases in which corruption-related allegations were

19 made. During the reporting period TI researchers collected information about alleged cases of corruption. They reached out to business associations and diplomatic services to receive information on such cases.

Capacity Building for the Coalition Members

On April 29-30, PROLoG helped train 15 Georgian lawyers from eight civil society organizations in legal writing. Tamar Tomashvili and David Kapanadze, both from Free University Tbilisi, focused on helping the participants improve their report writing skills. All of the participants are actively engaged in writing various research pieces for advocating changes in relevant law and practice. To aid improvement of the lawyers’ writing skills, the training focused on practical matters of planning the report, determining its focus and audience, as well as using legal analysis techniques for report writing purposes. The trainers also taught case brief preparation skills that are indispensable to lawyers when analyzing judicial practice. The trainers gave individual feedback on writing samples from each organization, and gave follow-on critiques and advice after the practical re-drafting exercises that took place during the training.

Grant Support to Unity of Judges

This quarter the Unity of Judges (Unity) grant contract was extended for six months (until Oct 2017), with a renewed scope of work and new assignments. During the extension Unity will advocate for adoption of the draft Law on High Council of Justice and the draft HCOJ bylaws developed during the past year with PROLoG support. In addition, to assess the implementation of the Third Wave amendments related to the judicial appointments as well as legal changes that are anticipated in view of the Constitutional Court decision abolishing the probation requirement for lifetime appointment of former judges, Unity will develop a report on selection, appointment and promotion of judges that will include an analysis of current law and practice in these areas. Unity will analyze regulations governing admission to the High School of Justice, rules of competition for selection and appointment of judges for lifetime and probation, rules of evaluation and appointment of judges on probation for lifetime, and regulations concerning judicial promotions, including the appointment of court chairs.

In May, Unity issued a critical statement regarding the appointment of judges, including the Tbilisi Appellate Court president, Mikheil Chinchaladze. Immediately after this announcement was publicized on the internet, around 20 judge members of Unity announced their desire to leave the organization because they disagreed with the statement. This information attracted media attention and, as a consequence, Unity organized a press conference to answer questions, including regarding their internal rules about who must agree on the text of an announcement. Maia Bakradze and Besik Sisvadze gave further explanations to the media about the reasons for the criticism and the violations they believe took place. Unity also stated that it does not believe that it was the judges' personal decision to leave the organization and make a public joint announcement, but rather that the decision to leave Unity and issue a public statement was coordinated by the management of the judiciary. Maia Bakradze’s follow-up interview named “Closed Circle in Judiciary” was also published in Liberali Magazine in June, where she once again explained the background and history behind the organization, its members, criticism and consequences as well as their concerns towards the appointment of judges and election of court chairs. In June, as part of its advocacy efforts, Unity organized meetings with the MPs Giorgi Tugushi and Otar Kakhidze from the Parliamentary minority (European Georgia) to present their draft Organic Law on the HCOJ and draft regulations. Unity is negotiating for meetings

20 with the Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, Eka Beselia, as well as with other MPs, MoJ, the President’s Office and other stakeholders.

Commercial Law Reform

Framework Mediation Law and HCOJ Regulations on Court-Annexed Mediation Procedures:

PROLoG, in cooperation with UNDP, has supported a working group created by the mediation associations and the National Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution (NCADR) to draft a framework law on mediation. After the first draft of the law was developed and delivered to the MoJ, the drafting continued within the ADR working group of the Interagency Council for Private Law. To assist the MoJ and the working group members, PROLoG reengaged Aleš Zalar to review the finalized draft and other proposed changes related to the mediation law (e.g., relevant changes to the Civil Procedure Code and Civil Code).

During last quarter, Mr. Zalar provided his second report on the mediation law drafting efforts, which considered the workability of the revised mediation framework and its compatibility with the EU Mediation Directive and other relevant EU recommendations and guidelines. This quarter MoJ agreed to the majority of recommendations provided by Mr. Zalar, and those recommendations have resulted in significant new articles in the final draft of the law. PROLoG’s and Mr. Zalar’s contribution was singled out for praise by MoJ officials during the presentation of the draft law, referring to Mr. Zalar as “a great friend of Georgia” invited by PROLoG. It is expected that MoJ will initiate the legislative process for the mediation law later this year.

Company Law Reform:

During this quarter PROLoG, together with GIZ and the EU-funded project “Support to the Development of Private and Administrative Law Systems in Georgia,” continued to support the MoJ working group on company law reform. As part of that support, PROLoG and GIZ supported a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) to evaluate the impact of the draft Law on Entrepreneurs (LoE), which was developed by the Private Law Reform Council within MoJ.

In March 2017, the ISET Policy Institute was selected and contracted to conduct the RIA. This quarter ISET presented its Inception Report, which included a detailed Action Plan for implementation of the RIA and the results of a Stakeholder Survey that involved 26 meetings with 40 stakeholders. ISET also presented its Interim Report this quarter, completing two of the three RIA milestones. During the upcoming quarter PROLoG and GIZ will monitor ISET’s progress, and the final RIA report is expected by August 2017. Once completed, the RIA will provide evidence for political decision-makers on the advantages and disadvantages of various policy options by assessing their potential impacts. The RIA will contribute to the sustainability of the law and potentially lead to revisions to the draft law.

Civil Code Commentary:

On May 27, PROLoG, in cooperation with GIZ, organized the presentation of the first volume of the new Commentary on the Civil Code of Georgia. Hundreds of free copies of the Commentary were then disseminated among stakeholders, including the 24 city and district courts of Georgia, Tbilisi and Kutaisi Appeal Courts, Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, more than 30 law schools, Georgian Bar Association, Legal Aid Service, Ministry of Justice,

High Council of Justice, High School of Justice and NGOs. The release of the Commentary was much anticipated by both legal scholars and practitioners, and it serves a great need in the legal community as it is the first update since the publication of the first Commentary in 2000-2001.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) Results

Sub-Purpose 1: Legal Framework Strengthened No quarterly reporting required under indicators

B. Key Issues and Challenges

Proper implementation of the Judicial Reform Strategy and 2017-2018 Action Plan, now adopted by the HCOJ, will be a challenge. To overcome this challenge PROLoG will offer the HCOJ technical assistance and support in implementing certain activities, such as developing comprehensive and clear regulations of HCOJ operation, and methodology for a study on the necessary number of judges and support staff. PROLoG will also assist the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament to implement its 2017 Action Plan, which implies improving the grounds and procedures of judicial discipline despite some reluctance demonstrated by the Committee, HCOJ, and MoJ.

PROLoG supported the Association of Law Firms of Georgia (ALFG) to draft proposed changes to the Civil Procedure Code (CivPC) within the mandate set forth by the MoJ. The ALFG-proposed changes are intended to make civil procedure more adversarial, and to tackle weaknesses in the Code related to interim security measures, court representation, and ex parte decisions. The finalized, updated text of the draft was presented to the MoJ for further consideration and public discussion. However, this quarter MoJ decided to form a special working group to consider more extensive revisions to the CivPC. ALFG is represented in this working group by the two authors of its proposed changes, and PROLoG is also a member of the working group. The process of revising the CivPC is expected to be long and no specific efforts are planned so far. At this stage, it is unclear whether the MoJ supports the revisions proposed in the draft submitted by ALFG.

With regard to reform of the Code of Administrative Offenses, there remain challenges with its advocacy. First, there are conflicting opinions among some stakeholders about the basic direction of the reform. Apart from this, due to other pressing issues and lack of human resources, GYLA could not fully implement the strategy developed during the previous quarter. It will be important for GYLA and the Coalition to prioritize this effort in the upcoming quarter notwithstanding the other demands on their time.

The Human Rights Secretariat has delayed the presentation of its Strategy and Action Plan, which is now tentatively scheduled for September. The reluctance of the Secretary to present its Strategy and Action Plan may reflect a desire to avoid public criticism of the ineffectiveness of the Human Rights Council and the Human Rights Secretariat’s inability to fully implement its functions due to a lack of human resources. PROLoG will continue to push the Secretariat to present its Strategy and Action Plan, and will, together with USAID, reassess PROLoG’s engagement with the Secretariat as part of the upcoming work-planning process.

C. Plans for next quarter

The following activities are expected to take place during the next reporting period:  As follow-up to the Judicial Reform Strategy and 2017-2018 Action Plan, support the HCOJ and the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament to implement and enforce the activities, mainly those which require legislative amendments;  Organize a series of meetings with the HCOJ new members to increase their awareness of PROLoG’s judicial reform priorities and the additional needed legislative amendments;  Assist HCOJ to implement recommendations submitted by PROLoG’s judicial examination expert and based on the judicial examination improvement plan shared with HCOJ by hiring NAEC to train test drafters and test graders, and contracting a company to enhance security of the examination software;  Work with HCOJ, the Judicial Disciplinary Committee, and Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, and the Independent Inspector if appointed, to increase their awareness of the draft amendments to the provisions defining the grounds for judicial discipline and encourage legislative initiative in this regard;  Support the Human Rights Secretariat to present its Strategy and Action Plan to civil society organizations and to the Human Rights Committee of Parliament;  Organize a workshop for recipients of the three grants to develop tools for monitoring human rights strategies and action plans on human rights-based approaches to monitoring;  Work with the Parliament and Human Rights Secretariat to reflect expert Mikhelidze’s recommendations on effective engagement and cooperation for the Human Rights Secretariat and NGOs in the respective statutes/guidelines;  Support efforts to reform the Code of Administrative Offenses through meetings with key stakeholders;  Conduct follow-up activities together with the PDO in relation to Professor Broderick’s report on the adjudication of cases related to the denial of reasonable accommodation;  Continue discussions with the PDO and HSOJ on the possibility of a joint conference for judges on the burden of proof in anti-discrimination cases; discuss with the HSOJ possible assistance in reviewing the syllabus of its anti-discrimination course;  Organize a working meeting with PHR and the Gender Equality Council on legislative initiatives based on PHR’s Gender and Law study;  Continue working with the experts assessing the implementation of the Georgia’s obligations in the spheres of gender equality and women’s rights and identify the key priority areas for the Gender Equality Council;  Organize a one-day seminar for the MPs and members of the staff on the issues of discrimination;  Coalition will develop a concept of legislative changes based on the recommendations of its study on the state of judiciary for submission to Parliament;  Under the Coalition Working Group grant, EMC will contract the already-selected local and international experts and elaborate a detailed methodology with their active involvement. The team will set up the meetings with all key stakeholders and prepare for interviews by identifying all relevant legislation and obtaining public information;  Together with GIZ, support and monitor the LoE RIA development process. After the RIA is completed, organize a public presentation of the draft LoE and support further public discussion;  Continue support for adoption of a framework mediation law;

 Continue consultations with HCOJ and Tbilisi City Court (TCC) on improved operation and management of the TCC Mediation Center;  Explore HCOJ’s interest in further development of court-annexed mediation and possible support to the Mediators’ Association to be established under the mediation law;  Monitor the MoJ initiative to create commercial law/tax chambers, and in consultation with USAID consider the provision of technical assistance.

SUB-PURPOSE 2: IMPROVE MANAGEMENT JUSTICE SYSTEM INSTITUTIONS

A. Significant Results, Accomplishments, Activities

Provide Management Assistance to the HCOJ

See reporting under Sub-Purpose 1, Strengthening Legal Framework, Judicial Reform Support.

Improve the Function of the Legal Aid Service

Based on a request from the state-funded Legal Aid Service (LAS), PROLoG announced a call for proposals to conduct training for the LAS and registry lawyers (lawyers registered with LAS to provide free legal aid at the state's expense) on cases against Georgia reviewed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Levan Meskhoradze was selected as the trainer and developed a two-day course on judgments against Georgia in the ECtHR. The training module includes a description of the ECtHR judgments against Georgia that have high or medium importance, as well as similar decisions of ECtHR regarding other countries. The training was launched in Tbilisi on June 16, and 15 lawyers participated. A total of eight groups of lawyers will be trained, with the trainings being conducted in Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi. The course will provide lawyers with knowledge of the important judgments against Georgia and relevant case law of the ECtHR , which can be applied during the representation of clients in the Georgian legal system to ensure that the European Convention on Human Rights standards are properly implemented in Georgia.

On June 2, PROLoG facilitated a meeting between the Georgian Bar Association (GBA) and the LAS Board to discuss legislative amendments to the Legal Aid Law that regulates the nomination of members to the Board by the GBA. LAS representatives discussed three major changes that they are proposing: a) a rule of appointment concerning the three board members appointed by the GBA to the LAS Board that will require open competition; b) decreasing the term of Board members from 4 to 3 years; and c) proposing staggered terms for the LAS Board members nominated by the GBA and Ombudsman.

On June 14, the Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) presented the findings of a PROLoG-organized study on the broadening of the LAS mandate into civil and administrative cases, which begins in January 2018. The survey was conducted from January to April 2017, and focus groups were organized with judges, LAS and registry lawyers, and NGO providers of free legal aid. CRRC identified the most problematic civil and administrative issues that need to be addressed by LAS for its socially vulnerable beneficiaries, including: property cases involving the protection of property rights and property registration; healthcare issues; labor issues; civil and administrative cases derived from the anti-discrimination legislation; rights guaranteed for persons with disabilities;

24 compensation for damage caused by natural disasters; and claims related to issuing restrictive and protective orders for the victims of domestic violence.

Civil Society Capacity to Raise Awareness, Monitor and Provide Justice System Oversight

High Council of Justice Monitoring (GYLA and TI):

The Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) and Transparency International-Georgia (TI) planned to present their fifth monitoring report on the High Council of Justice (HCOJ) on May 30; the report was based on GYLA and TI’s monitoring the HCOJ to discern improvements and negative tendencies in the HCOJ’s work. The organizers invited representatives of the judiciary, the Government, the Parliament, international organizations and legal experts to the event. However, developments in the days before the presentation caused the NGOs to use the meeting to make public statements instead of presenting the report. In statements by Ana Natsvlishvili (GYLA) and Eka Gigauri (TI) at the May 30 event, the leaders of the two organizations noted on behalf of the Coalition that they considered it inappropriate to hold an academic discussion on the results of the monitoring based on what they considered to be the HCOJ’s failure to perform its functions. In particular, in the previous week the Coalition published a statement calling on the HCOJ not to appoint court presidents through the existing appointment procedures, which the Coalition considers unclear and arbitrary, leading to increased powers of influential groups in the system. Despite this request, on May 29 the Council made a number of appointments using the existing procedures, including appointing judges criticized by CSOs to high administrative positions. At the end of their statements, the leaders of GYLA and TI called on the Parliament to start a discussion on immediate and fundamental changes in the justice sector with the involvement of the Coalition and other stakeholders. GYLA and TI said the Coalition is ready to provide detailed recommendations for reform, and will continue to monitor the performance of the HCOJ.

Court Monitoring (GYLA):

In this reporting period GYLA continued its court monitoring efforts. GYLA also analyzed the data for the period of August 2016 to January 2017, and prepared a draft of its general report covering the monitoring time period. The general report follows on the March 27 presentation of GYLA’s first specialized report, which focused on cases involving domestic violence and violence against women. The presentation of the general report will be held in late July.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) Indicator Results

Indicator 7: Number of training programs and other events held designed to strengthen the management and sustainability of justice sector institutions, as well as coordination among them.

Year 3 Target: 15; Results for quarter: 2 (JSC meeting on Approval of Judicial Strategy; meeting between GBA and LAS representatives)

B. Key Issues and Challenges

LAS faces challenges in effectively implementing an attorney appraisal system. The key challenge is the readiness of LAS lawyers to accept the new system. In addition, it is important to adopt amendments to the Law on Legal Aid Service related to the Legal Aid Board and to make informed decisions on the expansion of the LAS mandate into administrative and civil law.

GYLA faced a challenge in developing both specialized and general court monitoring reports. While its specialized report on cases in the court system involving domestic violence and violence against women was interesting and well received, to a degree it cannibalized the general report, both delaying its preparation and depleting it of significant observations and topics. PROLoG will engage with GYLA to identify the best course of action to ensure that the court monitoring findings are presented so as to ensure public awareness of the key findings and appropriate government responses to those findings, and also to ensure the reports cover all significant areas of interest.

C. Plans for next quarter

The following activities are expected during the next reporting period:  Support LAS Board and the LAS Monitoring and Analysis Unit meeting on employee performance evaluations and amendments to the Legal Aid Law.  Support LAS Board meeting with GBA on amendments to the Legal Aid Law.  Organize the training of LAS lawyers in Tbilisi on ECtHR decisions against Georgia.  Support GYLA and TI on the release of the HCOJ monitoring report.  Support GYLA with the further development of the court monitoring methodology and reporting techniques.  Organize a two-day training in legal writing for NGOs, members of the Coalition.  GYLA will present the court monitoring report for August 2016 – January 2017.  GYLA and TI will present the findings of the HCOJ monitoring report to the new composition of the HCOJ.

SUB-PURPOSE 3: ENHANCE CAPACITY OF LEGAL PROFESSIONALS

The aim of sub-purpose 3 is to enhance the capacity of Georgian legal professionals by further strengthening legal education at the university level by providing more practical skills training, and providing more opportunities for continuing legal education (CLE) for current judges and lawyers.

A. Significant Results, Accomplishments, Activities

Improve Teaching Methodology

During the reporting period PROLoG accomplished the following activities to enhance Teaching Methodology at Georgian universities.

Free University, under its PROLoG grant and in cooperation with Ilia State University and with the support of Washburn University School of Law (WUSL), worked on the revision of its “Introduction to Law” course. This activity will redesign and fine-tune the course content and methodology and create a model course to be shared with interested law schools. WUSL professor Rory Bahadur is assisting Free and Ilia Universities in specifying their learning objectives, refining the course content, and improving teaching methodology. During this

26 reporting period Free University conducted a working meeting with all interested professors, identified topics and issues that need to be addressed, and discussed the findings with WUSL. Together with Professor Bahadur, Free Uni will conduct its first workshop for law professors in the upcoming quarter (July 2017), and will discuss U.S. and Georgian practice and ways of improving the methodology of the course.

Professor Bahadur is involved in another Teaching Methodology program supported by PROLoG. As noted in previous reports, PROLoG is developing a model Teaching Methods Course for Law Ph.D. Programs in Georgia. In the previous quarter, PROLoG hired two Georgian experts, Kethy Iremashvili and Tamar Tomashvili, to work closely with Professor Bahadur to prepare the model course and conduct workshops. The first workshop, conducted in May, brought together professors who teach Teaching Methodology courses at Georgia’s Ph.D. programs. Professor Bahadur and the Georgian experts conducted sessions on the importance of multimodal presentation, techniques of modern teaching, and shared model exercises that encourage active learning and interaction with the class. A second workshop will be organized in July 2017, and will focus on class assessment and exam designing tools. The experts are also developing a model course and guidebook that will assist Georgian professors in their everyday teaching.

Enhance Professional Skills Training

Legal Research, Analysis and Writing:

During the reporting period an agreement was reached between Free University and PROLoG on future steps regarding completion of the Legal Writing Textbook. The main challenge in completing the work is the time constrains of the authors, who are unable to produce their respective parts in timely manner. Free University addressed PROLoG with a request to revise their grant budget and allocate funds for two retreats for the authors to complete the Textbook. PROLoG agreed, and in May the authors had a first two-day retreat where they worked on completion of their drafts and coherence of terminology and writing styles. The retreat proved to be efficient, and after the retreat the authors provided their second draft of the Textbook. A second retreat is planned in the next reporting period (July-August 2017), when the authors are expected to produce a finalized draft ready for submission to the editor. Free University also proposed changing the Textbook’s editor-in-chief to ensure completion of editing and publication of the Textbook by October 2017.

In the previous reporting period, Free University and WUSL actively worked on their annual program of developing amicus briefs for submission to the Constitutional Court of Georgia. This year they are concentrating on two topics: a) a constitutional submission by the Rustavi City Court to the Constitutional Court regarding constitutionality of Article 1971 (para. 2) of the Code of Administrative Offences, which stipulates sanctions for failure to appear before the military conscription commission with the intention of evading military service with respect to Article 14 of the Georgian Constitution (prohibition of discrimination); and b) a constitutional complaint regarding constitutionality of Article 1 (31, (r)) of the Law on Public Procurement (which exempts procurements by Georgian Post from the law) with respect to Art.30.2 of the Constitution of Georgia (which obligates the state to promote free enterprise and competition). WUSL has already delivered research on U.S. case law on the mentioned topics and Free University produced its draft briefs. The amicus briefs are now undergoing final revision and will be submitted to the Constitutional Court of Georgia next quarter.

Anna Dolidze continued her work on an Academic Writing Manual. The Manual will set academic writing and citation standards for both law school students and scholars engaged in

27 academic writing. Dr. Dolidze has already provided a second draft of the Manual and conducted several meetings and discussions with students to test the content of the Manual. In May, she organized a workshop with law professors who teach writing courses at various universities and shared chapters from her book to receive feedback and suggestions for improvement. On June 23, Tbilisi State University (TSU) hosted a public presentation of the initiative. The Rector of TSU stressed the importance of improving academic writing skills among students and engaging scholars in academic research, and reinforced TSU’s commitment to support this cause. Dr. Dolidze will finalize the Manual by October 2017, after which it will be published and widely distributed among Georgian law schools.

PROLoG issued a targeted grant to TSU’s National Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution (NCADR) to promote and popularize mediation via educational and awareness raising activities that target students, lawyers and local communities in the regions of Georgia. NCADR’s scope of work envisages trainings for lawyers on representing clients in mediation, as well as public lectures on mediation in various regions of Georgia. In June, NCADR conducted a public lecture in Kutaisi, discussing the advantages of mediation, its regulation, and the institutionalization of mediation institutes. Representatives of academia, students, judges and other interested stakeholders attended the lecture. NCADR also conducted training for lawyers in Kutaisi, covering issues such as mediation and its distinction from formal dispute resolution processes, factors determining successful representation in mediation, and a comparative analysis of EU and Georgian professional ethics codes for lawyers. A Memorandum of Understanding between TSU and Akaki Tsereteli State University (ATSU) in Kutaisi was signed to ensure collaboration of these two entities to increase academic, educational and research possibilities in mediation. As one of the first steps in establishing a mediation clinic at ATSU, NCADR conducted a three-day workshop for its law professors and Legal Aid Clinic students who will be potentially involved in the clinic.

Legal Ethics:

The PROLoG-funded 2016 Legal Market Study report revealed that there is scarcity of skills and standards related to attorney and judicial ethics in legal education, and that legal ethics is one of the most demanded skills from employers in Georgia’s legal market. To ensure that PROLoG-supported activities address the issue, in the previous quarter PROLoG published a request for proposals to select an academic partner to establish a Legal Ethics Chair through an eighteen-month grant. On the basis of a competitive process, this quarter a grant was awarded to New Vision University (NVU). The Chair will be held by Professor Sophio Chachava, who has a solid academic background and a rich teaching experience including teaching professional ethics. She will be supported by Irakli Kordzakhia, a former chair of GBA’s Ethics Commission and experienced lawyer. Under the grant, the Chair will develop a semester-long Bachelor’s level model course on legal ethics covering issues of professional ethics for defense attorneys, judges, prosecutors and other legal professionals. The course materials will include a syllabus, a teacher’s manual, domestic and international cases, readings, and written exercises. The Legal Ethics Chair will also conduct research, host moot courts and conferences, and publish case briefs on the topic. As a result of the grant, the legal ethics course will become a mandatory component in NVU’s educational program, and through a series of workshops will be introduced to interested law schools.

Clinical Legal Education:

During the reporting period, PROLoG designed a workshop for Georgian clinical law professors that will help them include the following components in their teaching: writing

28 human rights claims for different human rights fora; writing amicus briefs for Georgian courts; and writing shadow reports for UN Treaty Bodies. The workshop will take place in July. This workshop will help clinical professors integrate such tools in their curricula so they can provide hands-on experience to their students.

Moot Courts/Mock Trials:

During the reporting period PROLoG supported a team of students from International Black Sea University (IBSU) to compete at the second Hugo Sinzheimer Moot Court Competition, held on June 15-17 at Aarhus University, Denmark. The competition is an initiative of a five academics, including a Georgian, and focuses on employment and labor law at the European level. This year, 13 teams from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and a European team (composed of four students from different countries) competed against each other. The Georgian team was the only team from outside the European Union. A distinguished panel of jury members from across Europe judged the competition, including legal experts from academia, courts and private law firms. During the quarterfinals, the Georgian team competed against Polish and French teams and scored high in the oral pleadings. The teams from Poland and France continued onto the finals, but the winning team was from Finland. PROLoG plans to support IBSU to introduce national rounds of the competition in Georgia to ensure a wider participation of students and careful selection of the team that will represent Georgia in the international competition. The third edition of the Hugo Moot Finale will be held in Italy in June 2018, and the annual meeting of the organizing committee will be held in Tbilisi in January 2018.

The Second Annual Human Rights Competition, organized by Free University, was scheduled for this quarter but was postponed due to heavy workload and time constraints. To ensure a broad participation of students, it was decided to move the competition to September-October, 2017, since summer is an exam and recess period for students. This year’s competition will focus on issues of hate speech and Holocaust denial.

Support Human Rights and Gender Scholarship

PROLoG continued its support for Human Rights Chairs at Ilia State University School of Law and the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), as well as the Gender and the Law Chair at Tbilisi State University (TSU).

On April 12 and April 24, the PROLoG-supported Human Rights Chair at Ilia State University, Tamar Gurchiani, hosted film screenings for students in the Human Rights Film Club. Two movies were presented: 1) “Fences,” which is about a working-class African- American family and deals with issues of racism and 2) “My Left Foot,” which is dedicated to rights of persons with disabilities. Both screenings were followed by active discussions and questions and answer sessions moderated by Ilia State University law students. On May 29, the Human Rights Film Club hosted the screening of “Philadephia,” a film was about a man with HIV who was fired by his company because of his diagnose. Following the movie, law students discussed issues related to the LGBTQ community in Georgia, such as discrimination at the workplace and hate speech. On April 27, Professor Gurchiani hosted a public discussion on combating hate speech at universities. The Chair and the project coordinator of the NGO “Equality Movement,” Mariam Kvaratskhelia, spoke on topics such as: how to combat hate speech at universities; how to maintain a balance to protect freedom of speech and expression; how to create a safe place for education; and the policies and mechanisms universities should have related to hate speech and free expression.

In May 2017, the Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law published an article written by the GIPA Human Rights Chair, Vakhushti Menabde. The article is titled: “Georgian Constitutional Court: The System of Legal Capacity of Natural Persons and its Impact upon the Georgian Legislation.” The Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law is dedicated to the advancement of legal knowledge in the field of international constitutional law, and features high-standard, peer-reviewed contributions by scholars and legal professionals from around the globe. The article by GIPA’s Human Rights Chair talks about the precedential effect of the Georgian Constitutional Court’s 2014 decision in Irakli Qemoklidze and Davit Kharadze, Citizens of Georgia vs. the Parliament of Georgia. In that case, the plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of the provision governing legal incapacity, specifically the provision that deprived people with psychosocial needs of their ability to acquire and exercise their civil rights or enter into transactions by their free will and action. This situation was exacerbated by the fact that a person determined to be incapable retained this status for an indefinite period. The plaintiffs argued that the provision contradicted the requirements of the rights to free development and equality. The Constitutional Court partially upheld the lawsuit, giving the State six months to implement an appropriate reform. The case served as the starting point for reforming the doctrine of legal incapacity in Georgia.

On June 2-3, Professor Menabde conducted the second workshop for human rights law professors from eight different Georgian law schools. The first meeting, held on February 18, shared the human rights course syllabus and draft teacher’s manual with colleagues and received their feedback. During this second working meeting, the GIPA Chair received important recommendations and feedback on the draft teaching materials. The development of the model teacher’s manual is one of the main priorities of the GIPA Chair grant. This resource will help human rights teachers and professors around the country to bring the concept of human rights into the classroom and to teach human rights courses in a comprehensive way, using modern teaching methods and tools. The manual is designed to guide human rights professors through each lesson, from preparation to each step of the instruction, and explains how to use the exercises, simulations and other activities. The manual will now be finalized and distributed to all law schools and human rights law professors throughout Georgia.

On May 30, the GIPA Human Rights Chair organized a student conference on social and economic rights at the media club “Frontline Georgia.” Participants for the conference were chosen through an essay competition. Students from six different law schools attended the event. Law students from Black Sea International University, Tbilisi State University and Grigol Robakidze University made presentations on sexual harassment in the workplace, consumer rights as fundamental rights, and socio-economic rights under the 1921 and 1995 Constitutions of Georgia. Each presentation was followed by a discussion on the topic. The GIPA Human Rights Chair served as a moderator of the conference, and student presenters were given human rights law books published by PROLoG, OSGF, GYLA and EMC.

On April 1-2, the PROLoG-supported Gender Chair at TSU, Ketevan Khutsishvili, organized a moot court on domestic violence. An unprecedented 75 teams from Tbilisi and regional universities took part in the competition, underlining the importance of educating students and communities on domestic violence and women’s rights. The aim of the event was to increase awareness of the complex issues surrounding domestic violence, educate students on domestic and international remedies against violence, and improve the practical skills and theoretical knowledge of Georgian law students. The event was also supported by the EU Mission in Georgia, GYLA, UN Women, the Innovations and Reform Centre, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Twelve teams made it to the oral rounds, including Batumi Shota

Rustaveli Univeristy and Kutaisi Akaki Tsereteli State University. The final rounds took place at the Police Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. First place was awarded to Tbilisi State University, and the runner-up was Kutaisi State University. Students from Batumi State University, Caucasus School of Law and Free University were awarded “best witness,” “best presenter,” and “best prosecutor” awards, respectively. GYLA awarded a free, one-year-long access to its law courses to the two best participants of the competition.

Support for National Institute for Human Rights (Free University):

Free University’s National Institute of Human Rights (NIHR) continued its work from last reporting period on a series of research papers on selected human rights issues. The first paper focuses on Article 16 of the Georgian Constitution (right to privacy and personal autonomy) and analyzes the normative base and case law, conducts a comparative analysis, and considers the practice of Georgia’s Constitutional Court, and then uses this research to make recommendations on the development of Georgian practice. Three professors from Free University work on the paper and research German, American and ECtHR practice in this regard. The paper was scheduled to be delivered this quarter, but due to more urgent parallel writing and research projects was postponed for next quarter.

Last quarter, NIHR worked with the LAS to identify human rights issues by commonly cited LAS lawyers to conduct research and provide relevant memo briefs for their use. NIHR representatives met with the Head of LAS, Meliton Benidze, who identified several problematic issues. The most important issue related to implementation of the new Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and potential challenges related to its compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights. Therefore, NIHR decided to focus on communications submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) with respect to new CPC. In coordination with the Criminal Law Clinic, two students researched the ECtHR’s HUDOC database. Currently the students are preparing a legal memo on the selected cases that includes an analysis of the communication to the ECtHR, identification of the pertinent legal issues, and the position/ruling of the ECtHR on the legal issues based on the existing Court case law. The legal memo will be finalized in the next reporting period.

During this quarter NIHR finalized its Alternative Report on the human rights situation in the occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali for submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). During the drafting process NIHR’s Academic Director had several meetings in Tbilisi and Gori with representatives of the Gali Resource Center, Government of Abkhazia in Exile, Head of Administration of South Ossetia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and civil society organizations working on these issues. NIHR also had active consultations with the Public Defender’s Office (PDO), since it was agreed that PDO would submit a separate report, while another report would be prepared by the NGO community. NIHR selected two students who were actively involved in drafting the Alternative Report. The Report was prepared in cooperation with GYLA for submission to the CERD, in accordance with the NGO guidelines published by the Committee’s Secretariat. The report will be submitted to the CERD by early July.

The Second Academic Conference on Human Rights was scheduled for June 2017, but due to conflicting schedules of speakers and lengthy negotiations to secure an international expert it was not possible to conduct the Conference in June. The Conference will take place at the end of July, and will focus on reforms of the Georgian Constitution and the work of the State Commission on Amendments to the Constitution. The Conference will focus on following issues: a) electoral equality and premium of power; b) freedom of religion and the constitutional status of Georgian Orthodox Church; c) restriction of the jurisdiction of the

Constitutional Court; and d) new constitutional regulation of High Council of Justice and the Supreme Court.

Support HSOJ/Courts Training in Human Rights for judges and judicial personnel:

During this year’s work plan period PROLoG, in cooperation with the Council of Europe (CoE) and HSOJ, developed an 18-hour basic human rights law course for judges. The course is designed as an introduction to the basic concepts and standards of human rights and covers issues on international and European human rights protection mechanisms, case law of the ECtHR, and the practice of Georgia’s domestic courts. During the reporting period, PROLoG analyzed feedback and conducted consultations with HSOJ and CoE, and concluded that the human rights course needs further improvement. Specifically, the course will be divided into two parts, and will separately cover human rights issues related to criminal law and those related to civil and administrative law. The work on revising the course will start from during the next work plan year. In the next reporting period, PROLoG will support one training for judges on this course.

PROLoG’s program for Tbilisi City Court’s (TCC) judicial “writing assistants,” which started in December 2016, involved intensive trainings covering both basic and practical aspects of human rights relevant to practice in Georgian courts, as well as a hands-on mentoring component involving actual cases. The overall program aimed to improve the quality of judicial decisions by ensuring that the required human rights standards are applied in court decisions. After completion of the training phase, two PROLoG experts, Ekatrine Lomtatidze and Besarion Bokhashvili, started a mentoring phase in March 2017. For three months, both experts provided assistants with guidance on relevant European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) standards and case law, as well as the practice of the Constitutional Court. The experts helped their mentees find guidance on human rights standards relevant to specific cases pending before the court. The feedback consisted of comments on the application of human rights standards, references to the relevant case law, legal reasoning and legal writing. The experts and the Court positively evaluated the human rights program and expressed the need for continued training and mentoring.

Last quarter the Supreme Court approached PROLoG with a request to support the Court to implement the changes brought about by the “Third Wave” of judicial reforms. One such change is the obligation of the Supreme Court to review lower court decisions based on their compliance with ECHR standards and the practices of the ECtHR. PROLoG extended the contracts of Besarion Bokhashvili and Ekatrine Lomtatidze to have them replicate the human rights program they developed for the TCC judicial writing assistants and provide trainings for assistants at the Supreme Court, its Analytical Department and its Human Rights Center (HRC). The program followed the same pattern as at the TCC, providing one basic and two separate in-depth trainings for the assistants of criminal and civil/administrative law chambers. The topics covered in the trainings included: human rights jurisprudence of international human rights institutions and its impact on domestic practice, relevant ECtHR admissibility criteria and standards, ECHR Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of torture) and 8 (right to respect for private and family life), the relevant standards for criminal proceedings under ECHR Article 6 (right to a fair trial), prohibition of discrimination, freedom of expression and right to information, and the right to peaceful enjoyment of property under ECHR and domestic case law. During this quarter, PROLoG and its human rights experts conducted several meetings with the Supreme Court’s administration and judges to identify their needs in respect to recent “Third Wave” reforms. Supreme Court judges identified the need for working meetings to discuss relevant ECtHR admissibility criteria and standards, as well as the scope and case law of specific ECHR articles. In

32 partnership with the EU4Justice project on judiciary, PROLoG started to negotiate contract terms with experts to develop a comprehensive guide on relevant ECtHR admissibility criteria and standards in conjunction with the case law on ECHR Article 8. Employees of HRC will be involved in drafting the guide under the supervision of the experts to build the capacity of the HRC so they can develop similar products independently on other ECHR articles in the future. A working meeting with Supreme Court judges is scheduled for September 2017 to discuss the guide that will be finalized next reporting period.

Support GBA Training in Human Rights as a part of the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) for lawyers:

During the previous quarter PROLoG supported development of three course modules for GBA on: 1) Plea Bargaining and Human Rights; 2) Fair Trial and Access to Justice in Administrative Proceedings; and 3) Legal Writing for Practicing Lawyers. During this quarter GBA delivered these courses under its PROLoG grant, organizing sixteen workshops on the above topics for 331 GBA member lawyers in Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi. The majority of the participants evaluated trainings positively. Next quarter, GBA will organize 10 workshops on the above topics for its members.

Institutional Strengthening of GBA

On May 12-13, with the support of PROLoG and the Council of Europe, European Union and UNDP, GBA hosted the second International Conference Summit of Bars of Georgia, Baltic and CIS Countries on “Challenges of the Modern Legal Profession.” The Conference brought together representatives of nine European Bar Associations and members of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). The two-day event opened with welcome remarks from the President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, and Georgian Parliament Chairperson, Irakli Kobakhidze. Niels Scott, Resident Coordinator for UNDP in Georgia, Maria Slazak, Vice-President of the CCBE Pays de l’Europe Centrale et Orientale Committee, Peter Danis, Manager of the European Union’s Justice for All Program, Giorgi Chkheidze, Chief of Party of EWMI/PROLoG, and Zaza Khatiashvili, Chairperson of the GBA, addressed the participants at the opening session. During the conference the participants presented different issues related to the challenges confronting the legal profession, such as the constitutional guarantees and exclusiveness of legal practice, international guarantees for the operation of the Bar, rights and professional freedoms of lawyers, entry into the legal profession, and standards of education. Lawyers from different countries shared their experience with cross-border litigation and data protection, and discussed the impact of social networks and media on the legal practice. At the end of the presentations, discussions were held in which participants expressed their views on key issues of interest. The Conference not only built the capacity of the GBA, but also increased the status of the GBA in the international community.

Supporting Advancement of Law on Advocates:

On June 9, GBA Executive Board member David Asatiani presented the draft amendments to the Law on Advocates at a meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament. The GBA proposed amendments were developed in close cooperation with PROLoG, and are necessary to make the organization of the bar closer to modern standards. The major changes proposed include: adding professional ethics and the Law on Advocates to the subjects for the bar examination; clarifying that only advocates are authorized to practice law; enabling those who passed prosecutor's exam to apply for membership within seven years; changes to the procedures for appealing Ethics Commission decisions to the Supreme Court; allowing the

Ethics Commission chairman to be elected for two consecutive two-year terms; and providing that cases involving two potential sanctions, deprivation of the right to practice law and disbarment, are heard by the Ethics Commission with not less than 10 members (instead of 12) with decisions made by 8 members (instead of 10).

Support Bar Examination System Development:

In June 2017, GBA conducted bar examinations. The exams were held every weekend in June. 724 candidates took the exam (civil: 421; criminal: 272; general: 173), and 206 candidates passed the exam (133 women, 73 men).

GBA, through PROLoG’s grant support, also developed video instructions for the bar exam, which were used for first time during the June examination. Instead of a training center representative explaining how to use the exam program, answer questions and fill out the answer sheets, the video is shown to the bar candidates. The video then remains on during entire exam (without sound) and there are no questions by candidates and no communications between the exam observers and candidates. The need for video instructions was identified by the CoE’s study of bar exam candidates. The video is also uploaded on YouTube and the GBA training center webpage, and each registered candidate will receive a link to the video by mail.

PROLoG Expert Jean Gaskil finalized his assignment and commented on 100 sample questions to be included in the brochure for the bar exam candidates to prepare for the examination.

Support Effective System of Professional Ethics Enforcement:

The Georgian Bar’s Ethics Commission, through the grant support of PROLoG, organized a series of workshops for lawyers in Kakheti, Imereti and Samegrelo. In addition to the Chairperson of the Ethics Commission, members of the Commission attended the meetings and participated actively. A total of 115 lawyers attended these meetings (Kakheti: 30, Imereti: 44 lawyers, Samegrelo: 41). The purpose of the regional visits and workshops was to present an overview of complaints received by the Ethics Commission, give lawyers the opportunity to discuss topics of mutual interest related to lawyers’ ethics, and find ways to jointly improve the system. The Commission members emphasized that the Ethics Commission is not a body that wants to “punish” lawyers. On the contrary, its members try to review cases objectively and impartially. The lack of an interim measure between a warning and the suspension of a lawyer’s license was stressed at the meetings and identified as a reason why lawyers may receive similar sanctions for different violations. The Ethics Commission representatives presented recommendations to help lawyers avoid possible complaints by their clients or courts.

The spring session of the practical “Clinical Law Program in Lawyers Professional Ethics” started on February 10 and lasted 15 weeks. Thirteen new students started the clinical program: three from Guram Tavartkiladze University and ten from Tbilisi State University. The clinical course included a review and analysis of Ethics Commission decisions and advisory opinions, simulations of citizen consultations, and participation in a moot court hearing.

Support Internship System Development:

Through its PROLoG grant, during the reporting period GBA completed drafting of the curriculum for the GBA internship program. The program covers subjects for the mandatory three-month theoretical training component of the internship program. The subjects include: legal writing skills (different programs for criminal and civil law specializations); European standards; lawyering skills; client interview techniques; professional ethics and disciplinary procedures; organization of legal practice (offices); and Alternative Dispute Resolution. The authors of the courses are selected GBA trainers with extensive experience teaching lawyers.

Supporting Professional Interaction – Bench-Bar meetings:

Three bench-bar meetings between judges and lawyers were organized during the reporting period by the GBA through its PROLoG grant. Two meetings were held in Tbilisi and one in Batumi. The topics of the bench-bar meetings included: problematic issues in pre-trial hearings; evidence rules; practical issues of covert investigative actions; court mediation; burden of proof; and first appearance in the court. The participants were judges, lawyers and prosecutors. Each representative of the legal profession gave a brief overview of the problematic issues from their perspective and then the discussions were held on the topics. In total, 84 participants attended the meetings, including lawyers, judges and prosecutors.

Supporting Professional Associations - Association of Law Firms in Georgia (ALFG):

In April 2017, ALFG created a Google form survey to collect information from its members regarding their training needs. In total 71 lawyer members completed the form, and after the analysis of data the following topics were identified for trainings and lunch-meetings: corporate law, contract law, tax law, construction law and insolvency law. The survey also revealed that lawyers prefer to have trainings jointly conducted by judges and lawyers. On May 30, ALFG organized a lunch meeting on tax law, which was attended by 33 lawyers. The speakers were the members of ALFG: Akaki Chargeishvili, founder of the Chargeishvili Law Inn and a specialist in tax law and experienced trainer of tax issues, and three representatives of EY Georgia, Zurab Nikvashvili, Irakli Tsulaia and Salome Karchkhadze. The topics discussed included: income tax law and problems related to it; issues of taxation during reorganization; taxation of transactions with persons registered in countries with simplified tax proceedings; and an overview of Estonian model of corporate income tax and its compliance with the Constitution of Georgia.

On June 29, ALFG hosted its first training for lawyers on labor law and labor disputes, which was attended by 30 lawyers. The trainers were Ketevan Meskhishvili, judge of Tbilisi Court of Appeal, George Svanadze, lawyer at EY Georgia, and Zakaria Shvelidze, a lawyer at Gvinadze & Partners law firm. A wide variety of issues were discussed during the training, including: labor contracts, termination of labor contracts, reorganization and misuse of the right of reorganization, positive obligations of employers, burden of proof and labor discrimination.

During the reporting period ALFG established a working group that will draft a concept paper on organization of legal practice (law offices) and corporate ethics. Several meetings of the working group were held and the main topics to be included in the concept paper were identified.

Support HSOJ Gender Awareness Training Development for Judges and Judicial Personal:

PROLOG continued its support to the HSOJ in developing and conducting its “Enhancing Justice through Gender Equality” course. After the ToT in November 2016, facilitated by Patricia Noonan and HSOJ expert Baia Pataraia, another follow-up meeting was arranged in March 2017 where the judge-trainers started work on finalization of the training presentation and materials.

In April 2017, upon request from the HSOJ, PROLoG engaged the local expert Baia Pataraia to facilitate the process of developing the “Enhancing Justice through Gender Equality” course reader and co-teach judges and judicial assistants together with the HSOJ judge- trainers. Several meetings were arranged at PROLoG office between the expert and three HCOJ judge-trainers: Maia Bakradze, Nino Bakakuri and Badri Niparishvili.

On June 14-19, the training of judges and judicial assistants on “Enhancing Justice though Gender Equality” took place in Batumi for judges and judicial assistants from across the country. During the two-day training the participants discussed gender stereotypes and discrimination, national and international standards and best practices, and issues related to judicial ethics, gender bias and domestic violence. The course has already been incorporated as a part of the HSOJ’s curricula for judges. Future trainings on Gender Equality will be independently conducted by the HSOJ judge-trainers.

Support HSOJ Commercial Law Training for Judges:

In May and June 2017, PROLoG, in cooperation with the HSOJ and GIZ, organized two two- day Training of Trainers workshops for five selected Georgian judge-trainers on Corporate Law and Governance in Georgia and the EU. The workshops were prepared and conducted by Supreme Court Justice Nino Bakakuri and Associate Professor Dr. Lasha Tsertsvadze, in cooperation with a comparative corporate law professor from Fordham University Law School, Professor Martin Gelter. The trainers also developed a comprehensive Course Reader and finalized the Course Syllabus for the HSOJ to ensure the sustainable impact of the course.

Publication of the Civil Code Commentary:

On May 27, EWMI-PROLoG, in cooperation with GIZ, organized the presentation of the first volume of the new Commentary on the Civil Code of Georgia. Hundreds of free copies of the Commentary were then disseminated among stakeholders, including the 24 city and district courts of Georgia, Tbilisi and Kutaisi Appeal Courts, Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, more than 30 law schools, Georgian Bar Association, Legal Aid Service, Ministry of Justice, High Council of Justice, High School of Justice and NGOs. The release of the Commentary was much anticipated by both legal scholars and practitioners, and it serves a great need in the legal community as it is the first update since the publication of the first Commentary in 2000-2001.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) Indicator Results

Sub-Purpose 3: Skills and Knowledge of Legal Professionals Enhanced

3.1.1. Number of law students, lawyers, judges, and court personnel benefitting from improved teaching facilities and curricula supported by the USG (F Indicator).

Quarter: 404 (184 Male and 220 Female) Year 3 Target: 1000 LOP Target: 4,000

Students trained: 7 (2 Male; 5 Female) Lawyers trained: 353 (175 Male; 178 Female) Judges trained: 4 (1 Male; 3 Female) Court Personnel trained: 40 (6 Male; 34 Female)

B. Key Issues and Challenges

The grant end date for the Gender and Law Chair was June 30, 2017, but based on the request of the Gender Chair PROLoG provided a non-cost extension until October since all outputs under the grant have not yet been delivered. The TSU bureaucracy and delay in reporting remains to be the main issue with the TSU Gender and the Law Chair. Certain activities and deliverables fall behind schedule due to TSU’s slow management and lack of coordination. A similar problem persists with Free University’s writing project (the Legal Writing Textbook). The main challenge in completing that work is due to time constrains of the authors, who are unable to produce their respective parts in timely manner. PROLoG will continue working with both institutions on the resolution of these problems.

GBA is challenged to develop its internship curriculum and start implementation of the internship system during 2017. In addition, the GBA Ethics Commission has to address and clarify issues with regard to the publication of its decisions.

PROLoG, in cooperation with GIZ, is planning to further support the process of drafting Volume II of the Civil Code Commentary. The key challenge there is a disagreement between the editor of Volume II and one of the authors. However, it appears this problem has been solved by the hiring of an additional author who will revise problematic parts of the Commentary. It is hoped that Volume II will be published later this year.

C. Plans for Next Quarter

The following activities are expected during the next reporting period:

 Deliver second ToT in Teaching Methodology for Ph.D. programs.  Organize second Moot Court Competition in Human Rights Law.  Hold Second Academic Conference on Human Rights.  Summer School in Human Rights organized by Free University and NIHR.  Support Annual Constitutional Court Summer School.  Conduct human rights training for judges (HSOJ).  Conduct two human rights trainings for a selected group of Tbilisi City Court and Supreme Court judicial assistants.  Conduct a workshop on “Introduction to Law” for law professors.  Develop a guide on ECtHR Admissibility Criteria and ECHR Article 8, and conduct a follow-up workshop for Supreme Court judges.  Deliver Academic Writing Manual.  Deliver Legal Writing Textbook.  Deliver guidelines on Law Teaching Methodology at the Ph.D. level.  Submit two amicus briefs to the Constitutional Court of Georgia (Free University).

 Conduct five trainings for lawyers on representing clients in mediation in Tbilisi, Batumi, Telavi, Zugdidi and Akhaltsikhe (NCADR).  Deliver five public lectures on mediation issues in Tbilisi, Batumi, Telavi, Zugdidi and Akhaltsikhe (NCADR).  Hold a public lecture on human rights (GIPA HR Chair).  Deliver Gender and the Law course reader (TSU Gender and the Law Chair).  Hold ALFG working group meetings on the development of the concept paper on organization of legal practice and corporate ethical standards.

SUB-PURPOSE 4: IMPROVE ACCESS TO JUSTICE TO MARGINALIZED GROUPS

The goal of Sub-Purpose 4 is to increase access to justice for marginalized groups, and to increase knowledge of the legal rights of minorities and women among the public and legal professionals.

In this quarter, five NGO’s started implementation of their newly awarded legal aid grants (Georgian Democracy Initiative, Partnership for Human Rights, Union Sapari, Human Rights Center, and Tolerance and Diversity Center). The aim of the grants is to identify strategic litigation and other cases appropriate for promoting the rights of women and marginalized groups, including the LGBTQQ community, before the courts of common jurisdiction, the Constitutional Court and the European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR).

On June 13-14, PROLoG organized a retreat for new grantees to make sure they were aware of the projects that partner NGOs are implementing with PROLoG funding and provide them information about USAID branding, reporting, and other project implementation-related activities and rules. PROLoG staff members reviewed the marketing and branding regulations, discussed ways to avoid possible overlaps in activities and how to identify strategic litigation cases during the project's implementation process, and reviewed awareness raising activities, existing needs and future plans.

Grants in Support of Legal Aid and Awareness Raising

During the reporting period, newly identified legal aid grantees organized field visits in the regions for consultations and trainings, to inform local community representatives about their work, to provide on-the-spot legal aid, and to identify cases for strategic litigation. The NGO representatives explained the importance of access to justice for marginalized citizens, and highlighted the necessity of understanding fundamental rights and effective ways of using legal tools to remedy possible violations.

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA):

GYLA’s Legal Aid Centers in Tbilisi and seven regional offices continued to provide free legal assistance to citizens and legal persons. Under PROLoG, GYLA targets its support at groups of vulnerable citizens: women and girls who are victims of domestic violence, those experiencing ethnic discrimination and/or forced marriage, victims of hate and bias-related crimes, and victims of crimes allegedly perpetrated by representatives of law enforcement agencies. Legal assistance was provided in person at GYLA offices, via hotline, during field visits, through the drafting of legal documents, and representing clients before courts and different government agencies. During this reporting period GYLA reached 4014

38 beneficiaries (2237 female, 1777 men). GYLA continues its strategic litigation cases on these topics at the Constitutional Court and as well as the ECtHR.

This reporting period GYLA successfully litigated seven cases of domestic violence, resulting in the issuance of protective and restrictive orders. In two cases, abusers were sentenced to imprisonment. In addition, GYLA started working on six new cases of domestic violence against women that also involved divorce, alimony and custody issues.

GYLA continued working on administrative violations cases to promote the use of proper standards of hearing those cases and proper standards for establishing a violation. GYLA successfully litigated three cases of administrative violations that resulted in termination of the case. In one of those cases, a man was charged with the administrative violation of non- fulfilment of parental duty based on his minor son carrying a knife. In actuality, the minor was carrying a pen and did not know that a knife was hidden in it. The court upheld GYLA’s position and ruled that a person shall not be charged with a violation that he could not detect. In another case, court terminated an administrative violation case against four people who were arrested during street protests in May 2017. According to the patrol police the arrested persons committed petty hooliganism and did not obey the request of the police, but the police could not present evidence supporting the charges.

GYLA started work on three cases of racial, political and religious discrimination. In one case a victim was severely beaten and injured based on racial grounds. The investigation was launched and GYLA represents the victim’s interests in the criminal case.

On May 17, GYLA successfully concluded a case submitted to the Constitutional Court under the JILEP project in June 2014. In that case the Constitutional Court held unconstitutional provisions prohibiting a Georgian citizen from being elected as a city mayor or a municipal council member if the candidate had not lived permanently in Georgia for two years before the election. The Court held that the residency requirement imposed by the challenged provisions discriminated against persons forced to leave Georgia because of political persecution. The Constitutional Court also found that the legitimate aim of the provisions would not be achieved through the measures as they only required that a candidate live somewhere in Georgia, not in the municipality where they sought to be elected into public office.

GYLA successfully litigated case of Asatiani and others v. Georgia before the ECtHR. The case concerned the dispersal by the police of a sit-in street protest in January 2011. The applicants, who took part in that protest, claimed to have been abused by the police in breach of Articles 3 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. On June 2016, the Court received declarations signed by both parties whereby the applicants agreed to have their application struck from the Court’s list of cases based on the following acknowledgements and undertakings assumed by the Government. The Government acknowledged a violation of Article 3 of the Convention in relation to applicants on account of the police abuse committed against them during the incident and undertook to carry out an effective criminal investigation into the incident. The Government further acknowledged a violation of Article 11 of the Convention in relation to all ten applicants. In addition, the Government undertook to pay compensation in the amount of EUR 2,000-2,500 to each applicant.

Transparency International-Georgia (TI):

TI Georgia Advocacy and Legal Advice Centers (ALAC) operated in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Zugdidi and Batumi. During the reporting period 712 persons contacted ALAC offices. All

39 were consulted verbally and provided with free legal advice. Of the 712 initial contacts, 147 were summoned to the ALAC offices for further consultation and assessment of their documents. 63 of those cases were relevant to the scope and focus of TI’s activities and the ALAC lawyers represented beneficiaries directly at the courts (39 cases) or state institutions (24 cases).

TI’s Tbilisi office successfully finalized 18 cases of illegal dismissals. Fourteen cases were heard by the Tbilisi City Court. The decisions in four cases were rendered by the Tbilisi Appeals Court. TI’s Batumi office has successfully finalized two cases of property rights violation and one case of illegal dismissal from public service. The Zugdidi office successfully finalized six cases, four cases related to property rights (land overlaps) and two case of illegal dismissal from public service. In this reporting period TI Georgia also conducted mobile clinics. TI’s Zugdidi office lawyers traveled to Ganmukhuri, the village near the de facto border with the Abkhazia Autonomous Republic. The Government had transferred 40 hectares of land located near this village to a private person for 1 GEL, and a number of locals that possessed the land contacted TI’s local office. It appears 14 locals have paper versions of property registration that were disregarded by the Government when the land was transferred to the private person. TI’s lawyers gathered documents and consulted locals on site. The case was filed at the Zugdidi City Court, hearings are ongoing and a decision is not yet made.

Human Rights Center (HRC):

HRC started implementation of the newly granted, eighteen-month project “Promote access to justice for women, religious and ethnic minorities in the regions of Georgia” with the purpose of providing legal representation and consultations for target groups in Tbilisi, Kvemo-Kartli, Shida-Kartli and Kakheti.

On May 30, representatives of the HRC’s Tbilisi and Shida Kartli offices visited the villages of Leteti and Zguderi in Kareli municipality to meet ethnic Ossetian people. On June 28, representatives of HRC’s Kakheti office visited Kabali village in Lagodekhi municipality to meet the local ethnic Azerbaijani population at the local Community Center. An invited expert, Bela Osipova of the Public Defender’s Office’s Center of Tolerance, also participated in the meeting. She spoke about women’s rights, rights of ethnic and religious minorities, and discrimination on gender and/or ethnic grounds (including domestic violence, early marriage and freedom of religion).

HRC provided 117 legal aid consultations during the reporting period through its Shida Kartli, Kakheti and Kvemo Kartli offices. In the reporting period the Kakheti and Shida Kartli offices successfully finalized six cases on domestic violence in the district common courts, resulting in restrictive orders being issued against abusers.

HRC prepared two social videos to deliver short, easy-to-understand messages to the target groups about their rights and ways to solve their problems. The first video was for the victims of domestic violence, and the second was prepared to raise awareness of ethnic minorities about their rights. The first video was sent to 14 TV stations for airing, and so far nine stations have aired it. Several TV stations refused to air the videos based on unfounded reasons, such as the claim that institutional logos in the videos make them advertisements and not public service messages. HRC has filed a complaint with the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) against the Georgian Public Broadcaster for its refusal to air the social video. HRC plans to communicate with the GNCC with regard to Rustavi 2 together with other PROLoG grantees since other organizations may face the same

40 problem.

HRC prepared and published 1000 booklets in Georgian and Russian to inform the project’s target groups about the project’s goals, activities and services. The booklets are distributed during information meetings with target groups in the regions and during meetings, conferences and discussions where HRC representatives participate. On June 9, the TV station Trialeti prepared and aired a talk-show about the HRC project’s activities, goals and services for beneficiaries. Representatives of local civil society organizations, Gori’s shelter for victims of domestic violence, and the City Mayor’s advisor on gender issues participated in the talk-show together with HRC representatives from its Gori, Tbilisi and Kvemo Kartli offices.

Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC):

GTUC, under its project “Access to Justice to Ensure Labor Rights of Women,” addresses gender-based discrimination in the workplace. The project also increases access to justice for women, representatives of ethnic, religious and sexual minorities, and people with disabilities. During this reporting period, GTUC’s Tbilisi office provided legal aid consultations for 88 women on various labor issues, and the Batumi office provided 45 consultations.

GTUC successfully finalized two cases related to gender-based discrimination and illegal dismissal from the workplace. In one case, N.N. had been working in LTD “Georgian Post” since June 2015. In November 2015, she and her employer signed a labor contract for a full- time job with 3 months of probation, which itself was unlawful. During the probation period the employer learned of N.N.’s pregnancy and illegally terminated the labor contract. GTUC initiated a case against LTD Georgian Post at the Batumi City Court and claimed for reinstatement, full remuneration, and establishing the fact of discrimination. On April 28, Batumi City Court delivered a decision and fully satisfied all demands against LTD Georgian Post.

In another case, D.Kh. was working in JSC “Goodwill” since May 2013. Immediately after her employer received the information about D.Kh.’s pregnancy she was persuaded to write a letter of resignation and promised to be rehired with a new labor contract. On the basis of her resignation she was dismissed from work in August 2016. GTUC’s lawyer from Adjara assisted D.Kh. to submit an application in court against Goodwill requesting reinstatement, full remuneration and establishment of discrimination. Goodwill denied all demands and refused to acknowledge the claim. On April 20, Batumi City Court delivered a decision in which all claims were satisfied in favor of the applicant.

On April 24, GTUC’s lawyer participated in a meeting of the working group of the Tripartite Social Partnership Commission. The lawyer presented recommendations prepared under the ongoing project for improvements to provisions related to non-discrimination, women’s labor rights and labor law enforcement mechanism in Georgian Labor Code. On May 29, GTUC participated in a meeting of the Parliament’s Committee on Social Affairs to discuss the GTUC recommendations and changes in the law on women’s labor rights. GTUC’s lawyer presented the recommendations and answered the questions of the Committee members.

Partnership for Human Rights (PHR):

PHR started implementation of its 18-month project “Unlock the Untapped Potential of Georgian Law to Respond to Gender-based Discrimination and Violence,” focused on

41 empowering women to oppose gender violence through targeting gender-based discrimination in social, medical, employment and other services, and bringing strategic litigation cases to both common courts and the Constitutional Court.

Beneficiaries were provided with 32 legal consultations concerning domestic violence and gender-based violence: 13 consultations were interview-based, 14 were provided through telephone communication, and five were given through social networks. The cases concerned domestic violence and family law issues, such as measures under restraining and protective orders, the result of violations of domestic violence and gender-based violence protective orders, divorce, alimony and property issues. Applicants often complained about the insufficient reaction of police in response to domestic and gender-based violence, with police still preferring to issue a written acknowledgement instead of a restraining order.

Three different types of information brochures are to be printed for doctors, teachers and violence-survivor women. Two booklets have been prepared and the third is in development.

On May 5, PHR conducted a seminar in Baghdati municipality. The lawyers used private contacts to communicate with the chief of the clinic “Geo Hospitals.” He expressed his willingness to collaborate and organized a seminar with the doctors of the clinic. The topic of seminar was “Doctors’ role in supporting gender-violence survivors.” The characteristics of domestic violence and violence against women were discussed at the meeting. Participants were informed about the protection mechanisms and existing services for abused women. The role of doctors was discussed, including how to identify an abused woman, how to treat her, and how to collect evidence and provide information to law enforcement agencies. PHR conducted a similar seminar for doctors in Vani municipality on June 28. Again, the chief of clinic “Geo Hospitals” assisted in organizing the event and 11 doctors attended. After the seminar a discussion was held on the importance of the effective reaction of authorities to domestic and gender-based violence. The participants expressed their concern about lack of awareness raising activities in Vani Municipality.

On May 30, a seminar was conducted in Kutaisi for teachers. The main topic of the seminar was “Teachers’ role in supporting gender-based violence child-victims and survivors.” Twelve teachers attended from Kutaisi public schools and nearby villages. During the seminar the forms of domestic violence and the defensive mechanisms were discussed. The teachers were interested in their obligation to inform police about facts of violence. They expressed a willingness to organize awareness raising seminars for school students and their parents.

A result of PHR’s successful public outreach was a meeting with well-known doctor from Gagua Medical Clinic, Tinatin Gagua. Dr. Gagua reached out to collaborate with PHR on issues related to gender equality and gender-based violence. She expressed a willingness to support the creation of a specific training module for doctors of different specializations. She also offered to provide free medical services to PHR beneficiaries.

PHR started work on the case of M.M, an 82-year-old woman. Since 2014, she has lived in the shelter “my family” in Tbilisi, which operates under Government auspices. According to her daughter, inhabitants of the shelter live in rough conditions, and their rights are violated. In particular, the inhabitants of the shelter are victims of psychological, physical and economic violence from the shelter’s administration. The conditions in the shelter also do not meet the minimum standards set by law. PHR’s lawyers held several meetings with the M.M., her daughter, and other witnesses. A legal memo was prepared and a petition will soon be filed in Tbilisi City Court. Twelve requests for information were sent to different public

42 and private institutions, including emergency services. Forensic expertise will be used to establish moral damage as a result the of inappropriate treatment towards M.M.

Georgian Democratic Initiative (GDI):

GDI started implementation of its eighteen-month project “Litigation for Equality," which focuses on increasing access to justice for women, girls, and representatives of ethnic and religious minorities who are victims of domestic violence or discrimination due to cultural or religious factors.

GDI started its operation by identifying possible partners/contact persons in the regions. Through this process active representatives of the communities were selected for a two-week internship at GDI’s office. In total, ten interns were selected from Akhaltsikhe, Khulo, Shuakhevi, Ninotsminda and Adigeni municipalities. GDI identified eight lawyers who will represent and protect women’s rights in Samtskhe Javakheti, Adjara and Guria regions. In addition, GDI conducted a training on May 31 in Akhaltsikhe for lawyers on equality rights standards and litigation procedures.

To provide free legal aid and raise awareness, meetings were held with representatives of five Adigeni municipality villages (Chela, Aphieti, Mokhe, Ghortubani, Ninotsminda), two Ninotsminda municipality villages (Foka and Gorelovka), two Akhalkalaki municipality villages (Ikhtila and Khaveti) and two Akhaltsikhe municipality villages (Atskuri and Tskhruti). GDI’s partner organization Center for Participation and Development (CPD) was actively involved in organizing the meetings. During discussions in Adigeni, significant problems were identified, such as discrimination on religious grounds in labor relations and the property registration process. In this region as well as in others, one of the main problems is the residents’ low level of awareness of their rights and legal status.

When discussing inheritance issues, it was revealed that women in Muslim communities have little information on the issue. The main reason is thought to be traditional attitudes which make a man the only proprietor and successor of property. In the villages of Ninotsminda, Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe municipalities, GDI lawyers provided general information about women's rights, domestic violence and early marriage. During these discussions significant problems were identified, such as justification of early marriage based on traditions, women’s conditions, and a general lack of knowledge about rights and freedoms.

Union Sapari

Sapari started implementation of its two-year project “Complex Approach to Violence against Women and Girls.” The project aims to prevent and combat violence against women and girls by addressing problems such as domestic violence and the violation of women’s property rights, and raise society’s awareness of the problem of female genital mutilation, using strategic litigation and awareness raising activities.

During the reporting period Sapari established a partnership with the NGO “Tanaziari” in the Samegrelo region. On July 2-3, Sapari conducted strategic litigation training for lawyers from Tbilisi and Samegrelo. The training was focused on the psychological aspects of domestic violence, property rights issues, alimony, divorce and property settlements.

On July 4, representatives of Sapari visited Zugdidi to meet with local partner NGOs and local women in the Tanaziari office. The goal of the meeting was to create a network

43 between the local NGOs and to present the project’s aims and objectives to beneficiaries. The meeting participants agreed that it was important to raise the community’s awareness of the problems, their rights and legal defense mechanisms.

Sapari prepared two leaflets to deliver short, easy-to-understand messages to concrete target groups on female genital mutilation and women’s property rights. The first leaflet was for the inhabitants of Saruso, Tivi and Chantliskure in Kvareli, and the second was to raise awareness of the victims of violence. The leaflets will be distributed during informational meetings with target groups in the regions and during meetings, conferences and discussions.

Sapari’s lawyers conducted up to 30 legal consultations with victims of violence and assisted 12 victims of domestic violence. As a result, four restrictive orders and four protective orders were issued by the police and court. Sapari’s psychotherapist conducted eleven individual psychological consultations with victims of violence.

Human Rights Monitoring and Education Center (EMC):

EMC began implementation of its project “Increasing Access to Justice for Discriminated Religious Communities” in January 2016. The project increases access to justice for religious and LGBTQ minorities and women in Tbilisi, Kvemo Kartli and Adjara regions. During the reporting period EMC provided eight consultations to target group representatives (1 woman, 7 men). In cooperation with Liberali, EMC produced one multimedia product on the discriminatory harassment of students in Mokhe public school. EMC organized two two-day trainings in Batumi and Adigeni entitled “Thinking the Idea of Emancipation.” Women of different ethnicities and religions from Adjara and Samtskhe-Javakheti regions attended the meetings to discuss the gender-related issues of Muslim women.

EMC and a religious organization submitted a complaint to the Constitutional Court on the provisions of the budget law that envisage financing the Patriarchate of Georgia in the amount of 25 million GEL. EMC argues that the state financing of the Patriarchate is not justified under Article 11 of the Constitutional Agreement, which envisages partial compensation for material damage done to the Orthodox Church during the Soviet period, and that the financing is a direct subsidizing of the Orthodox Church. According to the plaintiffs, the state has not determined the amount of damages suffered by the Church or the rules and procedures for compensation, as was envisaged in the Agreement. Therefore, EMC asserts, the Church actually receives direct financing and not compensation. EMC argues that this is a non-secular form of financing and violates the constitutional principle of separation between church and state.

On April 26, the Public Defender of Georgia determined the fact of associative discrimination against the vegan café “Kiwi” from the owner of the premises, and indicated that the real reason for terminating the contract was due to stereotypical attitudes towards persons with specific outlooks and possible affiliation with LGBTQ groups.

Another successful case litigated by EMC concerns discriminatory treatment towards religious minority representatives with regard to crossing the border. In this case, the Patrol Police of Georgia detained Muslim citizens of Georgia for two hours at the Sarpi border control point and threatened to take away religious literature that was for personal use. The patrol police started checking the applicants after the religious affiliation and work had been identified. According to the decision of the Public Defender the case of discriminatory treatment towards the Muslim citizens was determined and the LEPL Revenue Service, which is within the governing sphere of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Finance

Ministry, was obliged to ensure religious neutrality and let persons who enter the visa/custom control area pass without discrimination. The agencies must also gradually ensure trainings for their employees to raise awareness about religious neutrality and equality principles. EMC started working on a case concerning construction of a new mosque in Batumi. On February 8, New Mosque Construction Fund addressed the Mayor of Batumi for permission to build a new mosque in the city. On May 5, the Batumi Mayor refused to issue a construction permit saying the land is located in a residential zone that should not be changed. EMC believes that Batumi Mayor’s office decision is not substantiated. At this stage the case is submitted to the court and the respondent administrative body was requested to present its position.

Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI):

TDI started implementation of its new 18-month project “Combating Discrimination on Religious, Ethnic and Racial Grounds.” The project aims to increase access to justice for religious and ethnic minorities and the victims of racial discrimination, and address problems such as property-related barriers faced by religious groups, including the construction of new houses of worship, restitution of property confiscated during Soviet time, purchase of state property, unequal tax treatment, discriminatory practices at public educational institutions, discrimination on ethnic grounds, racial discrimination, and residence permits for foreign citizens. TDI conducts field visits and regular monitoring in Tbilisi, Achara and Kvemo- Kartli regions, and provides consultations and legal representation to religious and ethnic minorities and victims of racial discrimination. TDI’s partner organization is the Union of Azerbaijani Youth in Georgia, based in Kvemo-Kartli.

During the project implementation TDI continued working on cases started during its previous PROLoG-funded project. During the reporting period TDI lawyers provided 63 consultations to target group members.

In June 2017, TDI also started implementing a second one-year project that aims to raise public awareness of discrimination problems faced by religious and ethnic minorities and foreigners residing in Georgia and to empower representatives of minority groups. TDI will develop multimedia products and an online social media platform. The platform will highlight the systemic problems that representatives of religious and ethnic communities experience in Georgia, including discrimination and isolation, precedential cases and the prospect of solving these problems through access to justice. TDI will develop 10 educational articles on topics of religious and ethnic discrimination in Georgia, presenting historical materials and cases that are currently ignored in the school textbooks or popular discourse. Two competitions, one in Western and the other in Eastern Georgia, will involve six teams of students from each region. The aim is to raise student awareness of nondiscrimination, precedential cases when the justice system was effective, and cases where it failed to protect minority rights. The second objective of the project, empowerment of representatives of minority groups, is attained through trainings for representatives of ethnic and religious minorities. Two subgroups will be targeted. The first subgroup is women and representatives of religious and/or ethnic minorities. TDI will hold two-day trainings for forty women in Khulo and Marneuli about gender equality and non-discrimination. The second subgroup is youth. TDI will hold a two-day training for a mixed, interreligious group of youth in Akhaltsikhe. About twenty participants from Akhaltsikhe, Mokhe, Chela, Adigeni, and other villages of Adigeni municipality will take part in the training. The purpose is to educate the youth about the concepts of freedom of religious, tolerance, equality, and legal rights guaranteed in Georgian legislation.

Support Community Councils’ Project

During the reporting period the National Centers for Civic Engagement (NCCE), in partnership with the Human Rights Secretariat and supported by PROLoG, continued a series of meetings in the regions of Georgia. The meetings facilitate dissemination in the regions of information on the government’s ongoing and planned reforms promoting human rights. During the reporting period, NCCE organized meetings in Gori, Kutaisi, Marneuli and Telavi. In addition, two public lectures were held with students in Gori and Kutaisi.

The meeting in Gori was held on April 8. Deputy State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Petre Kankava, Ambassador at Large for Human Rights Irakli Giviashvili, Head of the Human Rights Secretariat Natalia Jaliashvili, and Human Rights Secretariat Adviser Tornike Dvali discussed human rights issues with representatives of the local community. Fifty persons engaged in a lively discussion on rights of IDPs, rights of people living on occupied territories and near the dividing lines, and right to fair trial. In addition, Mr. Kankava and Mr. Giviashvili held a public lecture at the Gori ERSU University. The speakers engaged 76 students and professors in a discussion on the state policy with regard to human rights and international mechanisms to protect human rights, including the rights of refugees, IDPs and persons living on/in the vicinity of the occupied territories.

On April 20, the meeting was held in Kutaisi. The speakers were Head of the Parliamentary Committee on International Relations Sopo Katsarava, Head of the Human Rights Secretariat Natalia Jaliashvili, and Human Rights Secretariat Adviser Tornike Dvali. They engaged 37 participants in a discussion of the right to privacy, right to fair trial, and the rights of a child. The public lecture held by Sopo Katsarava at Akaki Tsereteli University in Kutaisi was attended by 55 students and professors, and concentrated on the steps taken towards Euro- Atlantic integration and the progress made so far. The speaker also underscored the importance of carrying out policies aimed at protecting human rights, implementation of the Human Rights Action Plan, and Georgia’s foreign policy priorities and how they are linked with the development and stability of the country. The students were interested, and a discussion was held on fundamental human rights values and the importance of strong democratic institutions to build a stable and strong state, as well as Georgia’s progress in this direction and future ambitions, objectives and challenges. Students underlined the benefits of visa liberalization and importance of an education system that gives them more opportunities to study in Western universities. After meeting with the students, Ms. Katsarava and Ms. Jaliashvili visited the regional TV station “Rioni I,” where they participated in the locally televised talk show “Dialogue” and answered questions from the public about initiatives on combating domestic violence and improving the judicial system in Georgia.

An informational meeting was held in Marneuli on June 1. The Prime Minister's Assistant on Human Rights Protection and Gender Equality Issues, Sopho Japaridze, and Human Rights Secretariat Adviser Tornike Dvali spoke about gender equality and women's empowerment, right to fair trial, business and human rights. Forty-one people attended the meeting, including 19 ethnic minority representatives. Translation into the Azerbaijani language was provided for the non-Georgian speaking participants.

The last meeting was organized by the Telavi CCE on June 20. The Prime Minister's Assistant on Human Rights Protection and Gender Equality Issues, Sopho Japaridze, and Human Rights Secretariat Adviser Tornike Dvali discussed issues related to gender equality and women's empowerment, rights of persons with disabilities, combating violence against women and domestic violence. A sign language interpreter was provided for interpretation

46 for vulnerable groups, including those with hearing and speech impairments. Fifty-six persons participated in the discussion.

Monitoring and Evaluation

4.3.5. Number of legal professionals benefitting from training on rights of marginalized groups provided with USG assistance (F Indicator):

Quarter: 35 (9 Male and 26 Female) Year 3 Target: 200 LOP Target: 750

B. Key Issues and Challenges

A challenge for PROLoG in the upcoming quarters will be to monitor the new recipients of legal aid and awareness raising grants to ensure their proper implementation.

NCCE has encountered some challenges during the project implementation period, the main challenge being the availability and will of high level officials and MPs to participate in the regional visits despite the efforts of the Secretariat to secure speakers. Despite the minor challenges, NCCE and the Secretariat continue to successfully carry out the project, reaching out to local communities and establishing/maintaining communication on human rights issues.

C. Plans for next quarter

The following activities are expected to take place during the next reporting period:

 Continued monitoring of the implementation of the legal aid and awareness raising grants.  Participate in the field visits by grantees.  Identify and plan lawyer’s skills development trainings for grantees.  Identify and plan organizational development support activities for grantees.

Annex 1: Success Stories

EWMI-PROLoG-Supported Human Rights Chair Organized Series of Events Dedicated to Women’s History Month

In March, the Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia (PROLoG) Activity-funded Human Rights Chair at Ilia State University School of Law, Tamar Gurchani, organized a series of public discussions and lectures dedicated to Women’s History Month to commemorate women’s historic achievements and their important role in society. On March 27, the first Deputy Chairperson of Parliament and Chairperson of the Gender Equality Council, Tamar Chugoshvili, led a public discussion about Georgia’s Law on Gender Equality, the Gender Equality Council action plan, the gender-related work of Constitutional Commission, and planned gender-related legislative amendments. On March 28, Ms. Gurchani organized the screening of the film “Hidden Figures,” which is about African-American female mathematicians who worked at NASA during the space race with the Soviet Union and played a vital role in sending the first American to orbit Earth. The screening was followed by discussion on the invisible labor of women, racial segregation, gender gap, female jobs versus male jobs, and women’s contributions to the history of mankind. On March 29, Ms. Gurchani held a public lecture and discussion with Maggie Osdoby Katz, a Tbilisi-based human rights consultant and activist, and Maka Meshveliani, Gender Program Manager at UNDP Georgia. They discussed whether the U.S. is ready for a woman president, how the 2016 U.S. election result already affected women's rights, and the women's rights campaigns sparked by the U.S. election in the U.S. and worldwide, including Georgia. On March 31, Ms. Gurchiani hosted a public discussion on the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. The discussion was led by Keti Sarajishvili, head of the Public International Law Department at Ministry of Justice, Maka Peradze, head of the Project Management Division at Department of International Relations, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Anna Iluridze, head of the Gender Equality Department at the Ombudsman's Office. The speakers talked about the upcoming legislative changes that will be the basis for Georgia’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention. All above events were attended by law students from different Georgian universities and the presentations were followed by discussions and Question & Answer sessions.

Ms. Maka Meshveliani, women’s rights activist, speaks on women in politics

EWMI-PROLoG Supports Moot Court on Domestic Violence

On April 1-2, the EWMI-PROLoG-supported Gender Chair at Tbilisi State University, Ketevan Khutsishvili, organized a moot court on domestic violence. An unprecedented 75 teams from Tbilisi and regional universities took part in the competition, underlining the importance of educating students and communities on domestic violence and women’s rights. The aim of the event was to increase awareness of the complex issues surrounding domestic violence, educate students on domestic and international remedies against violence, and improve the practical skills and theoretical knowledge of Georgian law students. The event was also supported by the EU, , the Georgian Young Lawyer’s Association (GYLA), UN Women, the Innovations and Reform Centre, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Twelve teams made it to the oral rounds, including Batumi Shota Rustaveli Univeristy and Kutaisi Akaki Tsereteli State University. The final rounds took place at the Police Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. First place was awarded to Tbilisi State University, and the runner-up was Kutaisi State University. Students from Batumi State University, Caucasus School of Law and Free University were awarded “best witness,” “best presenter,” and “best prosecutor” awards, respectively. GYLA awarded free one-year law courses at its training center to the two best participants in the competition.

Tbilisi State University student makes an opening statement

EWMI-PROLoG Supports Public Discussion on Constitutional Reforms

On March 31, the EWMI-PROLoG-supported Human Rights Chair at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), Vakhushti Menabde, organized a public discussion on the ongoing constitutional reform process in Georgia. Mr. Menabde serves as a member of State Constitutional Council, which was established in 2017 by the Parliament of Georgia to develop and consider possible amendments to the Georgian Constitution. The aim of the discussion was to consider and debate both the proposed amendments to the Constitution and also additional possible constitutional reforms. The amendments and possible reforms discussed included: indirect election of the president, current parliamentary system of Georgia, and deficiencies in the Georgian political system. GIPA students attended the event. The presentation was followed by a discussion and Question & Answer session on the above topics.

Vakhushti Menabde speaks on indirect election of the president

Draft Judicial Strategy Presented in Parliament

On April 7, the Legal Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia hosted the presentation of the initial version of the Judicial Strategy for 2017-2021. Eka Beselia, the Committee Chair, opened the presentation together with Tamar Chugoshvili, Depury Chair of the Parliament, and Nino Gvenetadze, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Secretary and Members of the High Council of Justice, MPs from the Legal Committee, the Deputy Minister of Justice and representatives of international donor organizations participated in the meeting. The Chairs of the working groups of the Judicial Strategy Committee (JSC) – Eva Gotsiridze, Tamar Alania and Kakha Sopromadze, all members of the HCOJ – spoke about the strategic directions, challenges and tasks of the reform and specific activities to be undertaken. Members of Parliament’s Legal Committee shared their positive feedback about the work carried out by the JSC and the text of the Strategy. They also expressed their interest in the action plan to know more about the specific activities for strategy implementation. The initial version of the Judicial Strategy is now ready to be discussed in Parliament and with the public. The action plan for the strategy is being drafted and will be shared for comments in the near future. The Judicial Strategic Committee was established in May 2016 by the High Council of Justice, and its members represent both state authorities and thirty-six non-governmental otganizations through the Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary. Judicial Strategy development is the responsibility of the High Council of Justice under the EU Association Agreement. The strategy development process is supported by the international donor organizations: EWMI/PROLoG (USAID), GIZ, EU4 Justice and CoE.

“…the Parliament of Georgia attaches particular attention to judicial strength, independence and institutional guarantees. We are ready to do our best to create the legislative base to provide the judicial authority with all respective legal guarantees, independence and pre-conditions for uninterrupted application of justice. It is one of our main priorities” – Eka Beselia

Implementation of Georgia’s Human Rights Strategy: Main Findings and Future Approaches

The findings and recommendations of an external assessment of Georgia’s National Human Rights Strategy were presented on April 10, 2017. The report was prepared by an independent human rights expert, Maggie Nicholson, with the assistance of the USAID- supported Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia (PROLoG) Activity, which is implemented by the East-West Management Institute, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Tamar Chugoshvili, First Deputy Chairperson of Parliament, Shombi Sharp, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in Georgia, Natalia Jaliashvili, Head of the Human Rights Secretariat, and Monica Azimi, Director of the Office of Democracy, Governance and Social Development – USAID/Georgia, opened the presentation. Ms. Nicholson presented the findings of the report on the progress in implementation of the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights in Georgia (2014-2020) and recommendations as to future approaches. She welcomed the significant progress made, to greater and lesser degrees, in almost all subject areas addressed in the National Strategy. In addition to general recommendations, the expert made specific recommendations in relation to justice, penitentiary systems and the prevention of torture and ill-treatment, the right to privacy, freedom of expression, assembly and demonstration, minority rights, rights of the child, persons with disabilities, internally displaced persons, migrants, gender equality and right to work. Priorities for further action were also identified. Following the expert’s presentation, Sopo Kiladze, Chair of Parliament’s Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee, and Ekaterine Skhiladze, Deputy Public Defender, reflected on the current state of human rights in Georgia, and the audience had an opportunity to raise problematic issues and comment on the findings. It is hoped that a discussion and expert’s recommendations will assist the respective state agencies in assessing their own progress and refocusing on how to achieve the central goals of mainstreaming human rights in all government policies and promoting a culture of human rights in the country. This activity in line with EWMI/PROLoG’s efforts to assist with establishing a system of continuous human rights reform in Georgia and the U.S. Government’s efforts to strengthen democratic principles in Georgia.

GYLA Presents Results of Monitoring Cases Involving Crimes against Women

On March 27, the Georgian Young Lawyer’s Association (GYLA) presented its court monitoring findings related to cases involving domestic violence, domestic crimes and violence against women. This was the tenth report published since GYLA started monitoring Georgia’s criminal law chambers in 2011 with EWMI-PROLoG’s support, but the first time a report focused on a single problem area. Monika Azimi, USAID-Georgia’s Director of the Office of Democracy, Governance and Social Development, opened the presentation of the report on crimes against women. The monitoring took place from August 2016 to January 2017, and was conducted in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi, Gori and Telavi City Courts, as well as Tbilisi and Kutaisi Appellate Courts. GYLA found that judges mostly fail to adequately assess the threats to the life and health of victims of domestic violence and violence against women, and are unreasonably lenient towards the perpetrators. The judges’ lenience is evident both for preventive measures and final punishments. Prosecutors seemed to better recognize the risks for the victims and requested strict preventive measures. Still, GYLA found cases of violence against women where the charges brought by the prosecutor’s office were incomplete or lenient. Additionally, in none of the cases monitored was gender-based discrimination mentioned or considered by either the prosecution or judge. The presentation was well attended by representatives of all actors in the judicial system – judges, prosecutors, lawyers, representatives of local civil society and international organizations, and also representatives of academia and legal professional training centers. This gives hope that the problems identified and discussed will have traction and influence on the future training and performance of all parties involved.

EWMI/PROLoG Supports Continuous Human Rights Reform in Georgia

EWMI/PROLoG continues to support implementation of Georgia’s National Human Rights Strategy for 2014-2020. In November 2016, in cooperation with UNDP, PROLoG invited a leading human rights expert, Maggie Nicholson, to assess the progress in implementation of the National Strategy mid-way through its course. On April 10-13, the expert returned to Georgia to present the findings of the external assessment report. During her visit, Ms. Nicholson took part in a number of meetings with state and non-state actors, arranged together with the Human Rights Secretariat. A major conference was also held to present the “Report on Progress in the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights in Georgia, 2014-2020, and Recommendations as to Future Approaches.” In addition, thematic working group meetings were organized on gender equality, violence against women, domestic violence, minority rights, and criminal justice. These meetings enabled representatives of state institutions and civil society organizations to have in-depth discussions about the expert’s recommendations, take stock of the progress made, and identify remaining challenges and necessary future steps. With these events, a discussion on the future Human Rights Action Plan was also launched. The expert also attended a Human Rights Committee session in Parliament, where she a shared her recommendations and conclusions. She also met with the Prime Minister of Georgia, Head of Government Administration, First Deputy Public Defender, and representatives of international organizations and NGOs. It is hoped that the expert’s meetings and recommendations will assist state agencies to assess their progress and refocus on how to achieve the Strategy’s central goals of mainstreaming human rights in all government policies and promoting a culture of human rights in the country. This activity is in line with EWMI/PROLoG’s efforts to assist with establishing a system of continuous human rights reform in Georgia and the U.S. Government’s efforts to strengthen democratic principles in Georgia.

HRC Presents Report on Rights of Women, Religious and Ethnic Minorities

On March 31, the Human Rights Center (HRC) presented the report “Rights of Women, Religious and Ethnic Minorities,” which was prepared within the EWMI/PROLoG-funded project “Support to the defense of rights of women, religious and ethnic minorities in the regions of Georgia.” The project was implemented in Kvemo Kartli and Kakheti regions. The presenters reviewed the project activities, which included litigating 20 cases involving violence against women in the common courts. The presenters also discussed the problems that hinder the defense of women’s rights, rights of ethnic and religious minorities and their access to justice in the regions. In addition to HRC representatives, Sophio Shamanidi, advisor to the President on National Minorities made opening remarks at the presentation, which 46 people attended. With regard to women’s rights, the problems include professional negligence by police officers and the abuse of power by them. The commencement of investigations into domestic violence cases is also a problem. Gender stereotypes, gender-based discrimination, patriarchal approaches to women’s rights and women’s low awareness of their rights were identified as major triggers of domestic violence. Early marriage and women’s economic dependence on harasser husbands are other significant triggers. With ethnic minorities, the main problem is low awareness about the national laws and judicial institutions due to lack of knowledge of the official language. Because of this, ethnic minorities often have limited access to education, property rights, healthcare and social services.

HRC representatives and Sophio Shamanidi advisor to the President on National Minorities at the presentation of the report

CiDA Presents Report on “Gender-based Violence in Kvemo Kartli”

On March 24, the NGO Civil Development Agency (CiDA) held a presentation in Tbilisi on its research into “Gender-based Violence in Kvemo Kartli.” The main aim of the presentation was to establish the legal status of women living in Kvemo Kartli and the analysis of problems related to the issue. The research was supported by EWMI/PROLoG in the framework of the project “Legal Aid and Strategic Litigation Services in Kvemo Kartli Region,” which was implemented by CiDA in partnership with the Association of Law Firms of Georgia. The event was opened by CiDA Executive Director Zviad Devdariani, PROLoG Deputy Chief of Party Neil Weinstein, and Assistant to the Prime Minister for Human Rights and Gender Issues Sopho Japaridze. The report’s findings were presented by CiDA lawyer Teona Kiladze, and the event was attended by 52 people. CiDA’s research demonstrated that the majority of the region’s residents do not have information about domestic violence, early marriage or discrimination-related legislative regulations. The primary reasons for this are the low level of awareness and the beneficiaries’ mistrust of the services offered. After the presentation a discussion was held by representatives of the Executive and Legislative branches, local government and civil society. The discussion touched upon the issue of law enforcement agencies, as well as challenges in having a court issue a restraining or protective order in domestic violence cases. The participants noted that it is necessary to raise awareness of the women of Kvemo Kartli about their rights and strengthen their access to justice.

Zviad Devdariani, Sopho Japaridze and others opened the presentation

Students in Kuatisi Meet with Representatives of Parliament and Human Rights Secretariat

On April 20, the Head of the Human Rights Secretariat, Natalia Jaliashvili, and Member of Parliament, Sopio Katsarava, conducted a public lecture for students from Akaki Tsereteli University in Kutaisi. The meeting with the students was part of a series of meetings organized by the National Centers for Civic Engagement in partnership with the Human Rights Secretariat and supported by EWMI/PROLoG. The aim of the meetings is to facilitate dissemination in the regions of Georgia of information on the government’s ongoing and planned reforms promoting human rights protection. Ms. Katsarava and Ms. Jaliashvili talked about the human rights policy of Georgia; implementation of the Human Rights Action Plan; Georgia’s foreign policy priorities, objectives and Euro-Atlantic aspirations, and how they are interlinked with the development and stability of the country. Students were interested and a discussion was held on fundamental human rights values and the importance of strong democratic institutions to build a stable and strong state, as well as Georgia's progress in this direction and future ambitions, objectives and challenges. Students underlined the benefits of visa liberation and importance of an education system that gives them more opportunities to study abroad in Western universities. After meeting with the students Ms. Katsarava and Ms. Jaliashvili had an informational meeting with local NGOs, self-government bodies and justice sector institutions, and visited regional TV station “Rioni I,” where they participated in the locally televised talk show “Dialogue” and answered questions from the public about initiatives on combating domestic violence and improving the judicial system in Georgia. At the end of the day, Ms. Katsarava underlined that “It was encouraging to meet and talk with so many bright students with bright futures and potential. Thanks go to the Human Rights Secretariat and USAID for this worthwhile project to raise awareness on human rights and foreign policy priorities.”

Human Rights Secretariat representatives Tornike Dvali and Natalia Jaliashvili and Member of Parliament Sophio Katsarava meeting with Kutaisi Akaki Tsereteli University Students 57

GBA Ethics Commission Organizes Workshop for Gurjaani and Telavi Lawyers

GBA Ethics Commission members present recommendations for lawyers On April 22, the Georgian Bar’s Ethics Commission, through the grant support of EWMI/PROLoG, organized a workshop for lawyers in Telavi. The purpose of the workshop was to present an overview of complaints received by the Ethics Commission, give lawyers the opportunity to discuss topics of mutual interest related to lawyers’ ethics, and find ways to jointly improve the system. Tsitsino Tskhvediani, Chairperson of the Ethics Commission, and Tea Cheishvili and Ketevan Utiashvili, members of the Commission, attended the workshop. It was emphasized during the meeting that the Ethics Commission is not a body that wants to “punish” lawyers. On the contrary, its members are trying to review cases objectively and impartially. It was also stressed that there is no interim measure between a warning and the suspension of a lawyer’s license that can be applied by the Ethics Commission, which is why lawyers may receive similar sanctions for different violations. The Ethics Commission representatives presented recommendations to help lawyers avoid possible complaints by their clients or courts:

 Formulate the contract with the client to avoid misunderstandings. For example, if the contract stipulates a fee for certain services, specify whether this fee covers representation in all three court instances.  Do not accept cases outside of your areas of expertise.  Do not make promises as to the case outcome.  Proactively update clients on the status of the case.

The discussion was very lively, with participants asking questions about issues frequently encountered in their cases. All participants expressed an interest in having additional workshops so that opinions can be exchanged on ethics-related issues.

American Days 2017

USAID/Georgia and the US Embassy in Tbilisi organized friendship fairs in different cities across Georgia to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of U.S.-Georgian diplomatic relations. PROLoG representatives attended the fairs on April 23 in Tbilisi, April 26 in Kutaisi, and April 28 in Batumi. Georgian citizens, university and high school students, teachers, and others interested in learning about USAID’s programs in Georgia, educational opportunities, visitor exchanges and grants programs attended the Friendship Fairs. Breakout sessions were also hosted in parallel with the fair on study opportunities in the U.S.A., and partner organizations gave presentations on their projects and opportunities. PROLoG representatives raised awareness of PROLoG’s activities, the work of its partner organizations, and distributed reports, brochures and many other law-related publications that have been developed during the project.

Participants of American Days

NGO Lawyers Further Hone Writing Skills

On April 29-30, EWMI-PROLoG helped train 15 Georgian lawyers from eight civil society organizations in legal writing. Tamar Tomashvili and David Kapanadze, both from Free University Tbilisi, focused on helping the participants improve their report writing skills. All of the participants are actively engaged in writing various research pieces for advocating changes in relevant law and practice. To aid improvement of the lawyers’ writing skills, the training focused on practical matters of planning the report, its focus and audiences, as well as using legal analysis techniques for report writing purposes. The trainers also taught case brief preparation skills that are indispensable to lawyers when analyzing judicial practice. The trainers gave individual feedback on writing samples from each organization, and gave follow-on critiques and advice after the practical re-drafting exercises that took place during the training.

EWMI-PROLoG Supports Conference on 3 Years of Operation of the Anti- discrimination Law

On May 2, the Public Defender of Georgia, together with the USAID-funded EWMI- PROLoG Activity, EU Project on Combating All Forms of Discrimination in Georgia, Open Society Foundation Georgia and the “Equality Coalition” hosted a conference: 3 Years of Operation of the Anti-discrimination Law: Achievements, Challenges and Way Forward. The conference was organized in observance of the third anniversary of the adoption of the Law of Georgia on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination. The Public Defender, MPs, representatives of the Ministry of Justice, common courts and non-governmental organizations spoke about the significance of the adoption of the anti- discrimination law in Georgia in protecting human rights, especially equality rights, and also shared their opinions about the gaps in the laws and necessary changes for their improvement. Tamar Chugoshvili, First Deputy Chairman of the Parliament, and Sofio Kiladze, Head of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee of Parliament, noted that the Parliament supports the draft amendments to the anti-discrimination law and will work for their speedy adoption to strengthen the efforts to combat discrimination in Georgia. The conference was attended by the representatives of legislative, executive and judicial branches, diplomatic corps and international and local organizations. This event is a continuation of PROLoG’s support to the Georgian government to develop anti- discrimination legislation and practices that are in line with international and regional human rights standards and best practices.

EWMI/PROLoG-Supported Human Rights Chair Hosts Public Discussion on Combating Hate Speech Universities

On April 27, the EWMI/PROLoG-supported human rights chair, Tamar Gurchiani, hosted a public discussion on combating hate speech at universities. The Chair and the project coordinator of the NGO “Equality Movement,” Mariam Kvaratskhelia, spoke on topics such as: how to combat hate speech at universities; how to maintain a balance to protect freedom of speech and expression; how to create a safe place for education; and what policies and mechanisms should universities have related to hate speech and free expression. The event was attended by Ilia State University Law School students. They raised questions regarding freedom of expression, as well as usual dilemmas like free speech vs. national security. Students had questions regarding defamation, the burden of proof, political correctness, journalistic ethics etc. The speakers and the participants also discussed best practices from all over the world and assessed the current situation at Ilia State University.

Tamar Gurchiani and Mariam Kvaratskhelia speak on hate speech at universities

EWMI/PROLoG Supports Second International Bar Association Conference

On May 12-13, with the support of EWMI/PROLoG and the Council of Europe, European Union and United Nations Development Programme, the Georgian Bar Association (GBA) hosted the second International Conference Summit of Bars of Georgia, Baltic and CIS Countries on “Challenges of the Modern Legal Profession.” The Conference brought together representatives of nine European Bar Associations and members of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). The two-day event opened with welcome remarks from the President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, and Georgian Parliament Chairperson, Irakli Kobakhidze. Niels Scott, Resident Coordinator for UNDP in Georgia; Maria Slazak, Vice-President of the CCBE Pays de l’Europe Centrale et Orientale Committee; Peter Danis, Manager of the European Union’s Justice for All Programme; Giorgi Chkheidze, Chief of Party of EWMI/PROLoG; and Zaza Khatiashvili, Chairperson of the GBA, addressed the participants at the opening session. During the conference the participants presented different issues related to the challenges confronting the legal profession, such as the constitutional guarantees and exclusiveness of legal practice, international guarantees for the operation of the Bar, rights and professional freedoms of lawyers, entry into the legal profession and standards of education. Lawyers from different countries shared their experience with cross-border litigation and data protection, and discussed the impact of social networks and media on the legal practice. At the end of the presentations, discussions were held in which participants expressed their views on key issues of interest.

Opening remarks at Conference (from left): Peter Danis, Manager of EU Justice for All Programme; Niels Scott, UNDP Resident Coordinator; Irakli Kobakhidze, Georgian Parliament Chairperson; Giorgi Margvelashvili, President of Georgia; Zaza Khatioashvili, GBA Chairman; Maria Slazak, Vice-President of the CCBE PECO committee; Giorgi Chkheidze, COP at EWMI/PROLoG; David Asatiani, GBA International Secretary

PHR Organizes Meeting on Doctors’ Role in Supporting Abused Women

On May 5, under the EWMI-PROLoG funded project “Unlock Untapped Potential of Georgian Law to Respond to Gender-based Discrimination and Violence,” the NGO “Partnership for Human Rights” (PHR) organized a meeting in Baghdati Municipality for medical field representatives who may have access to victims of violence. The eleven attendees (8 female, 3 male) included surgeons, therapists and family doctors. The main goal of the meeting was to discuss the context of violence against women in the local community, appropriate approaches during medical personnel’s first meetings with victims, and how to identify victims of violence. Also discussed was the legal provisions that apply to medical personnel to improve victim safety and protect victims’ identity and dignity. The characteristics of domestic violence and violence against women were discussed at the meeting. Participants were informed about the protection mechanisms and existing services for abused women. The role of doctors was discussed, including how to identify a woman who was abused, how to treat her, and how to collect evidence and provide information to law enforcement agencies. The meeting was very interactive, with the transfer of victims of domestic violence to the special shelter of special interest. According to the participants, they did not have information about the existing services to support women who were abused. Especially interesting was information provided to PHR by the doctors with regard to violence against women in Baghdati, which will be useful for PHR’s lawyers in the future. Participants of the meeting highlighted the importance to conduct similar meetings at schools for teachers and students, and expressed their readiness for future cooperation.

PHR representatives talk about the necessity of an efficient response from doctors to support abused women

EWMI/PROLoG supports Parliamentary working group to draft legislative amendments in light of Constitutional Court’s ruling on probation for judges

On May 14-15, EWMI/PROLoG supported a working meeting of the parliamentary committee drafting legislative amendments in light of the February 2017 Constitutional Court judgment on probation for judges. The Constitutional Court judgment partially abolished the three-year probation requirement for the lifetime appointment of former and current judges. Specifically, the Constitutional Court considered unconstitutional application of the probationary period to judges or former judge with three or more years of judgeship experience, and mandated the Parliament to adopt new rules by July 1, 2017 that set out procedures for the appointment for judge applicants who are exempt from probation. To implement this decision, earlier in May the special working group was established by Parliament’s Legal Issues Committee. The working group is chaired by the Committee Chairperson, Eka Beselia. Its members consist of the members of Parliament, as well as the Chair of the High Council of Justice (HCOJ), and members. The legal counsellors of the Legal Committee and HCOJ, as well as representatives of EWMI/PROLoG, were also involved in the working group. EWMI/PROLoG also invited an international expert on judicial selection and appointments, U.S. Judge Timothy Baland, to advise the working group and draft legislative amendments establishing a rigorous vetting system for judge applicants who are exempt from probation. A number of other possible amendments were also discussed during the workshop. The bill of amendments to the Organic Law on Common Courts drafted by the Committee of Legal Issues following the workshop is scheduled to be officially initiated later this week at the Parliament.

“The standards and criteria towards the judicial candidates should be equal when it comes to the lifetime appointments” – Eka Beselia, Chair of the Legal Issues Committee, the Parliament of Georgia

EWMI-PROLoG Supports Training in Human Rights for Supreme Court Judge Assistants EWMI/PROLoG supports the Supreme Court of Georgia to implement the changes brought about by the “Third Wave” of legislative reforms. One such change is the obligation of the Supreme Court to review lower court decisions based on their compliance with the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the practices of the European Court of Human Rights. To assist the Supreme Court in fulfilling this obligation, in partnership with the EU4Justice Judiciary Support project and the High School of Justice, PROLoG is providing a series of human rights trainings to the Supreme Court’s judge assistants, analytical department and Human Rights Center. These trainings are similar to those PROLoG previously provided to the Tbilisi City Court judicial assistants. The trainings consist of three thematic workshops. The first workshop was conducted on May 12-14, and two PROLOG experts, Besarion Bokhashvili and Ekaterine Lomtatidze, delivered sessions on human rights concepts, relevant ECHR admissibility criteria and standards, and important case law on the Right to Privacy and Right to Liberty and Security. Additional workshops will be conducted in May-July. There will be separate trainings for Criminal and Civil/Administrative law chamber judicial assistants, and the trainings will cover issues that are of the most concern to the Supreme Court’s practice. The program will improve the quality of judicial decisions by ensuring that the required human rights standards are applied in the Supreme Court’s decisions.

Human rights expert Besarion Bokhashvili talks about the right to respect private and family life

Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary Pushes for the Next Wave of Judicial Reforms

On May 11, the Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary, with the support of EWMI-PROLoG, held a public forum to discuss next steps for the reform of Georgia’s judicial system. The Coalition presented a comprehensive report titled “The Judicial System: Past Reforms and Future Perspectives,” which provides an analysis of reforms carried out since 2012 and explores current institutional problems. The forum brought together representatives of the state and civil society to discuss the findings of the study. Opening speeches were made by Nino Gvenetadze, Chief Justice of the Supreme court, Eka Beselia, Head of the Parliament’s Legal Committee, Nicholas Berliner, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy, Janos Herman, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, and Ana Natsvlishvili, Chair of the Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary. In their presentations the Coalition representatives noted that, despite certain improvements achieved through the so-called “Three Waves” of judicial reform, the objective of making the Georgian judicial system independent and transparent has not been fulfilled. Allegations are made concerning the influence of elite groups within the court system. The independence of the judiciary is weakened by institutional problems in the areas of judicial selection and appointment, judicial probation, evaluation and promotion, number of judges and caseload, court administration and management, and judicial discipline. The report also raised the issue of gender-related stereotypes and gender-insensitivity by members of the bench. The Coalition members proposed specific recommendations to address these problematic areas. The representatives of the state institutions engaged in the discussion and expressed readiness to continue reforms. Representatives of both the Ministry of Justice and the Parliament confirmed that they are committed to carry the reforms to the next level, and said they are ready to continue a dialogue with the civil society representatives in this process. The Coalition plans to hold additional meetings with representatives of the Parliament and the judiciary to promote the recommendations of the report.

Left to right: Sopo Verdzeuli, Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center, Nicholas Berliner, Deputy Chief of Mission, the United States Embassy in Georgia, Ana Natsvlishvili, Georgian Young Lawyers Association, Giorgi Gogia, Human Rights Watch, Nino Gvenetadze, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Janos Herman, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia 67

EWMI/PROLoG Supports Development of a Company Law Course for Judges

EWMI/PROLoG, in cooperation with the High School of Justice and the German International Development Agency, organized a training of trainers workshop on May 20-21 for a group of Georgian judges on Corporate Law and Governance in Georgia and the EU. The training included presentations, case studies, discussions, and exercises that guided judges on how to implement the most complex concepts of the Company Law and corporate governance. According to the EU-Georgia Association Agreement, within the next three to five years Georgia must implement several EU company law directives. In 2016, the Georgian Government started the implementation project and with donor support, including from PROLoG, developed a draft Company Law that is expected to be adopted this year. The new Company Law will introduce modern legal features into the Georgian legislation governing companies, which should enhance corporate governance, attract more investment, and foster economic efficiency. After the adoption of the new Company Law, Georgian courts will have to deal with new concepts and interpret and apply the law in accordance with the EU directives. The trainers trained through the EWMI/PROLoG and GIZ workshops will help prepare Georgia’s judges for these new and increased responsibilities. To address these needs, EWMI/PROLoG, in cooperation with HSoJ and GIZ, designed a company law course for judges. At the first stage of the program (2016) experts - SCJ Ms. Nino Bakakuri, Prof. Dr. Martin Gelter of Fordham University Law School (NY, USA) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lasha Tsertsvadze - conducted 3 two-day workshops for a carefully selected group of Georgian judges. The purpose of these workshops was to test interest in the course and select a group of judge-trainers who would undergo a series of ToT trainings to be able to teach the course to judges as a part of HSoJ’s curriculum. Based on the results of the workshops 5 trainers-to-be have been identified by the trainers and HSOJ for ToT. The ToT phase of the program will involve two 2-day ToT workshops. The workshops will be implemented in May and June. The objective of the ToT will be to shape a model course to introduce the draft law and EU standards to Georgian judges and train them in the context of enforcing European company law directives in their practice. This will ensure the coherent and consistent application of European company law rules by Georgian courts.

Professor Gelter Explaining the Concept of Public Offering of Shares

EWMI-PROLoG Launches New Program on Modern Law Teaching Methods

On May 20-21, EWMI/PROLoG conducted a two-day workshop on modern techniques of law teaching for professors of teaching methodology courses at Ph.D. programs. In cooperation with Washburn University (USA), PROLoG launched a new project to develop a model syllabus and guidebook for law schools on Law Teaching Methodology. This course is taught as a mandatory subject at the Ph.D. level at all Georgian law schools with doctoral programs. During the workshop, Washburn Professor Rory Bahadur and two local experts, Tamar Tomashvili and Ketevan Iremashvili, conducted sessions on the importance of multimodal presentation, techniques of modern teaching, and shared with the Georgian professors model exercises that encourage active learning and interaction with the class. A second workshop will be organized in July, and will focus on class assessment and exam designing tools.

Professors brainstorming and performing exercises during the Teaching Methods workshop

Civil Society Organizations Protest against Developments in the High Council of Justice

On May 11, Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) and Transparency International- Georgia (TI), with the support of EWMI-PROLoG, planned to present their fifth monitoring report on the High Council of Justice (HCOJ), which was based on monitoring the HCOJ with an aim to discern improvements and negative tendencies in its work. The organizers invited representatives of the judiciary, the Government, the Parliament, international organizations and legal experts to the event. However, developments in the days before the presentation caused the NGOs to decide to use this meeting to make a public statement instead of presenting the report. In the statements by Ana Natsvlishvili (GYLA) and Eka Gigauri (TI) at the May 30th event, the leaders of the two organizations noted on behalf of the Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary (Coalition) that they found it inappropriate to hold an academic discussion over the results of the monitoring based on what they consider to be the HCOJ’s failure to perform its functions. In particular, in the previous week the Coalition published a statement calling on the HCOJ not to appoint court presidents through the existing procedures, which the Coalition considers unclear and arbitrary, leading to increased powers of influential groups in the system Despite this request, on May 29 the Council made a number of appointments using the existing procedures, including appointing judges who had been criticized by CSOs to high administrative positions. At the end of the statements, the leaders of GYLA and TI called on the Parliament to start a discussion of immediate and fundamental changes in the justice sector with the involvement of the Coalition and other stakeholders. GYLA and TI said the Coalition is ready to provide detailed recommendations for reform, and will continue to monitor the performance of the HCOJ.

From left to right: Oliko Shermadini, Eka Gigauri, TI, Ana Natsvlishvili, GYLA, Neil Weinstein, EWMI- PROLoG and Nino Gvenetadze, Chief Justice

EWMI-PROLoG Supports Student Conference on Social and Economic Rights

On May 30, the EWMI-PROLoG supported Human Rights Chair at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), Vakhushti Menabde, organized a student conference on social and economic rights at the media club “Frontline Georgia.” Participants for the conference were chosen through an essay competition. Students from six different law schools attended the event. Law students from Black Sea International University, Tbilisi State University and Grigol Robakidze University made presentations on: sexual harassment in the workplace; consumer rights as fundamental rights; and socio-economic rights in the 1921 and 1995 Constitutions of Georgia. Each presentation was followed by a discussion on the topic. The GIPA Human Rights Chair served as a moderator of the Conference, and student presenters were given human rights law books by PROLoG, OSGF, GYLA and EMC.

Winners of the essay competition and presenters at the conference

EWMI/PROLoG Supports Publication of Commentary on Civil Code of Georgia

On May 27, EWMI/PROLoG, in cooperation with the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), organized a presentation of the first volume of the Commentary on the Civil Code of Georgia. The Supreme Court of Georgia hosted the event. Nino Gvenetadze, Chief Justice of Georgia, introduced the event. Her comments were followed by comments from Giorgi Chkheidze, EWMI/PROLoG Chief of Party, and Shalva Papuashvili, Team Leader at GIZ. Finally, Professor Lado Chanturia, Georgia’s Ambassador to Germany and the Editor in Chief of the Commentary, addressed the participants and introduced the concept of the Commentary and its structure. The speakers highlighted the importance of the publication and its role for the legal community, and stressed the need for further publications. Through the publication of five volumes, the Commentary will provide analysis and case citations related to the provisions of Georgia’s Civil Code, providing both judges and lawyers with an important tool to ensure the proper and uniform interpretation of the Civil Code’s provisions. The release of the Commentary is much anticipated by both legal scholars and practitioners, and it serves a great need in the legal community as it is the first update since the publication of the first Commentary in 2000-2001. The authors of the Commentary are renowned scholars and practicing lawyers, including former and acting judges.

Prof.Lado Chanturia talking about importance of the updated Commentary on Civil Code of Georgia

EWMI/PROLoG Supports Human Rights Teaching at Georgian Law Schools

On June 2-3, 2017, Professor Vakhushti Menabde, holder of the EWMI/PROLoG-supported Human Rights Chair at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), organized the second workshop for human rights law professors from eight different Georgian law schools. The first meeting, held on February 18, shared the human rights course syllabus and draft teacher’s manual with colleagues and received their feedback. During this second working meeting, the GIPA Chair received important recommendations and feedback on the pre-final draft of the teaching materials. The development of the model teacher’s manual is one of the main priorities of the GIPA Chair grant. This resource will help human rights teachers and professors around the country to bring the concept of human rights into the classroom and to teach human rights courses in a comprehensive way, using modern teaching methods and tools. The manual is designed to guide human rights professors through each lesson, from preparation to each step of the instruction, and how to use the exercises, simulations and other activities. The manual will now be finalized and distributed to all law schools and human rights law professors throughout Georgia.

Human Rights professors discuss challenges of teaching human rights in Georgia

EWMI/PROLoG Supports GDI Consultation Meeting with Muslim Communities in Adigeni On May 30, as a part of the project “Litigation for Equality,“ the NGO Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI) held meetings with representatives of the local Muslim community in Adigeni municipality, Samtskhe-Javakheti (villages of Chela, Aphieti, Mokhe and Ghortubani). The main objective of the meeting was to provide information about GDI’s new legal aid project and women’s rights. In addition, GDI used the meeting to identify individuals interested in internships with GDI to serve as contact points and liaisons to assist GDI in its legal aid and awareness-raising activities. Free legal consultations were also provided to 11 women and 4 men. During the meeting GDI spoke about domestic violence and early marriage. GDI also discussed topics such as spouses' common property ownership, inheritance, and legal aspects of divorce. Significant problems were identified during the discussion, including discrimination on religious grounds in labor relations. However, unlike in some other areas, participants reported that early marriage is no longer a serious problem in their villages.

GDI Lawyer and Muslim women are discussing domestic violence

EWMI-PROLoG and Ombudsman Jointly Work on Principle of Reasonable Accommodation

EWMI-PROLoG, together with the Public Defender’s Office, invited Professor Andrea Broderick of Maastricht University to advise on developing in the Georgian legislation the concept of reasonable accommodation that is in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). While denial of reasonable accommodation is one of the forms of discrimination based on disability considered under the CRPD, it is not present in the Georgian legislation. After preparing a report on best practices, Professor Broderick travelled to Georgia to present her report to relevant stakeholders and jointly discuss future steps. During her visit, Professor Broderick conducted meetings with the PDO, as well as representatives of Government, Parliament, Judiciary and NGOs, to speak about the situation in Georgia with regard to discrimination against persons with disabilities and the reasonable accommodation of disabilities. A working meeting was also held outside Tbilisi with representatives of the PDO and Coalition for Equality. Participants exchanged information with the expert and sought her advice regarding cases. Based on the outcomes of the meetings, the expert will develop the recommendations for Georgia aimed at ensuring compliance with the CRPD and putting in place additional safeguards against discrimination. This event is a continuation of PROLoG’s support to develop anti-discrimination legislation and practices that are in line with international and regional human rights standards and best practices.

Discussion on the situation in Georgia and future steps with regard to reasonable accommodation of disabilities

Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law Publishes EWMI/PROLoG- Supported Article

In May 2017, the Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law published an article written by the EWMI/PROLoG-supported Human Rights Chair at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), Vakhtang Menabde. The article is titled: Georgian Constitutional Court: The System of Legal Capacity of Natural Persons and its Impact upon the Georgian Legislation. The Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law is dedicated to the advancement of legal knowledge in the field of international constitutional law, and features high-standard peer-reviewed contributions by scholars and legal professionals from around the globe. The article by GIPA’s Human Rights Chair talks about the precedential effect of the Georgian Constitutional Court’s 2014 decision in Irakli Qemoklidze and Davit Kharadze, Citizens of Georgia vs. the Parliament of Georgia. In that case, the plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of the provision governing legal incapacity, specifically the provision that deprived people with psychosocial needs of their ability to acquire and exercise their civil rights or enter into transactions by their free will and action. This situation was exacerbated by the fact that a person determined to be incapable retained this status for an indefinite period. The plaintiffs argued that the provision contradicted the requirements of the rights to free development and equality. The Constitutional Court partially upheld the lawsuit, giving the State six months to implement an appropriate reform. The case served as the starting point for reforming the doctrine of legal incapacity in Georgia.

Trainings for Judges and Assistants on Enhancing Justice through Gender Equality Completed On June 14-19, the training of judges and judicial assistants on Enhancing Justice though Gender Equality was completed with the support of EWMI/PROLoG. The course on Gender Equality was initially developed with the involvement of PROLoG’s U.S. expert Patricia Noonan, who worked with a team of Georgian judges-trainers to develop a comprehensive syllabus which would become a part of the High School of Justice (HSoJ) curriculum for both listeners (those applying to become judges) and the sitting judges. In late 2016, three judge trainers – Nino Bakakuri, Badri Niparishvili and Maia

Badri Niparishvili, Nino Bakakuri, Baia Bakradze – participated in a Training of Trainers Pataraia facilitated by Ms. Noonan and local expert Baia Pataraia. The Training of Trainers enhanced the judge-trainers’ knowledge in case law, both international and national, and developed an updated curriculum based on the suggestions of participants from previous courses. In Spring 2017, PROLoG and the HSoJ organized two trainings for the judges and judicial assistants from all over the country. The group of judges introduced to the statistical data During the two-day training, up to thirty-five participants discussed gender stereotypes and discrimination, national and international standards and best practices, issues related to the judicial ethics, gender bias, domestic violence and the legal aspects of related issues. The training was part of PROLoG’s continuous support of the HSoJ. The course is now a part of the HSoJ’s curricula for judges. Future trainings on Gender Equality will be independently conducted by the HSOJ judge-trainers in the future.

EWMI/PROLoG Supports Academic Writing Initiative

On June 23, Tbilisi State University (TSU) hosted a presentation of an Academic Writing Initiative. Dr. Anna Dolidze, Parliamentary Secretary of the President of Georgia, approached EWMI/PROLoG with an initiative to develop an Academic Writing Manual for law schools that will establish academic writing and citation standards for law students and scholars engaged in academic research and writing. The manual will be based on the best practices of North American and European legal writing standards, adapted and tailored to the needs of Georgian academia. The presentation was hosted by the Rector of Tbilisi State University, who stressed the importance of improving academic writing skills among students and engaging scholars in academic research; he reinforced TSU’s commitment to support this cause. Dr. Anna Dolidze talked about the structure of the Manual and a working process that involved several consultations with academics and scholars, as well as meetings with students. The Manual will be finalized by September 2017, and will be widely distributed among Georgian law schools.

Representatives of academia, students and publishers attending the presentation

EWMI/PROLoG Supports Georgian Team at Hugo Sinzheimer Moot Court Competition

EWMI/PROLoG supported a team of students from International Black Sea University to participate at the second Hugo Sinzheimer Moot Court Competition, held on June 15-17 at Aarhus University, Denmark. The competition is an initiative of a five academics, including a Georgian, and focuses on employment and labor law at the European level. This year, 13 teams from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and a European team (composed of four students from different countries) competed against each other. The Georgian team was the only team from outside the European Union. A distinguished panel of jury members from across Europe judged the competition, including legal experts from academia, courts and private law firms. During the quarterfinals, the Georgian team competed against Polish and French teams and scored high in the oral pleadings. The teams from Poland and France continued onto the finals, but the winning team was from Finland. The third edition of the Hugo Moot Finale will be held in Italy in June 2018, but an annual meeting of the organizing committee will be held in Tbilisi in January 2018.

Participants of the Hugo Sinheimer Labor Law Moot Court Competition 2017

EWMI/PROLoG Supports Second Workshop to Develop Company Law Course for Judges

EWMI/PROLoG, in cooperation with the High School of Justice and the German International Development Agency (GIZ), organized a second Training of Trainers workshop for selected Georgian judges on Corporate Law and Governance in Georgia and the EU. Like the previous workshop in May, the June 10-11training included presentations, case studies, discussions, and exercises that guided the “judge trainers” on the most important company law concepts, such as fiduciary duties, the business judgement rule, and the duty of care of directors. Under the EU-Georgia Association Agreement, within the next three to five years Georgia must implement several EU company law directives. In 2016, the Georgian Government started the implementation process and with donor support, including from PROLoG, developed a draft Company Law that is expected to be adopted this year. The new Company Law will introduce modern legal features into the Georgian legislation governing companies, which will enhance corporate governance, attract more investment, and foster economic efficiency. After the adoption of the new Company Law, Georgian courts will have to apply new legal concepts and interpret the law in accordance with the EU directives. It is expected that the EU directives will continue to have a strong impact on the development of Georgian company law for many years to come and that this course will serve as a baseline for future courses for judges. The trainers trained through the EWMI/PROLoG and GIZ workshops will help prepare Georgia’s judges for these new and increased responsibilities.

Professor Gelter introducing the principle of Duty of Care to the audience