Shrinking Freedoms: Georgia’s New Restrictive Statutes and International Human Rights

Event details

In recent years, Georgia has seen a marked deterioration in civic freedoms. New laws on “foreign agents” and anti-LGBT legislation, which echo tactics used in Russia, have narrowed the space for independent media and civil society, while a further “foreign influence” law modelled on the United States’ Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires foreign-funded organisations to register or face prosecution and heavy fines. Since the government suspended European Union accession talks in November 2024, daily protests in Tbilisi have been met first with tear gas and water cannon, and then with mass surveillance: facial-recognition cameras, reportedly relying on Russian-supplied technology, are used to identify demonstrators and impose fines. International human rights bodies and the EU, which now regards Georgia’s accession as effectively halted, warn that the country is retreating from its democratic, European commitments.

In this talk, a human rights defender and lawyer from Georgia will discuss the impact of these recent changes.