Rights Georgia

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Rights Georgia
Established1997  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg (28 years ago)
Types nonprofit organization   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Aim human rights   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Country Georgia   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Website www.rights.ge/en   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Rights Georgia or Article 42 of the Constitution (until 2020 [1] ) is a Georgian non-governmental organisation that aims to promote human rights in Georgia via education, legal support and legislative actions. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Creation and aims

Rights Georgia was created in 1997, initially with the name "Article 42 of the Constitution", [2] which it changed to "Rights Georgia" [5] in 2020. [1]

The organisation aims to promote human rights in Georgia by educational actions about human rights, support for legal actions, and advocating for legislative changes. [2]

Structure

Rights Georgia's structure has a General Assembly as its top-level power. The Assembly elects a five-member Board – two members of Rights Georgia and three external people – for a two-year mandate. The Board elects an executive director for a two-year term. [1]

Relations with other NGOs

In 2010, Rights Georgia joined with four other Georgian human rights non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Human Rights Center (HRIDC), Georgian Center for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (GCRT), Sapari and Media Institute, forming a coalition called Human Rights House Tbilisi. [6] Rights Georgia is a member of the European Network on Statelessness as of 2025. [5]

Actions

National

In 2006, Rights Georgia (RG), together with Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) and other Georgian NGOs, pressured Georgian authorities to carry out an independent investigation into the Sandro Girgvliani murder case. RG member Lia Mukhashavria stated that there was "almost no confidence towards the General Prosecutor's Office". National Movement parliamentary members "downplayed" the call for an investigation. [7]

In 2020, RG coordinated with other Georgian NGOs, meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. RG member Kakha Tsikarishvili presented what he saw as evidence of Georgian courts making "certain political and corrupted decisions". [8]

In 2019, there were conflicts in Georgia between differing points of view by NGOs, judges, politicians and Georgian Dream on how to obtain judicial independence of the High Council of Justice and the Supreme Court via procedures for appointments in general, lifetime appointments, and dismissals. On 2 July, RG stated its point of view that the possibility of Shalva Tadumadze, the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia who had previously been a lawyer for Bidzina Ivanishvili, being given a lifetime appointment as Chair of the Supreme Court would "create risks of undue influence", while formally being legally permissible. [9]

In 2021, RG called for an investigation into secret recordings of the personal lives of politicians including Anna Dolidze. [10]

RG states that it won constitutional cases and contributed to improving human rights standards in Georgia via legislative actions. [1]

In January and April 2025, after Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) member states invoked one of the OSCE's Vienna Mechanism procedures against Georgia in relation to reports of human rights violations during the 2024–2025 Georgian protests, [11] [12] RG together with the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information and GYLA provided their own reports as responses to the Vienna Mechanism request for information, [13] and called for the Moscow Mechanism to be invoked. [14] [15]

European Court of Human Rights

Rights Georgia states that it is the first Georgian organisation to have presented (in 1999) and won cases at the ECtHR. [1] In 2004, RG defended Tengiz Assanidze in the ECtHR, arguing that his detention by Adjarian authorities violated his rights under Articles 5, 6, 10 and other parts of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The ECtHR found that the Adjaran authorities were obliged to release Assanidze and pay compensation. [16] [17] As of November 2021, RG was representing 400 Georgian citizens in 59 ECtHR cases. [18]

Rights Georgia represented several victims of the Russo-Georgian War at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). [19] [18]

CEDAW

Rights Georgia states that it the first Georgian organisation to have filed and won a case with the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) committee. [1] The case, X and Y v. Georgia, concerned sexual violence against a mother X and her daughter Y, starting in 1987. RG and Interights initially represented X and Y at the ECtHR, which found the case inadmissible, and then submitted the case to the CEDAW committee, focussing on "sex-based discrimination inherent in the authorities' failure to prevent the violence suffered by the applicants". The CEDAW committee found the case admissible in 2013. The European Human Rights Advocacy Centre together with RG continued representing X and Y from May 2014. In 2015, the committee found Georgia guilty of not enacting criminal law to protect women and girls from sexual violence, and issued legislative and training recommendations to the Georgian government. The finding was the first CEDAW committee finding against Georgia. [20]

International Criminal Court

Rights Georgia was active in the International Criminal Court investigation in Georgia. In February 2010, representatives of RG and other Georgian NGOs met with the Prosecutor of the ICC Luis Moreno Ocampo to discuss their report about the August 2008 Russo-Georgian War. RG and the other NGOs stated that their evidence showed that Russian and South Ossetian authorities carried out "well planned and systematic" ethnic cleansing of ethnic Georgians from villages in South Ossetia. [21] As of 2020, RG states that it was representing 400 people in the ICC investigation and the ECtHR. [1]

International cooperation

RG helped the Norwegian Helsinki Committee conduct interviews for the committee's 2011 report on Georgian investigations into the crimes of the Russo-Georgian War. [19] : 6, 18 

Rights Georgia provided information to Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies researchers for their 2020 report on human rights progress in Georgia, in particular in relation to the implementation of the Georgian Administrative Offences Code, in which there was, at the time, "no presumption of innocence and a low burden of proof". [4]

In 2021, Rights Georgia as a legal partner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) developed, together with UNHCR, a guide for people seeking asylum in Georgia, listing rights and obligations of asylum seekers and key contact information. [3]

Harassment

In early September 2025, Rights Georgia, along with other Georgian NGOs, was given an inspection notice by the Anti-Corruption Bureau that required RG to provide a detailed report on its activities since the April 2025 Law on Grants component of the foreign agent legislation was enacted. According to the Council of Europe (CoE), the inspection notices "lacked [a] legal basis". The CoE described the inspection notice as "arbitrary". [22]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 About organization, c. 2025, Wikidata   Q136122120, archived from the original on 6 September 2025
  2. 1 2 3 Rights Georgia, Front Line Defenders, c. 2025, Wikidata   Q136125547, archived from the original on 6 July 2025
  3. 1 2 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; Rights Georgia (10 March 2021), Asylum procedure in Georgia (PDF), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Wikidata   Q136121994, archived (PDF) from the original on 23 May 2024
  4. 1 2 Steven Schneebaum; Brittin Alfred; Sebastian Bernal; et al. (3 June 2020), Rights in Progress: How Georgia is Implementing International Human Rights Law, School of Advanced International Studies, Wikidata   Q136121925, archived from the original on 27 July 2025
  5. 1 2 Our members, European Network on Statelessness, 2025, Wikidata   Q136141709, archived from the original on 7 September 2025
  6. ↑ Human Rights House Tbilisi (HRHT), Devex, 2025, Wikidata   Q136121807, archived from the original on 27 July 2025
  7. ↑ "Civic Groups Call for Public Probe into High-Profile Crimes". Civil Georgia . 5 April 2006. Wikidata   Q136649668. Archived from the original on 26 October 2025.
  8. ↑ "Secretary Pompeo Meets Civil Society, Concludes Georgia Visit". Civil Georgia . 18 November 2020. Wikidata   Q136649485. Archived from the original on 26 October 2025.
  9. ↑ "The 'clan' in Georgia's judiciary reattempt lifetime appointments". OC Media . 12 July 2019. Wikidata   Q136649945. Archived from the original on 26 October 2025.
  10. ↑ "Rights Georgia Condemns Facts of Gross Interference with Right to Privacy". Georgia Today . 23 March 2021. Wikidata   Q136121840. Archived from the original on 27 July 2025.
  11. ↑ Albania; Austria; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Canada; et al. (20 December 2024), Invocation of the Vienna (Human Dimension) Mechanism on the Situation in Georgia, Wikidata   Q131549435, archived from the original on 24 December 2024
  12. ↑ "OSCE Members Invoke Vienna Mechanism on Situation in Georgia". Civil Georgia . 23 December 2024. Wikidata   Q135225035. Archived from the original on 5 July 2025.
  13. ↑ Georgian Young Lawyers' Association; Institute for Development of Freedom of Information; Rights Georgia (9 April 2025), Follow up on Civil Society Organization Submission to the OSCE Vienna (Human Dimension) Mechanism (PDF), Wikidata   Q135225692, archived (PDF) from the original on 5 July 2025
  14. ↑ GYLA, IDFI, and Rights Georgia presented a written submission within the framework of the OSCE Vienna Mechanism, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, 10 April 2025, Wikidata   Q135222559, archived from the original on 6 July 2025
  15. ↑ "CSOs Follow-up Report to OSCE Vienna Mechanism on Rights Violations". Civil Georgia . 10 April 2025. Wikidata   Q135222533. Archived from the original on 5 July 2025.
  16. ↑ Case of Assanidze v. Georgia (Application no. 71503/01), European Court of Human Rights, 8 April 2004, Wikidata   Q136649407, archived from the original on 26 October 2025
  17. ↑ "European Court of Human Rights Rules Against Georgia". Civil Georgia . 8 April 2004. Wikidata   Q136651031. Archived from the original on 26 October 2025.
  18. 1 2 "ECHR to Consider Case Against Russia After Additional Evidence". Civil Georgia . 19 November 2021. Wikidata   Q136649654. Archived from the original on 26 October 2025.
  19. 1 2 Aage Borchgrevink; Simon Papuashvili (19 May 2011), Unable or unwilling? Georgia's faulty investigation of crimes committed during and after the Russo–Georgian war of August 2008 (PDF), Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Wikidata   Q136122078, archived (PDF) from the original on 27 July 2025
  20. ↑ European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (Middlesex University) (c. 2016), X and Y v. Georgia, London School of Economics, Wikidata   Q136650582, archived from the original on 26 October 2025
  21. ↑ "Georgian Human Rights Activists Brief ICC Prosecutor on August War". Civil Georgia . 2 February 2010. Wikidata   Q136651005. Archived from the original on 26 October 2025.
  22. ↑ Wave of Inspections Targets Media Support and Independent Media Outlets Under Amended Law on Grants, Council of Europe, 6 October 2025, Wikidata   Q136650192, archived from the original on 26 October 2025
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