The “Chaikhana” visual storytelling platform, which has been operating in the South Caucasus for almost a decade, has been inactive for about a week, as the media outlet does not want to continue operating under the law recently adopted by the Georgian authorities. The “Foreign Influence Transparency” bill, which entered into force in the summer, forces organizations with more than 20 percent foreign funding to register in the “foreign agents” registry.
This platform, which tells about minorities living in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, people affected by conflicts and their problems, is financed by the West. Head of “Chaikhana” Lika Antadze says that they plan to continue the work only in Armenia, trying to preserve a part of the media in this way.
“After all, the whole idea of ​​the law is that independent media and civil society simply disappear, force people to give up their current jobs and have to leave Georgia,” Antadze claims.
More than 10,000 non-governmental organizations operate in Georgia in educational, environmental, social, anti-corruption and other fields. According to recent research, 95 percent of these organizations receive financial support from foreign funds. According to the Ministry of Justice, only 476 of those 10,000 have applied to be registered in the registry. Others face a fine of 25,000 lari ($9,200). The authority also has the authority to force organizations to comply with the law, and if they fail to comply within ten days, they will be required to pay an additional 10,000 lari ($3,700). According to the law, the Ministry has the right to monitor organizations registered in the register twice a year.
“This is quite a difficult period, because the law requires registration or paying quite a lot of money, especially for organizations like ours, which struggle year after year to maintain stability,” says the head of Chaikhana.
Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili hinted last month that non-registrants had a problem with transparency, with most failing to file annual reports before the law took effect.
“This indicates that 99 percent of organizations either do not provide annual information or provide incomplete information. This proves that their resistance to the law is not for labeling, but to hide how financial resources are spent,” the speaker of the parliament assured.
The government claims that the purpose of the law is to ensure the financial transparency of these organizations. But the government is not only interested in the detailed description of financial means. The Ministry of Justice may also request personal information related to the political views, ethnicity, religious beliefs or sexual life of members of the organization.
The adoption of the bill brought thousands of people to the streets in Tbilisi who are convinced that Georgia is imitating Russia. There, too, a similar seemingly harmless law was gradually tightened years ago and became a lever to suppress the Kremlin’s opponents and the media.
At the end of May, a number of non-governmental organizations issued a statement refusing to obey, as they say, “Russian law”.
“Chaikhana” also expressed its disapproval of the new rules and appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) along with a number of other organizations.
“We don’t have a problem with filling out financial forms and financial transparency, we have a problem with the label and stigmatization of a foreign agent, that is the main concern and the main goal of the law,” Antadze says, adding that until then the authorities had the financial reports of the organizations, monthly. by cut.
Georgia’s western allies have been emphasizing in recent months that Tbilisi is questioning its commitment to democratic principles with such steps. The European Union, which at the end of last year recognized Georgia as a candidate to become a full member of the alliance, has frozen the negotiations, as well as suspended the military aid of 30 million euros.
Washington also suspended more than $95 million in aid, citing Tbilisi’s “anti-democratic actions and false statements” against the West.
Against the background of this internal and external dissatisfaction, Georgia is preparing for parliamentary elections to be held in October, and the founder of the ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has announced that the country’s largest opposition force, the “United National Movement” founded by former president Mikheil Saakashvili, is unconstitutional.
The opposition has been fighting against the “foreign agents” bill since the first days of discussion.
According to the report of the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch, dozens of activists were brutally attacked during the days of demonstrations that started in the spring in Georgia, but the authorities were not consistent in bringing the perpetrators to justice, Rachel Denber, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch for Europe and Central Asia, told Azatutyun.
“Investigations have been going on for months, but there have been no real actions to bring the perpetrators of these violence to justice. this is a message that they (Georgia’s authorities) will continue to tolerate this kind of violence,” Danber believes.
According to the report of the human rights organization, there were witnesses and video cameras in the area, which would allow the law enforcement officers to reveal the identity of the persons who attacked the activists.
“Now Georgia is already in the pre-election stage. the parliamentary elections are at the end of October, the situation is very tense, and we are concerned that similar political violence may be repeated,” emphasized Rachel Danber.
According to the representative of the human rights organization Human Right Watch, the restrictions against the media, political society and the opposition against the background of the upcoming elections can divert Tbilisi from the democratic path.
Sona Hovsepyan
