{"id":8198,"date":"2023-03-07T22:49:21","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T18:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/?p=8198"},"modified":"2023-03-09T00:56:40","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T20:56:40","slug":"statement-by-steering-committee-on-the-introduction-of-the-draft-foreign-agent-law-in-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/?p=8198","title":{"rendered":"Statement by Steering Committee on the introduction of the draft \u201cForeign Agent Law\u201d in Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Statement by Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum on the introduction of the draft law \u201cOn Transparency of Foreign Influence\u201d, known as \u201cForeign Agent Law\u201d in Georgia<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum\u00a0calls\u00a0<\/strong>on the Parliament of Georgia to fully and immediately withdraw the proposed law on \u201ctransparency of foreign influence\u201d from consideration.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

BRUSSELS, 7 MARCH 2023<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

We\u00a0stand<\/a>\u00a0in solidarity with\u00a0 the Georgian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in their call to the Georgian Parliament to immediately withdraw the controversial draft law \u201cOn Transparency of Foreign Influence\u201d and uphold its commitment to maintaining an enabling environment for civil society organisation and ensuring media freedom.<\/p>\n

If adopted, the bill, modeled after similar Russian legislation, would require all those who receive at least 20 percent of their funding from international sources \u2013 individuals, civil society organisations and media outlets \u2013 to register with the Georgian Justice Ministry as \u201cagents of foreign influence\u201d. This vague label carries stigma and a discriminatory meaning that fuels an environment of suspicion and self-censorship.\u00a0 The legislation clearly aims at circumscribing the mission and activities of the country\u2019s most prominent activists and organisations and at limiting the ability of civil society to hold those in power accountable. In fact, independent civil society organisations, activists and media, will all be forced to give up not only on funding, but on their ability to exist, work and be the voice of society. They will enter into a survival mode that is only one step closer to a bleak outlook for Georgia.<\/p>\n

The bill, even if not adopted yet, has a back-sliding effect on Georgia\u2019s democracy and does not contribute to the country\u2019s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, as enshrined in Georgia\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n

We believe that this law is unjustified and is part of a worrying trend of governments\u2019 crackdown on civil society organisations and independent voices in the Eastern Partnership region and beyond.<\/p>\n

Joining the strong chorus of European stakeholders, international organisations, and\u00a0civil society in Georgia<\/a>\u00a0and abroad, we call on the parliamentary majority of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and its political leadership in particular, to engage in a genuine dialogue with civil society and, withdraw the current unlawful bill \u201cOn Transparency of Foreign Influence\u201d and, if truly needed, develop democratic alternative approaches to regulating the non-governmental sector.<\/p>\n

We urge the international community, including the European Union and the United States, to speak up against the law \u201cOn Transparency of Foreign Influence\u201d and continue to support the mission of civil society organisations, media and independent activists in Georgia.<\/p>\n

We urge all civil society organisations to stand in solidarity with the Georgian people that are fighting to defend their fundamental freedoms of association and expression, and ultimately their democracy.<\/p>\n

Members of the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Statement by Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum on the introduction of the draft law \u201cOn Transparency of Foreign Influence\u201d, known as \u201cForeign Agent Law\u201d in Georgia The Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum\u00a0calls\u00a0on the Parliament of Georgia to fully and immediately withdraw the proposed law on \u201ctransparency of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,739],"tags":[1228,1047,3013,3017,3019,631,3015,3011,670,641,3021],"class_list":{"0":"post-8198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-statements___en","9":"tag-armenian-national-platform___en","10":"tag-eap-csf___en","11":"tag-eastern-partnership-civil-society-forum","12":"tag-foreign-agent-law","13":"tag-georgia","14":"tag-hovsep-khurshudyan___en","15":"tag-on-transparency-of-foreign-influence","16":"tag-steering-committee","17":"tag--___en","19":"tag-3021"},"lang":"en","translations":{"en":8198},"amp_enabled":true,"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8198"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8204,"href":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8198\/revisions\/8204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freecitizen.am\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}