Recent developments in the country raised a number of questions among public regarding the rules for acquiring and losing citizenship of Georgia. We deem it expedient to briefly clarify statutory requirements for acquisition and loss citizenship of Georgia. Citizenship of Georgia may be acquired at birth, by naturalization or on the basis of other grounds provided for by international treaties to which Georgia is a party and this Law.Under the Organic Law of Georgia on Citizenship of Georgia, Citizenship of Georgia may be granted to person that has reached age of maturity, if he or she meets the following requirements: (a) has been permanently residing within the territory of Georgia during the past five years, (b) knows the state language at the established minimum. (c) is familiar with the history and legislation of Georgia at the established minimum. (d) has a job or any real estate on the territory of Georgia, or is pursuing entrepreneurial activities on the territory of Georgia, or is holding a stock or shares in a Georgian company. Although a citizen of Georgia may not be holding citizenship of another state, under the Constitution of Georgia, “citizenship of Georgia shall be granted by the President of Georgia to a citizen of foreign country, who has a special merit before Georgia or grant the citizenship of Georgia to him/her is due to State interests”. In such case, a president of Georgia can grant citizenship to such person notwithstanding whether he or she meets general requirements for acquiring the citizenship (i.e. whether he or she has been permanently residing within the territory of Georgia during the past five years, whether he or she knows the state language, history, etc.).
2011-10-21 11:18 See moreGeorgia’s national administration group of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition invites law students for participation in moot courts, which will be held in Washington, D.C., USA in spring 2012. Teams made up of 2-4 students are eligible for participation in the competition. Registration deadline is November 1, 2011. The competition is conducted in English and participation is free of charge. For national registration please contact representative of the national administration group Ana Tabidze (cell: 577 48 98 48; atabidze@yahoo.com ) For additional information, please visit www.ilsa.org/jessup
2011-10-20 11:38 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and Levan Mikeladze Foundation implemented monitoring of practice of the Georgian National Communications Commission in June-September 2011. Presentation of Interim Report of the coalition project Civil Monitoring for Improvement of TV Media Environment was held in Tbilisi Marriot on October 18. During the reporting period particular attention was paid to lawfulness of sanctions imposed on authorized entities (cable televisions), protection of consumers’ interests and issues related to transparency of the process of regulation. During the presentation, head of GNCC’s legal department, Mr. Kakhi Kurashvili conveyed his positions. According to him, the GNCC shared some of the recommendations elaborated by the monitoring team.
2011-10-20 09:28 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), and Transparency International – Georgia held a meeting with international organizations in Georgia and representatives of embassies accredited in the country.The meeting focused on discussion of outcomes of the meeting with the parliamentary legal committee following September 30, 2011 release of recommendations and comments elaborated by the three organizations. Recommendations of the organizations dealt with the election system offered by the new draft of the Election Code, norms regulating use of administrative resources, transparency and monitoring of election funding, formation of voters’ lists, work of the election administration and problems related to electoral dispute procedures. During the meeting the legal committee shared some of the issues raised by the NGOs; however, there are certain issues remaining in the recommendations that will no longer be subject to the legal committee’s review and amendment - e.g. increase of number of MPs, formation of voters’ lists by a special commission. Additionally, there are some issues that could be further discussed before they are finally decided on. These issues include abolishment of inking, restriction of use of administrative resources.
2011-10-20 08:30 See moreOn October 14, 2011, public discussion on promotion of development of democratic institutions in the regions by means of supporting free and fair elections, organized by Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development and Saferworld was held in Zugdidi. The discussion mainly aimed to provide local population with an opportunity to engage in a constructive dialogue with representatives of both local and central authorities and to plan for joint solutions to problems identified on the basis of consultations with community under the first phase of the project. The discussion is implemented under the auspices of the project “Increasing regional capacity for community-based approaches to security, as a tool for sustainable early warning, conflict prevention and local accountability” funded by the UK Conflict Resolution Fund”. Similar discussions were held in Samtskhe-Javakheti, Shida Kartli, Samegrelo and Kvemo Kartli. Final conclusive discussion will be held in Tbilisi.
2011-10-20 08:17 See moreOn October 3, 2011 Telavi district election commission examined the complaint filed by GYLA representative. The complaint concerned violations of the procedures by the members of election commission in terms of opening the ballot box and counting the votes. GYLA demanded imposition of liability on the law breaker members of the election commission pursuant to the Organic Law of Georgia “Election Code of Georgia”. Having examined the violations stated by GYLA in its compliant Telavi district election commission No 17. made decision on imposing relevant liability measures on the violator. See the decision of Telavi district election commission No 17.
2011-10-05 08:55 See moreFormat of the mission GYLA was monitoring the mid-term elections of the Parliament of Georgia held on October 2, 2011 in Telavi election district No.17. It has implemented the monitoring with the help of three mobile groups which have encompassed 54 precinct election commissions of Telavi district. During the polling day GYLA observers were monitoring process at the polling stations on a systematic basis. In general, the polling day was held in peaceful environment and no significant violations were detected. Mainly there were only procedural or technical gaps distinguished. Deficiencies of the Polling DayProcedural gaps were detected most frequently in polling stations of the village Kharajali (No.37; 38; 39; and 54 ). Ballot papers have not been printed on a language that national minorities were able to understand and therefore, majority of voters were unable to vote independently. Frequently, voters in the polling booths needed assistance in making their choice that inhibited conduct of balloting in an organized way. There were instances when voters indicated each other to vote for a specific election subject.
2011-10-05 08:19 See moreTomorrow, on October 4, at 11.00 a.m. preliminary hearing will take place at Tbilisi City Court on the case of journalists damaged on May 26.The administrative panel of Tbilisi City Court will examine the joint complaint of the seven applicants against the Ministry of Interior of Georgia. At the preliminary hearing the court will judge on the issues of submitting additional evidences and on satisfying other motions. The preliminary hearing is appointed with a view to prepare the case comprehensively for hearing on merits.
2011-10-04 09:33 See moreOn October 1, 2011 in Gori, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD) and the organization Safer World organized public discussion on the following topic: - difficulties connected to the opportunities of dialogue and more interaction among Georgians, Abkhazians and Osetians. The discussion was mainly aimed at enabling local population to have constructive dialogue with representatives of local and central government and to plan joint solutions of the problems. Problems have been identified during the first phase of the project on the basis of consultations carries out in the communities. The discussion has been carried out in the frames of the project “Increasing regional capacity for community-based approaches to security, as a tool for sustainable early warning, conflict prevention and local accountability” funded by the UK Conflict Resolution Fund. Similar discussions will be held in Samtskhe Javakheti, Shida Kartli, Samegrelo and Kvemo Kartli regions. The final discussion will be organized in Tbilisi.
2011-10-04 09:17 See moreAs it is known, on September 26 the draft of the Organic Law of Georgia on “Introducing Amendments to the Election Code of Georgia” was initiated to the Parliament. The proposed document envisages establishment of ad hoc commission for development of voter lists that will “ensure specification of voter lists on the whole territory of Georgia by different means, including door to door inspection principle”. “The commission will specify voter lists by July 1, 2012. The list submitted by the commission to the Central Election Commission (CEC) is considered to be voter’s general list. ” Representative of NGOs and political parties form the Commission. Even though initially the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, International Transparency –Georgia and International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy were also represented among NGOs, these organizations were not given opportunity to be involved in elaboration and examination of the draft. In particular, the draft initiated on September 26, was passed to the bureau the same day, while at least 72 hours interval should have been observed between initiation of the draft and the session of the bureau. Furthermore, the rule established by the regulation on publication of the information about the session of Legal Issues Committee was also violated. It envisages publication of information on the web-page of the Parliament about the session and its agenda two days prior to the session. In this restricted period of time it is completely impossible to participate in law drafting process for the interested persons.
2011-10-04 09:14 See more