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On November 1, Transparency International Georgia held a conference, “Hate Speech – Challenges and International Experience,” supported by USAID/PROLoG and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Elizabeth Rood, Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. of the US Embassy and Nino Goguadze, First Deputy Chairperson of the Parliament Foreign Relations Committee, opened the conference, which was dedicated to the problem of hate speech and risks associated with its regulation by the state. USAID/PROLoG brought Jason C. DeSanto, Senior Lecturer from Northwestern University, to talk about the US standards for the protection of freedom of expression and contemporary challenges caused by hate speech, fake news, and defamation of public officials.
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201912Nov
USAID/PROLoG supports conference on freedom of expression and hate speech, organized by Transparency International Georgia
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201912Nov
USAID/PROLoG Supports Workshop on Communication Skills for Constitutional Court Staff
On October 30, USAID/PROLoG organized a one-day workshop for staff of the Constitutional Court of Georgia on effective communication skills. Professor Jason DeSanto from Northwestern University (Chicago, USA) conducted the workshop. Prof. DeSanto has more than 15 years of experience as a political speechwriter and a debate strategist, having assisted U.S Senators, members of Congress, and several American presidential campaigns. Effectively communicating court judgments to a wider public is essential to strengthening the rule of law. During the workshop, Prof. DeSanto talked about public persuasion and advocacy, as well as public speaking. The workshop was attended by employees of the press office, protocol and public relations, international relations, legal and analytical departments.
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201911Nov
USAID/PROLoG Organizes a Study Tour for Georgian Mentor Judges to Boston, Massachusetts
From October 26 to November 2, USAID/PROLoG organized a study tour for Georgian mentor judges and the Director of the High School of Justice of Georgia (HSOJ) to Boston, Massachusetts. The goal of the tour was to study the Massachusetts judicial mentoring system and improve mentoring of judicial listeners in Georgia.
During the visit, participants were first introduced to the judicial system of Massachusetts at one of the leading U.S. law firms, Kirkland & Ellis. The delegation then visited the Judicial Institute, a Massachusetts training center for trial court judges, and discussed the in-service training opportunities with the Director, Ellen O’Connor, Kate Dulit and other representatives of the Institute.
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201917Oct
GYLA presents the Court Monitoring Findings
On October 9, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) presented the 13th Criminal Trial Monitoring Report for the period of March 2018-March 2019. The trial monitoring project, supported by EWMI-PROLoG covers courts in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi, Gori, and Telavi. It aims to detect trends in court proceedings from the perspective of protection of due process rights.
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201917Oct
USAID/PROLoG Supports National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement to Draft Subject Benchmark Document for law
In order to renew the 2011 Benchmark document, and make it compatible with the new National Qualification Framework, the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement (EQE) established an expert working group comprised of representatives of Georgian law schools, the judiciary, notaries and the Georgian Bar Association. The first draft document was finished at the end of September.
On October 11-12, with USAID/PROLoG’s support, a two-day working meeting was organized in Kakheti. WG members worked with USAID/PROLoG’s expert, Richard Grimes, an experienced UK legal education expert, on the draft of the Benchmark document of law programs. Mr. Grimes has been involved in drafting subject benchmark statements for Law in the UK. The WG reached agreement on controversial issues and definitions to be incorporated in the document.
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201917Oct
USAID//PROLoG supported Human Rights Chair presented the First Year Report of the Human Rights Clinic
On October 11 USAID//PROLoG supported Human Rights Chair presented the first year report of the human rights clinic at Ilia State University. The Human Rights and Constitutional Law Clinic was officially launched last year, and students have the opportunity to work on actual cases under the mentorship of the HR Chair, Tamar Gurchiani, and a clinical supervisor. In addition to counseling clients, the Clinic’s work consists of seminars and projects related to issues like violations based on gender, domestic violence and discrimination. The Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Law course at the clinic was attended by 18 students in total and they worked on 27 cases during the year. The Presentation was attended by students, professors, the Ilia Uni Dean, Mr. Irakli Porchkhidze and DCoP of EWMI/PROLoG, Mr. Brian LeDuc.
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201901Oct
Batumi City Court Announces a Decision on Batumi Mosque Case
On September 30, Batumi City Court announced a decision on the Batumi mosque case — the claims of the Muslims’ foundation to support building a new mosque were partially satisfied. The interests of the Muslim community were represented by the Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) and the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC), with the support of USAID/PROLoG.
The court case relates to Batumi City Hall’s denial to the Muslim community’s request to build a house of worship in Batumi and to identify discrimination on religious grounds. After multiple promises of the State without any tangible results, in 2016, the Muslim community collected more than 12,000 signatures and submitted them to the local and central government, asking permission to build a new mosque.
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201920Sep
Training on Freedom of Expression, Hate Speech, Discrimination and Amicus Curiae
On September 16-18, USAID/PROLoG supported training on freedom of expression, hate speech, incitement of discrimination and amicus curie for staff of the Public Defender’s office. International expert Ivana Roagna returned to Georgia to conduct the course, with Judge Ketevan Meskhishvili from the Tbilisi Court of Appeals.
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201910Sep
USAID/PROLoG Supports Trainings on Analytical Report Writing
On September 6 and 9, the USAID-funded PROLoG activity organized two training sessions for the staff of the state-funded Legal Aid Service (LAS) and Georgian Bar Association (GBA) on Analytical Report Writing. The aim of the training was to teach the techniques of writing informative reports and to develop a new, simplified structure for annual reports. PROLoG has been working with the LAS and GBA since 2015 to build up their institutional capacity. The interactive training was conducted by Vakhtang Natsvlishvili, USAID/PROLoG expert.
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201912Aug
USAID/PROLoG Supports Workshop with MPs on Selection of Supreme Court Judges
On August 10-11, USAID/PROLoG organized a workshop for members of the European Georgia faction in Borjomi. The goal was to assist the MPs to properly prepare for the final stage of selection of Supreme Court Judges in Georgia, by sharing aspects of the selection of US Supreme Court and Federal Judges that may be applicable to the Georgian context.
Similar workshops have already been organized last month for a group of Georgian Dream — the ruling party—MPs, as well as for Independent Members of the Parliament.
USAID/PROLoG will continue supporting the Georgian Parliament in this process, to make the selection of Supreme Court Judges more transparent and merit-based.
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