On March 7, 2023, Georgia’s controversial “foreign agent” law passed the first reading in the Georgian Parliament, with 76 in favour and 13 against. There are second and third readings to follow.
Whilst Equality Now has appreciated our collaboration with the Georgian authorities to date, this pending legislation on demarcating human rights organizations as “foreign agents” would make it impossible to continue. To bring about meaningful and effective legal protections for women and girls requires that the government uphold its commitments to democracy, human rights, international law and European Convention, transparency and the full participation of civil society.
We stand in full solidarity with local human rights NGOs and are deeply shocked that this vote rejects those principles and seriously risks undermining the progress achieved with respect to women’s rights to date.