Press and Media
With Vice President Biden visiting Tbilisi on Wednesday 22nd July and the first anniversary of the conflict with Russia rapidly approaching the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) is launching a new Spotlight on Georgia pamphlet that examines the human rights and governance challenges facing Georgia. It highlights the growing concerns both, internal and international, about Georgian rule of law, media freedom, policing and electoral processes. The pamphlet recommends how Georgia must reform and what the international community should do to support it. The pamphlet contains contributions from Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Peter Semneby, Giorgi Chekheidze, Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP and many other high level contributors.
Download Click here to download our Spotlight on Georgia Pamphlet (3.71 megabyte PDF)
- EU Eastern Partnership must set tough human rights and good governance benchmarks and improve its ability to monitor performance with a permanent team in Tbilisi.
- Donor funding and the signing of an EU-Georgia Association Agreement should be contingent on good performance against these benchmarks.
- Before Georgia gets a NATO Membership Action Plan it must improve its human rights record. NATO membership must be conditional on a sustained improvement in human rights and a permanent resolution to the South Ossetia and Abkhazia conflicts.
- Georgia should create an 'Independent Police Complaints Authority' and free the Georgian National Communications Commission from final Presidential approval. Both bodies should be subject to greater Georgian parliamentary and international scrutiny.
Adam Hug said: 'The international community, led by the EU, needs to put real pressure on the Georgian Government to improve its record on human rights and regain the momentum for reform. It needs to link its economic assistance and any new trade agreements to tough human right benchmarks. The EU and US in particular need to help Georgia reform the way it manages oversees the media and police to provide greater transparency and accountability.'
Notes to Editors
1. For more information please contact Adam Hug on adam.hug@fpc.org.uk , 0207 7297566 or 07590040975 or Anna Owen on 0788 2018302. Adam Hug will be available for interview upon request.
2. The pamphlet was edited by Adam Hug, FPC Policy Director. It contains contributions from authors including: Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner; EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby; the Deputy Public Defender of Georgia Giorgi Chekheidze; former UK Foreign Secretary Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP; Chair of the UK's Georgian All Party Parliamentary Group Bruce George MP; former US Ambassador to the USSR Ambassador Arthur Hartman; Author and Conciliation Resources Associate Thomas de Waal; former OSCE Policing Advisor Marco Kubny; Elsa Vidal from Reporters Without Borders; Giorgi Gogia from Human Rights Watch; and Dr Hans Gutbrod from the Caucasus Research Resource Centres.