GNDEM again expresses its concern over continued efforts to restrict civic space in Georgia given the recent announcement of the full implementation of the Russian-style foreign influence law. The law drastically restricts the rights of citizen election observers to participate in their country’s political affairs, and spurred wide-scale protests earlier this year due to the it’s threats to citizens’ rights to participate in public affairs and hold institutions accountable. This announcement comes amidst the arrest of civic activists and disproportionate violence against ongoing peaceful protests following the October 2024 parliamentary elections in Georgia.

This builds upon GNDEM’s earlier statements addressing Georgia’s Russian-style foreign influence law and other efforts to undermine the credibility of citizen election observers following the October 26 parliamentary election. GNDEM stands in solidarity with credible and independent Georgian citizen observers as they promote transparency and safeguard election integrity, and as they express their constitutional and human rights to freedom of assembly and speech.

In recent days, peaceful demonstrations have been increasingly met with disproportionate violence and the arbitrary detention of over 220 protestors. This includes the assault and arrest of Shota Narsia, a Senior Researcher for GNDEM member organization the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), while he was peacefully protesting in Tbilisi, Georgia. As ISFED noted in their statement, Mr. Narsia was assaulted despite evidence of his non-resistance and was subjected to extraordinary verbal harassment and psychological intimidation after his arrest, which escalated after the officers identified his professional affiliation with ISFED. These actions threaten the safety of Georgian citizens, and infringe on their civic, political and human rights.

As the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders stated, election observers, including nonpartisan citizen election observers, are human rights defenders who serve to protect civil and political rights of citizens and that “member states are urged to take all necessary steps to establish conditions that allow national and international election observers to effectively do their work, and to protect them from any violence, threats, retaliation, adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of their legitimate exercise of their rights and freedoms.”

GNDEM stands in solidarity with our members in Georgia and all nonpartisan civic actors who face threats to their security for safeguarding the electoral process and democratic progress, ensuring transparency and accountability, and defending the right of citizens to exercise their vote and other political and civil rights. We urge the Georgian authorities to adhere to their responsibility to protect human rights defenders in accordance with international law. GNDEM also appeals to international and regional observation missions and institutions to support ISFED and other human rights defenders in Georgia.