On December 30, 2021, the Georgian Parliament, in an expedited manner, adopted legislative amendments according to which the State Inspector’s Service will be abolished in its current form and two new offices will be created, which will be responsible for protecting personal data and investigating crimes against law enforcement. Also, the term of office of the current state inspector is terminated, even though he was elected by the parliament until 2025.
Despite sharp criticism from local civil society organizations and Georgia’s partner states, the ruling party has made an unconstitutional decision that is extremely damaging to Georgian democracy, without any justification or involvement of the relevant actors and the state inspector himself.
At the same time, the preliminary assessment from the President of Georgia that initiating and expediting the decision to abolish an independent state institution without prior consultations is unacceptable for her was welcome. Accordingly, the President called on the legislature to suspend consideration of legislative changes and give everyone the opportunity to present their arguments.
Due to all the above, we, the signatory organizations, call on the President of Georgia:
To exercise her constitutional authority and veto the relevant legislative changes and to send the draft legislative amendments back to the Parliament with motivated remarks.
Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF)
Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA)
Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia)
Social Justice Center (formerly EMC)
Institute for Democracy and Safe Development (IDSD)
International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)
Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC)
Partnership for Human Rights (PHR)
Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI)
Rehabilitation Initiative for Vulnerable Groups (RIVG)
Democracy Research Institute (DRI)
Human Rights Center (HRC)
Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI)
Media Development Fund (MDF)
Georgian Court Watch (GCW)
Sapari
