Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, says he is following “with concern recent developments in Georgia, which represent a significant escalation in the pressure being applied to civil society”.
In a statement published on Tuesday 1 July, he reviews the injunctions issued by the Tbilisi court against at least eight human rights and democracy NGOs, many of them partners of the Council of Europe.
These companies are required to provide a series of information to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) within a very short timeframe, as part of an investigation into possible violations of the law on the registration of foreign agents (GEOFARA) and the law on subsidies.
“The scope and urgency of these requests are troubling”, says the Commissioner.
“Requiring organisations to hand over vast amounts of internal documentation, including personal data (names, addresses, ID numbers), puts pressure not only on the organisations [...] but also on their beneficiaries and close partners. It raises compatibility issues with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects the right to respect for private life, including data protection”.
Mr O’Flaherty urges the Georgian authorities to “respect their obligation, to guarantee the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association, and to put an end to all forms of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and civil society actors”.
Link to the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/hnt (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)