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Georgia

Monthly Event Reports

December 2023 | Georgia’s eminence grise comes out of the shadows
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Billionaire and former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili announced his formal return to politics as ”honorary chairman” of the ruling Georgian Dream party on 30 December. Ivanishvili founded Georgian Dream in 2012 and served as prime minister before his first retirement from political life in 2013, before returning from 2018 to 2021 as party chairman. Analysts and opposition parties say Ivanishvili has remained the most powerful person and prime decisionmaker in the country throughout this time, and the European Union’s condition of “deoligarichization” for Georgia’s membership is widely interpreted to refer to an end of Ivanishvili’s personal unofficial political control. The analyst Gia Khukhashvili argued that Ivanishvili’s return to an official political position is an attempt to technically circumvent this requirement, avoid any international sanctions for behind-the-scenes political activities, and perpetuate his unofficial control over the country’s government.

November 2023 | New abortion restrictions worry health advocates
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Women’s rights activists and public health experts condemned the Ministry of Health’s decision to mandate counselling by a psychologist and social worker before a woman can obtain an abortion. The procedures were updated in October and will come into effect on 1 January 2024, but neither domestic nor international health organizations were consulted on the change and Georgian media did not hear of it until 7 November. The new procedures run contrary to international public health recommendations, and domestic and international advocates worried that they would only lead to an increase of unsafe, illegal abortions.

October 2023 | EU praises, civil society condemns new broadcasting laws

Georgia’s parliament passed amendments to the country’s broadcasting law on 20 October to bring it in line with the European Union’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive as part of its EU accession process. While the EU Ambassador praised the amendments, local and international civil society have condemned them, as the grant regulatory authority to the Georgian National Communications Commission, an institution seen by experts and rights watchdogs as insufficiently independent from the government. Organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Transparency International – Georgia worry the new law will be used to target media critical of the government.

September 2023 | Government takes further steps against civil society and protest

In statements made during September and early October, the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) accused the Center for Applied Non-Violent Actions and Strategies (CANVAS), a small Tbilisi-based NGO, of orchestrating the violent overthrow of the Georgian state together with the government of Ukraine, the bodyguard of imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, and others. Leading figures in government supported the SSSG’s statement, despite the Service’s lack of evidence. The accusations were sparked by CANVAS’s facilitation of a USAID funded training on nonviolent activism. The move follows other steps the Georgian government has taken to curtail freedom of association and expression in the country, including fining a protester for holding up a blank sheet of paper, charging another protester with a separate, formerly dormant case to prevent his release from pretrial detention, and banning protests in and around the parliament building. 

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GSoD Indices Data 2013-2022

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Basic Information

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Population Tooltip
3 708 610
System of government
Semi-Presidential system
Head of government
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili (since 2021)
Head of government party
Georgian Dream
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
Parallel
Women in lower or single chamber
19.1%
Women in upper chamber
Not applicable
Last legislative election
2020
Effective number of political parties Tooltip
3.2
Head of state
President Salome Zourabichvili
Selection process for head of state
Direct election (two-round majority)
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
26/01/2021
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) percentage of recommendations supported
90.18%
Population Tooltip
3 708 610
System of government
Semi-Presidential system
Head of government
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili (since 2021)
Head of government party
Georgian Dream
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
Parallel
Women in lower or single chamber
19.1%
Women in upper chamber
Not applicable
Last legislative election
2020
Effective number of political parties Tooltip
3.2
Head of state
President Salome Zourabichvili
Selection process for head of state
Direct election (two-round majority)
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
26/01/2021
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) percentage of recommendations supported
90.18%
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Human Rights Treaties

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State Party State party
Signatory Signatory
No Action No action
United Nations Human Right Treaties
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
State Party
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
State Party
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
State Party
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
State Party
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
State Party
Convention on the Rights of the Child
State Party
International Convention on Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
No Action
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 
No Action
International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
State Party
International Labour Organisation Treaties
Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention
State Party
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention
State Party
Equal Remuneration Convention
State Party
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
State Party
Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
State Party
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
State Party
Regional Treaties
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 4 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 7 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 12 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 13 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
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Performance by category over the last 6 months

Representation neutral Representation
Sep 2023
Oct
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Dec
Jan
Feb 2024
Representation neutral Rights
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Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb 2024
Representation neutral Rule of law
Sep 2023
Oct
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Dec
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Feb 2024
Representation neutral Participation
Sep 2023
Oct
Nov
Dec
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Feb 2024

Global State of Democracy Indices

Hover over the trend lines to see the exact data points across the years

Explore the indices
Representation
Representation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rights
Rights
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rule of Law
Rule of Law
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Participation
Participation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Annual value

Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time

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