Georgia - March 2026

On 4 March 2026, Georgia’s parliament adopted legislative amendments expanding state control over the funding and activities of civil society and independent media. The legislation broadened the definition of foreign funding to include in-kind donations or pro bono activities, requiring prior government authorization for such activities and introduced criminal penalties of up to six years’ imprisonment for violations. The amendments also restricted recipients of such support from participating in political activities and criminalized actions considered to ‘delegitimise’ the government. The OSCE warned that the measures would undermine freedoms of expression and association, limit political participation, and enable arbitrary enforcement through broadly defined concepts such as ‘extremism’ and ‘mass disobedience’.

Sources: Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Parliament of Georgia