24 OSCE countries back investigation into Georgia over deteriorating human rights
OSCE to examine human rights in Georgia
On 29 January, 24 OSCE member states activated the so-called Moscow Mechanism against Georgia — a tool used when there are concerns about a serious deterioration of the human rights situation in a participating state.
The decision provides for the deployment of an independent fact-finding expert mission to assess Georgia’s compliance with its obligations to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), with a particular focus on political and civil processes that have unfolded since spring 2024.
The mechanism has previously been used against countries including Russia, Turkmenistan and Belarus, and is being activated for the 17th time since 1990. As part of the process, a special rapporteur will be appointed to prepare a report on Georgia.
The Moscow Mechanism, established within the OSCE in 1991, is designed to investigate alleged human rights violations and allows participating states to launch a fact-finding process without the consent of the country concerned in cases involving “serious allegations of human rights abuses”.
The current initiative was launched by Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
In a joint statement, the countries said they were “closely monitoring the human rights situation in Georgia and growing increasingly concerned”, stressing that, as an OSCE participating state, Georgia is obliged to uphold human rights and fundamental freedoms.
They noted that the OSCE’s Vienna Mechanism had already been activated in December, but that concerns had since intensified — prompting the decision to use the more robust Moscow Mechanism.
The launch of the mechanism followed an appeal to the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights(ODIHR) by four Georgian political coalitions in December 2024.
Tamta Mikeladze, director of the Social Justice Center, explains what the launch of the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism means.
“The use of the Moscow Mechanism means that the human rights situation in Georgia is now being subjected to critical scrutiny by international organisations, and that the Georgian government is already being classified among the most authoritarian countries, alongside Russia and Belarus.
The Moscow Mechanism is one of the toughest and most rarely used tools within the OSCE’s human dimension. It is activated when the situation regarding human rights, democracy and the rule of law in a country is particularly grave, when domestic and traditional monitoring and accountability mechanisms are in crisis, and when urgent international intervention is required.”
The use of this mechanism does not require the government’s consent, which in itself points to a serious deficit of international trust in the country’s authorities.
Importantly, the findings are expected to shape assessments by other international organisations and influence Georgia’s official standing on human rights.”
