DI and IRI to cease operations in Georgia due to 'foreign agents' law
DI and IRI to cease operations in Georgia
In an interview with the American think tank Hudson Institute, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, co-author of the “Georgian People’s Act,” stated that developments in Georgia and the adoption of the “foreign agents” law will affect relations between Georgia and the USA.
According to her, if this law comes into effect, the United States will impose sanctions on everyone involved in its adoption. Jeanne Shaheen also noted that American non-governmental organizations, such as the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), will no longer be able to operate in Georgia.
“We have some countries like Georgia that have been aspiring democracies where the people of Georgia are looking west, they want to join the EU, they want to become members of NATO. And yet we’ve got a leadership in Georgia that has been more and more trending towards autocracy, towards partnering with Russia, which is really hard for me to understand given that Russia occupies 20 percent of their territory.
But so, that’s why it’s important for us to have a strategy that recognizes the importance of that region and supports those countries in the region as they’re looking towards their futures, hopefully most of them are going to be looking west towards the EU towards NATO.
I have legislation that again is bipartisan with the chair and ranking member of both the Foreign Relations Committee and the Appropriations Committee that deals with funding our foreign policy. And what we would do is put in place sanctions on those individuals who have been involved with the Foreign Agents law, which is a law that is basically really modeled on what Russia has done.
And as we’ve talked to NGOs in Georgia, our own National Democratic Institute and IRI Republican Institute who have done such good work in Georgia, they tell us that they’re not going to be able to operate there under this law. So it would put in place sanctions for those people who have been involved in doing that law, that would restrict travel, travel for the leadership. We want to make it clear to the current leaders of the government there Georgia Dream that there are consequences for what they’re doing,” Shaheen said.
The senator also touched on military relations between the US and Georgia, noting that the ‘foreign agents’ law will affect them as well:
“We’ve had really good relationships between our military and the military in Georgia really since they became independent. And we want to make it clear that what’s happening now in Georgia’s having an impact on those mil-to-mil relationships as well. So the legislation has been introduced as a standalone, but it also got adopted on the defense bill that just passed out of the Armed Services Committee. So we are hopeful that that’s going to send a very strong message to the leadership in Georgia that there are consequences for what they’re doing. “
The International Republican Institute has been working in Georgia since 1999, promoting the development of a multi-party political system in the country.
