UN on “foreign agents" law in Georgia

UN on foreign agents law

The United Nations (UN) has expressed deep concern about a draft law on the transparency of foreign influence in Georgia in a statement, saying that it believes the law threatens the activities of civil society and the media, and the task of building democracy in Georgia.

Adoption of the law could complicate the activities of the UN toward sustainable development.

The organization notes that for more than thirty years the UN has been a reliable partner and ally of Georgia, supporting the development of Georgia in accordance with the country’s national priorities and providing assistance “to the Georgian people along with our local partners, including civil society and the media.”

The statement also says that civil society organizations in Georgia provide significant support to the most vulnerable groups in society and protect their rights. Possible stigmatization of their activities can leave these disadvantaged groups without adequate assistance.

“We call on the Georgian authorities to take all necessary steps to prevent measures that would endanger Georgian democracy and hinder or slow down support for Georgia’s development,” the statement reads.

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Deputies who formally separated from Georgian Dream and founded the People’s Power movement submitted a draft law “On transparency of foreign influence” concerning the activities of organizations working with foreign financing.

Georgian NGOs receiving funding from foreign sources must enroll as “foreign agents”. According to one leader of the movement, Sozar Subari, this will be an analogue of Western finance transparency and has nothing in common with the Russian model.

According to Guram Macharashvili, another leader of People’s Power, based on the principles of openness and transparency the public should know where money going to politicians, media and NGOs is coming from.

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On February 16 US State Department spokesman Ned Price, said that the law would create a potential threat to the Euro-Atlantic movement of Georgia. According to Price, the law is based not on the American, but on the Russian and Hungarian versions of this type of law.