At a recent meeting of the NGO IDP network “Synergia”, we learned that local NGOs – especially those based outside Tbilisi – still have very little access to news about government strategies and new policy documents, despite a self-professed demand a

When an individual or an organization like ours sends an official request for information to a Tbilisi court, the response these days is likely to be along the following lines: “The information you have requested requires a systematization and the de

Update 20 Oct. 2010: We have been informed that about a week ago, investigators arrested two of the auction winners. According to the investigators, Rustavi City Hall employees are also being questioned and soon a decision regarding whether to charge

A number of incidents that involved outspoken government critics in Mestia this spring and summer have stifled opposition voices in Svaneti during a period of intense government investments into the region’s tourism potential. Five months after oppos

An article published two days ago by Interpress News (access required) inaccurately reported that the Tbilisi City Council had secured assurance from the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation (MRA) that IDPs living in five buildings in Tbilisi would

In late August we received a call from an IDP who claimed that the new settlements were no longer receiving electricity subsidies. After the government’s failure in fall 2009 to properly warn IDPs of cuts to their energy subsidies (resulting in many

The Georgian Chamber of Control (CoC) has stepped into the spotlight lately through several recent high-profile inquiries. This is an encouraging show of institutional strength, but it remains to be seen whether the recent positive trends in the agen

My post on jury trials generated some very useful discussion; I'd like to post some of the questions I received to clarify what I think about jury trials. I want to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to add comments to the blog, or to contact TI

Georgians are getting the right to be tried by a jury of their peers at the end of this week, on October 1. At this stage jury trials will be limited to aggravated murders, and Tbilisi. While greater involvement of the general public in practical gov

Update September 30th 2010: The operating procedures have been released; you can read them here.Tomorrow, the government will present a new set of procedures for evicting and resettling IDPs. The Standard Operating Procedures, to be presented at an o