Information Integrity Coalition and DRI Call on Authorities to “Stop Attacks on CSOs”

The Information Integrity Coalition and the Democracy Research Institute (DRI) have issued statements condemning “the Georgian government’s targeted attacks on civil society organizations”.

Information Integrity Coalition Statement

In particular, the Information Integrity Coalition recalls recent statements by senior political officials “aimed at discrediting the organizations that fight against disinformation and work on election issues and human rights,” stressing that such campaigns and political manipulation around important issues are particularly dangerous.

The statement singles out the recent special press briefing held by the Speaker of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili, where he attacked the head of the Tolerance Center Beka Mindiashvili, as well as research organization SovLab, studying Georgia’s Soviet past and non-governmental organization Civic Idea. The statement states that practices characteristic to non-democratic states, such as instrumentalization of religious topics and history, disinformation, declaring human rights defenders and CSOs as enemies of states, further increase polarization in society and “carry risks of spurring confrontation on religious grounds”.

The organization expresses concern that “the government deliberately tries to make religious organizations an active part of the political process, which damages the political neutrality and independence of the religious organizations themselves.”

The statement notes that “international donor organizations are also the target of a coordinated attack”, citing in particular US Agency for International Development (USAID), which was criticized by Speaker Papuashvili at the press-briefing. Such attacks, which “have happened more than once by the ruling party and government representatives”, as well as “anti-Western People’s Power” group”, reinforce the Kremlin’s propaganda narrative, “which portrays Western civilization as an enemy of Georgian identity,” – the statement says.

Information Integrity Coalitions states that despite backing off the adoption of the so-called “Russian law”, the authorities continue attempts “to discredit civil society organizations and limit their financial sustainability, which aims to weaken the institution of civil society in Georgia.”

The statement cites the May 2023 META report which revealed coordinated inauthentic behaviour on behalf of the government, leading to the government’s Strategic Communications Department.

The Coalition stresses that “the existence of a strong institution of civil society is important for the democratic development of the country” and that the European Commission’s communication on the 2023 Enlargement Policy, pays special attention to cooperation with civil organizations and their involvement.

The Information Integrity Coalition calls on the political authorities of Georgia “to stop attacks on civil organizations and the country’s international partners and to make efforts to implement the recommendations necessary for the European integration process.”

DRI’s statement

The Democracy Research Institute (DRI) responded to the ruling party’s attacks on civil society organizations in a similar statement, calling on “the authorities to stop the targeted hate campaign, to take steps for establishing partnership and business communication with them, and to refuse to instrumentalize polarization in the pre-election campaign.”

The organization notes that the Georgian Dream government is “trying to conduct a negative, anti-Western election campaign” ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections, and instead of offering a positive agenda to voters, most of whom are living under severe conditions of poverty and inflation, it is trying to arm them against the country’s “enemies.”

DRI notes that this is not the first time that the ruling party, in a similar manner to Russian disinformation, uses the attacks on civil society organizations as “pre-election political propaganda,” citing the same cases of attacks before the 2020 elections and during the attempt to adopt the law on Foreign Agents in the spring of 2023. “Hostile rhetoric towards civil society organizations contradicts both the constitutional values of a democratic state and the demand of the European Union towards taking steps against polarization,” – reads the statement.

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