Public Defender Outlines Risks in Implementing Regulations of the Foreign Agents Law
On August 30, the Public Defender of Georgia, Levan Ioseliani, addressed Justice Minister Rati Bregadze, arguing that the Minister’s August 1 decree on the “procedure for the preparation of the register of organizations carrying out the interests of the foreign power, submission of financial declaration and monitoring,” issued as part of the execution of the Foreign Agents Law, creates the risks of discrimination and the arbitrary action by the state.
The Foreign Agents Law itself does not specify what information should be included in the financial declarations of NGOs, leaving it up to the Minister of Justice. According to the Public Defender of Georgia, the decree allows for the publication of personal information of employees working in the organizations subject to this controversial legislation. The personal information of these employees includes first name, last name, personal number, and bank account number.
The Public Defender argues that the publication of personal data “is unjustified and harmful, has a strong restrictive, chilling and stigmatizing effect” on the employees of organizations subject to the Foreign Agents legislation. Therefore, the Public Defender’s Office calls on the Justice Ministry to modify the decree to omit the publication of such information.
It says the expenses and the purpose of foreign funding can be shared with relevant state institutions and the public in a depersonalized form or as total figures.
The Foreign Agents Law is challenged in the Constitutional Court of Georgia, which is expected to decide in the coming days on the admissibility of the constitutional claims and, more importantly, on whether to temporarily suspend the practical provisions of the law pending its final ruling, as requested by the plaintiffs.
The Public Defender submitted an Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court) brief to the Court, stating that the law “singles out a certain group of organizations and attributes a new status to them, which results in stigmatizing the organizations on the basis of foreign funding and hinders their work.”
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