The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of Georgia on 11 December 2024. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. Regrettably, the Government did not reply within this timeframe. If a reply is received it will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
Since sending the communication, the Special Rapporteur has continued to receive worrying information about the situation for human rights defenders in Georgia, including proposed legislation that would further restrict the freedoms of association, assembly and expression. These developments continue the closure of space for those seeking to exercise their right to defend and promote human rights in the country. She notes that since the presentation of her report on her country visit to Georgia, at the 55th session of the Human Rights Council in March 2024, each of three communications she has sent to the authorities have gone unanswered. She urges the authorities to re-engage with her mandate and work towards the implementation of the recommendations in her country visit report.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: alleged widespread violations of the human rights to security and liberty of person, freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly in the context of the protests in Georgia, which started on 28 November 2024.
Concerns as to the serious deterioration of the environment for the exercise and protection of human rights in Georgia have been communicated to the Georgian Government by multiple Special Procedures mandate holders on several recent occasions (GEO 3/2024, GEO 2/2024, GEO 1/2024), as well as in the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights following her official visit to the country in November 2023 (A/HRC/55/50/Add.2). We regret not receiving a reply to these communications and that the recommendations included in the report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders remain to be unimplemented. We urge the Government of Georgia to engage with the Special Procedures to address these concerns, particularly in light of the gravity of the below detailed allegations.
ALLEGATIONS
On 28 November 2024, the Georgian Prime Minister, Mr. Irakli Kobakhidze, announced that Georgia would suspend its pursuit of accession to the EU and not seek financial assistance from the bloc until 2028. The announcement sparked large-scale spontaneous protests across the country, with rallies taking place in the cities of Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Gori and Batumi as well as in rural areas. At the time of writing, these protests were still ongoing.
On 29 November 2024, around approximately 2 a.m., the Georgian Ministry of International Affairs launched a large-scale police operation in response to the protests, deploying special equipment, including tear gas used directly on participants and water cannons mixed with chemical irritants, in order to disperse the protests, despite their peaceful nature up until that point. In the course of the policing operation, which has since continued, widespread instances of the unnecessary and disproportionate use of force by security forces have been recorded. This has reportedly included the indiscriminate beating of protestors by masked police and special forces at the locations of protests and in the surrounding areas, which left multiple protestors injured and hospitalised, as well as mass forceful, arbitrary arrests and detention of protestors and their severe mistreatment while detained, including when being transported to places of detention, with their faces, eyes and heads particularly targeted. It has also been reported that the personal belongings of those detained, including phones, laptops and wallets have been seized.
Furthermore, over 50 journalists were targeted at the site of protests by police and special forces, including through severe beatings and the destruction of their equipment. Attacks against human rights defenders have also been reported.
As of 9 December 2024, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 372 persons who participated in the protests had been detained on administrative charges, of which 63 had been placed under administrative detention, while more than 30 had been detained on criminal charges and over 100 had received fines ranging from 2,000 to 3,000 GEL. Those detained and charged have reportedly been denied timely access to medical care and legal assistance. The Public Defender reports that at least 85% of those detained from 28 November to 6 December were physically abused. At least 8 students have been sentenced to pre-trial detention of up to two months, raising concerns about the punitive targeting of youth activists.
Civil society organizations report systematic intimidation, including the use of police checkpoints and mass searches to discourage participation in protests. In the course of the police operation, searches were carried out at the homes of 6 individuals and the offices of several groups, including an activist group and political parties, with 7 people arrested for their alleged role in organising the protests and ‘participating in group violence’, a charge carrying up to 9 years in prison. While there have been some documented instances of protestors using violence and damaging property, primarily in response to the use of force by police, the protestors have been overwhelmingly peaceful in their demonstrations since 28 November 2024.
We have received information of vigilante groups, armed and masked assaulting protesters and journalists, allegedly operating with the tacit support of state authorities, as police located nearby to these incidents has no reaction, echoing patterns observed during protests against the so-called “Foreign Agents Law”.
Members of society expressing solidarity with those engaging in the protests and condemning the acts of violence against them, including civil servants, have reportedly been threatened with reprisals by high-ranking government officials, including the Prime Minister, while the authorities have sought to stigmatise NGOs and human rights defenders as the instigators of the protests.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our grave concern as to the alleged systematic use of unnecessary and disproportionate violence by police and security forces against peaceful protestors since 28 November 2024. We are also alarmed by the apparent widespread, arbitrary and violent arrest of peaceful protestors, including children and persons with disabilities, as well as the equally widespread ill-treatment of people arrested in detention and the alleged direct targeting of journalists reporting on the protests. The seemingly baseless criminal and administrative proceedings initiated against multiple individuals, including leaders of political parties, activists and members of civil society are another matter of concern. We express further concern at the discourse of high-ranking government officials from the ruling party in response to the protests, notably their stigmatisation of those engaging in the protests, young people, civil society and human rights defenders, and the reported serious threat of reprisals against those exercising their right to freedom of expression in support of people peacefully protesting, including state employees.
The allegations appear to constitute violations of articles 9, 19 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by Georgia on 3 May 1994, which guarantee the rights to liberty and security of person, including freedom from arbitrary detention, and the rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
