In Georgia, NGOs have largely refused to submit to the declaration of their foreign funding, as required by the law passed in the country last May.
They had until September 2 to come forward. Of the 30,000 NGOs operating in Georgia, only 469 – or about 1.5% of them – registered with the authorities as“foreign agents”under the law passed by the country’s parliament last May.
According to this law, NGOs receiving more than 20% of their funding from foreign donors must register as organizations “carrying the interests of a foreign power.”
A pro-Russian measure, according to NGOs
The vast majority of organizations refused to comply, saying the measure was inspired by the Russian model and threatened freedom of expression and democracy.
“All registered organizations claim that the register and the ‘Russian law’ are in contradiction with their values,” Guram Imnadze, programme director of the Social Justice Centre, told Euronews. “They did not register of their own free will, they simply did it to prolong their existence in the short term.”
The law before the Constitutional Court
Last spring, the law sparked massive protests in the streets of Georgia, which were violently repressed by the authorities.
The text is now being challenged before the Constitutional Court. Lawsuits have been filed by 121 civil society organisations and independent media, a number of opposition MPs and two journalists.
A preliminary hearing was held before the court in August, but constitutional law expert and former Georgian MP Vakhtang Khmaladze believes the law will be suspended in the meantime.I consider it very likely that the court will accept the trial in whole or in part, although I doubt that it will respect the legal stay.”he told Euronews.
Brussels, Washington and NATO condemn the law
President Salome Zurabishvili also filed a complaint, saying the law violates Georgia’s constitutional commitment to join NATO, the European Union and NATO.
The EU has warned that the law could jeopardise Georgia’s progress towards membership in the bloc, while Washington and NATO have condemned the move.
As Georgia prepares for parliamentary elections on October 26, the main opposition parties have expressed their intention to repeal the law if elected.