Liberty Institute (Georgia)

Liberty Institute is a Georgian research and advocacy organization affiliated with Ilia Chavchavadze State University.

Liberty Institute played an important role in the Rose Revolution. After the revolution, most of its founders were elected to the Parliament of Georgia. Giga Bokeria became Deputy chairman of the Committee on Legal Issues, Member of Committee on Defense and Security, one of the leaders of United National Movement. He has authored many laws to strengthen human rights in Georgia. Givi Targamadze, became Chair of Georgian Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security. Together with some other members of Liberty Institute and Kmara was consulting Ukrainian opposition leaders on technique of non-violent struggle. Later on he also advised the leaders of the Kyrgyz opposition during the Tulip Revolution. David Zurabishvili in 2005 defected from United National Movement and now is member of opposition Republican Party of Georgia. In 2004 member of Liberty Institute Sozar Subari, was elected by Parliament of Georgia as Public Defender (Ombudsman) for 5 years term. Former member of Liberty Institute Gigi Ugulava became Mayor of Tbilisi. Former member of Liberty Institute Zurab Tchiaberashvili is Georgian Ambassador to Council of Europe. In 2005 member of Liberty Institute Tamar Kintsurashvili was elected by the Board Governors of Georgian Public Broadcaster as its first Director General. Konstantine Vardzelashvili became in 2004 firstly deputy minister of Justice, lately in 2006 - deputy chair of Constitutional Court of Georgia. Anna Zhvania was appointed initially as adviser to President, in 2006 she became first female head of Foreign Intelligence Special Service of Georgia. Now she serves as 1st deputy Minister of Educations and Science. Former Executive Director of Liberty Institute Akaki Minashvili was elected to Parliament of Georgia and in December 2008 he was elected as Chairman of Committee on Foreign Affairs. Before that he was Deputy Chairman of Committee on Legal Issues.

Among its founders, only Levan Ramishvili stayed at Liberty Institute. He continues to work together with a new generation of civic activists, most of them leaders of Kmara movement.

History

Liberty Institute was founded in 1996. The immediate reason of its foundation were the well-known events related to the Rustavi 2, an independent TV station. About a month before, the Georgia Ministry of Communications had ceased the company to broadcast license. This move was regarded as a blatant violation of freedom of speech and threat to independent media. By this time, the non-governmental sector in Georgia was in almost embryonic stage of development as only a few civil rights organizations were active. In this situation idea of creation an NGO which would primarily focus on defence of civil rights, particularly freedom of speech, came into existence.

Activities

The Liberty Institute is one of the most quoted organizations by Georgia’s broadcasting and print media. 15 books have been published by LI experts; LI produce an extensive state of the human rights report annually. Its monthly magazine, Liberty, is one of the most highly demanded publications in Georgia. In February 2003 as result of long time advocacy effort by Liberty Institute constitutional amendments was adopted and jury was trial introduction in Georgia. 11 laws drafted by this organization were adopted by Parliament of Georgia. In 1999, the Parliament of Georgia adopted the General Administrative Code of Georgia, one of the most important chapters of which on Freedom of Information was drafted by Liberty Institute. This law provides for public access to public information and governmental meetings and lays down the legislative grounds for transparency and accountability of public institutions. Drafted with Liberty Institute’s active involvement, the Laws on Higher Education and General Education were adopted by parliament in 2004 and 2005 provide for guarantees of academic freedom and student rights. Two groundbreaking media and free speech laws adopted by Parliament of Georgia were also drafted by this organization – The Law on the Freedom of Speech and Expression and The Law on Broadcasting, that created one of the most liberal legal regimes' for freedom of speech and expression. Several policy concepts developed by the Liberty Institute have been adopted by the government, among them the Anti-Corruption Strategy and the Educational Reform Concept. Apart from the Tbilisi head office, Liberty Institute operates five regional offices in Georgia, and provides thousands of citizens annually with legal consultancies.

While defence of human rights remained to be a top priority for the institute, with time, it has extended its focus on various fields:

Liberty Institute consistently provides resources, trainings and support for the whole diversity of social and professional groups enhancing effectiveness, professionalism, and active citizenship, principles of civil responsibility, accountability and transparency within society. A number of LI publications were approved as textbooks by the major higher education institutions in Georgia. The books are used at the faculties of Journalism and Law.

Violence

Over the years Liberty Institute frequently became the object of attacks from authoritarian government officials and extremist groups. On July 10, 2002, a group of 20 seemingly well-trained vandals burst into the office of the Liberty Institute and physically injured members of the organization Levan Ramishvili, Sozar Subari, David Zurabishvili, Giga Phrangishvili and Dali Tskitishvili. They destroyed office equipment and the office itself. Accidentally, during the pogrom, experts of the Council of Europe were present. This act of violence received wide coverage in local and international media. The incident, however, has not yet been investigated.

Liberty institute has provided legal services in defending the rights of thousands of people. Through public campaigns, legal, educational and legislative activities Liberty Institute aims to establish democratic and liberal values, public accountability, control mechanisms and support the development of democratic institutions in Georgia.

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