Georgia takes over Presidency of CoE Committee of Ministers amid decaying democracy and dispersals of peaceful rallies

The Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe passed from France to Georgia, at a meeting at the organization’s Strasbourg headquarters on November 27.

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia and the new Chair of the Committee of Ministers David Zalkaliani presented the priorities of the Georgian Presidency, which will run for six months.

The priorities include human rights and environmental protection, civil participation in decision-making process, child-friendly justice and strengthening democracy through education, culture and youth engagement.

In the priorities penned out by the Georgian Government, it’s mentioned that Georgia’s policies are guided by the values of the CoE, as represented by its three core pillars – democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

“The values for which the Council of Europe stands guide Georgia’s internal and foreign policy. By promoting democracy and the rule of law, strengthening relevant governmental institutions and developing civil society, Georgia demonstrates its full commitment towards the main principles of the Council of Europe and reconfirms centuries-old ties with European civilization,” reads the statement on the priorities of the Georgian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers.

Each of the four priority areas selected by Georgia are important issues that need addressing in Europe, but more so back at home in Georgia.

The first priority Georgia set for its presidency is human rights and environmental protection, which according to the statement constitutes of awareness-raising on the human rights implications of environmental problems, as well as the environmental implications of human rights problems.

“Legal protection from environmental harm is firmly tied to fundamental rights such as the right to life, the right to respect for private life and family life and the right to respect for one’s home,” reads the statement.

The Georgian Presidency claims that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is an effective tool to be used more effectively by Member States ' national authorities as a tool to protect individuals and communities from environmental harm.

The statement also encourages CoE to strengthen its work in the field of environmental protection in the member States,“ since environmental degradation in our contemporary world can affect human rights negatively”.

This initiative comes from the Government who only last April used police forces, including Special Operation Forces against peaceful demonstrators protecting their livelihood, the environment, in order to secure the renewal of “Khadori 3” HPP construction in the Pankisi Gorge.

The situation in this regard is so dire in Georgia that recently the Public Defender of Georgia Nino Lomjaria has invited United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment to Georgia to assess the impact of the construction of hydropower plants on environmental, ecological and socio-economic interests and human rights in the country.

Another priority for the 6-month Presidency is increasing civil participation in decision-making process. Anyone who has been following the recent protests in the country and the general political climate since June of this year will find it laughable that the Government is shamelessly taking the hypocritical stance. Before trying to promote civil participation elsewhere, maybe the ruling Georgian Dream party can focus on fulfilling the promises they make to their citizens.

The Government, as seen from the priorities statement is aware that there’s a significant disparity between the preferences of citizens and the decisions taken by public authorities.

“Populism and the appearance of large, grassroots movements and protests would tend to confirm a trend of disaffection for the governors by the governed,” reads the statement.

One way that the Georgian Presidency considers combating these negative trends is increasing the level of input from civil society and from citizens to guide public decisions.

Meanwhile in Georgia, following the June rallies, the Government agreed to fulfill one of the demands and agreed to conduct 2020 parliamentary elections with a proportional system instead of the mixed, majoritarian and proportional system, but failed to deliver on the promise, sparking the second wave of protests in November.