News

Mar/1523
Five NGOs Submit a Report on Minority Rights to UPR
On March 22, 2015 five non-governmental organizations - United Association of Georgia (UNAG), Media Development Foundation (MDF), Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI), Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI and European Center of Minority Issues (ECMI) submitted a report on Minority Rights in Georgia to the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
The organizations express concerns and provide recommendations regarding the following issues:
- Failure of the Government to investigate incidents of religious violence against religious minorities;
- Infringement of Autonomy of Religious Organizations by the newly established State Agency on Religious Affairs;
- Religious Indoctrination at Schools and breach of neutrality in academic teaching; failure of the Government to return places of worship to their true owners;
- Manifestation of hate speech, xenophobia and homophobia by high ranking political officials and politicians;
- Improper self-regulation mechanisms in media and manifestation of hate speech on the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB);
- Access of information in minority languages and ensuring minority voices to be heard on GPB;
- Ensuring repatriationof deported Meskhetians;
- Integration of Roma population in society.
The UPR was created through the resolution 60/251 of UN Human Rights Council in 2006 and reviews the human rights records of all UN Member States.