Media.ge, Tbilisi, 06 Aug 2008 – The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) is conducting a week of information freedom on 1-10 August, 2008 involving different types of events such as: trainings, presentations and working meetings. In more details:
On 1 August, Hotel “Tori” hosted a training-workshop on the topic of information freedom for the representatives of the government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia. The representatives of the public relations services of the government, ministries and departments, as well as those responsible for disseminating the public information, of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia took part in the workshop. The following topics were discussed during the workshop: the concept/importance of the information freedom, modern challenges and problems, role and functions of the public relations services, works of press services and etc.
On the same day, GYLA and United Kingdom-Georgian Professional Network (UKGPN) organized public discussions on the European Convention draft related with the “Access to/availability of the official documentations”. The member of the Parliamentary Delegation of Georgia in the Council of Europe, Maya Kopaleishvili – the first Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia, Natia Tskepladze – member of the Supreme Court of Georgia, Shalva Kvinikhidze – head of the international public law department of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, Salome Vardiashvili and George Mshvenieradze – representatives of the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia, other public servents, experts and interested parties were involved in the discussions.
During the meeting they discussed the anticipated results and impacts of the Convention on Georgian legislation. Also they encouraged the members of the delegation to support the stronger draft of the convention.
On 2 August, in the framework of the “Information Freedom Week”, GYLA presented the results of the “monitoring of the implementation of the Georgian national and international anticorruption responsibilities” at the hotel “Ambassador”. The meeting focused on the discussion of the results related with the implementation of the anticorruption recommendations developed by the international organizations, OECD and GRECO for Georgia; as well as the analysis of the implementation of the Georgian national anticorruption strategy and its action plan. The presentation was dedicated to the following basic issues:
- National anticorruption policy, institutions and implementation;
- Legislation and criminalization of corruption, money laundering related activities;
- Transparency of the public service.
On 3 August, GYLA conducted a workshop for the Tbilisi local self-government representatives on the issue of the information freedom. The representatives of the Tbilisi Mayer’s Office, Sakrebulo and District Gamgeobas, as well as those responsible for disseminating the public information attended the workshop.
The following issues were discussed at the workshop: public information dissemination procedures, issues of collecting the copying costs, reports of the 10th of December, categories of the secret information, procedures of reviewing the administrative appeals and other important issues.
On 4 August, data bases of the decisions made by the courts and administrative bodies – www.gyla.ge/foicourt and www.gyla.ge/foiadmin – developed by GYLA were presented at the hotel “Ambassador”. The above presented data bases include all the decisions made by the courts and administrative bodies of Georgia in relation with the information freedom.
GYLA has also created the following:
- “information freedom data base” – www.gyla.ge/foidatabase – that incorporates the contact information of all the administrative bodies acting in Georgia and the names of those responsible for disseminating the public information;
- “information freedom dictionary” – www.gyla.ge/dictionary – containing all the terms that may be needed for the interested parties to obtain the information, also relevant cartoons and photos to make the terms easier to understand and the base more attractive to use;
- data base “Fair Play” – www.fairplay.ge. The data base presents the information enabling to detect the corruption threats. It includes the data such as the financial and property status of the officials, issues related with funding the political parties and others.
On 5 August, in the framework of the “Information Freedom Week”, the third part of the court practice analysis was presented at the hotel “Ambassador”. The mentioned report covers the analysis of the decisions made by the courts all over Georgia from 2005 to 2008. The report focuses on the problems of protecting personal data, tax secrecy, high taxes and others.
On 6 August, the results of the research conducted by GYLA in relating with the practice used by the administrative bodies for reviewing the complaints, shall be presented at the hotel “Ambassador”. The research was oriented on determining the effectiveness of the mechanisms for making administrative appeals.
On the same day, GYLA will address the constitutional court of Georgia with a constitutional appeal to recognize the compulsory administrative appeal mechanism anticonstitutional.
On 9-10 August, the “Information Freedom Week” will be concluded in Gudauri, where a working meeting will be held for the representatives of the public institution press services and journalists. Information freedom will be the topic of the working meeting. The meeting will also review the issues related with information freedom – modern challenges, role of the media in its establishment, legal bases of the public relations service activities, acceptable restrictions on the information freedom, and other important issues. For additional information please visit the GYLA website: http://www.gyla.ge/foi.
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