NGO Media Advocacy Coalition urges CSO to sign a petition

The Non-Governmental Organization “Media Advocacy Group” has urged civil society organizations to come forward and sign the petition against the foreign agent law.  The NGO is planning to file a petition before the Georgia Constitutional Court. The NGO shared this information on its social media handle to invite people to this purpose.

 

As per the post on the official Facebook page of the Georgian NGO, “Georgian NGO is working hard to halt the implementation of the foreign agent law, termed as Russian law by the opponents.”  Moreover, they vowed to spearhead their battle against the law by using all available options.The Facebook post also added, “we are going to file a lawsuit  and all the affected non-government organizations and other civil society organizations have the opportunity to join the fight against Russian law.”

 

The NGO also provided a link to fill out the form on the official Facebook page if any NGO wants to join the legal fight as the plaintiff. The interested person can fill out their details in this form by opening the link. The NGO members will contact these people later. The last date to complete the online form with all the details is June 15, 2024.

 

The foreign agent bill was signed by the parliament speaker after the refusal of the assent by the President of Georgia. It should be specifically mentioned that the Georgian president already announced to Veto the bill. When the bill was adopted by the Georgian parliament in its third and final reading, it was sent to the President for assent.

 

However, the president vetoed the bill and sent it to parliament with remarks for reconsideration. The president cited the bill’s inconsistency with the country’s constitutional provisions. The controversial law restricts civil society organizations and media outlets’s freedom. Any organization receiving more than 20 percent of its funding from a foreign country must register as an “organization pursuing the interest of a foreign national.”  The ruling Georgian Dream Party passed the bill by ignoring all the protests and opposition from the opponents.