News of Georgia’s new “foreign agent law” has triggered concern and criticism from the country’s civil society organisations, many of which are prepared to suspend their operations in protest.
The new law – officially tabled as a “ law on transparency of foreign influence” – means that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that receive more than 20% of their funding from foreign donors will be required to register as “organisations acting in the interest of a foreign power”. Those who do not register will face heavy fines and compulsory registration if they continue to operate in the country.
In response, thousands took to the streets to protest against the bill, and President Salome Zourabishvili issued a presidential veto to block what was he called a “Russian law”. Despite this opposition, the bill still passed with a significant margin. The law was defended by the ruling Georgian Dream party as necessary to combat foreign influence, including from NGOs that are promoting “LGBT propaganda” and inciting revolutionary sentiments.
With the law expected to be implemented in the coming weeks, TalkingDrugs spoke with the organisations Social Justice Centre and Mandala to understand the challenges the law may create for their work, and what it may mean for the people they support.
“We just can’t accept this label”
The Social Justice Centre (SJC), a think tank based in Tbilisi working on human rights and social justice, including drug policy and harm reduction, highlighted that the only criteria the new law had for registering organisations was foreign funding. Its purpose to specifically target foreign NGOs, media organisations and even YouTubers with international funding.
“We are considering stopping our work from October because this is when the parliamentary elections will happen,” Giorgi Potskhverishvili, SJC’s legal researcher, told TalkingDrugs.
“If the law stays in force, and if we are still labelled as the organisation of foreign influence, we do not want that for ourselves. We just can’t accept this label organisation under foreign influence.”
If organisations choose to not register, they will face heavy fines: the first is of around 9,000USD, and the second of approximately 15,000USD – which for many organisations, might be their entire operating budget. In the end, NGOs will still be forced to register if they want to continue working in the country.
“So actually, not registering is not an option. It is just the act of disobedience. So it’s an act of protest,” Potskhverishvili added.
Harm reduction risks in Georgia
Georgia does have some harm reduction interventions in place: there is a state-funded opioid substitution programme, with take-home naloxone and needle and syringe programmes also available. But it is also known for its harsh drug-related punishments. The state routinely detains thousands of people per year for drug offences, with the police determining what are “large amounts” of drugs possessed – meaning many people face life sentences for possession of even one gram of many substances.
Cannabis is the sole exception: after cases brought to the Supreme Court challenged the constitutionality of its harsh criminalisation, the use of cannabis was legalised in 2017. However, its possession and purchase remains illegal, meaning it is not truly considered legal.
Mandala, a youth-led NGO providing support for people using drugs and the nightlife scene, underscored that many harm reduction programmes were funded by the Global Fund through the Georgian state. This foreign funding will be protected as it is state-sanctioned; however, any additional international funding not channelled through the state would be considered “foreign funding”, forcing organisations to register as foreign agents.
“Under the [new] law, organisations will no longer be able to receive a grant other than the Global Fund, which will be of serious harm to the programmes and ultimately to the beneficiaries of these programmes,” Temo Khatiashvili, the head of Mandala, told TalkingDrugs.
While Mandala was unsure whether they would continue their operations, they, like SJC,are vehemently opposed to the new law. Both organisations feel that their work would struggle to serve the communities they defend because of the government’s restrictive law.
“Registration in the database… is certainly not acceptable to us, and we will not even consider it,” he added.
Hope in October
There is great hope from civil society for the October election, as a new government could overturn this law. Politically, this would make sense: Georgia’s plan to join the EU, which is even embedded in their constitution, may be compromised by the foreign agent law, which is seen as holding back human rights and key reforms the country needs to undergo for accession.
Until then, civil society will challenge the law. Potskhverishvili said the SJC will launch a constitutional challenge against the law, as well as through the European Court of Human Rights later in the year. President Zourabishvili is organising a pro-European coalition that would oppose this law and implement other judicial reforms should they win enough seats to form a multi-party government.
Until then, Mandala urged the international community to pressure their state to revoke the foreign agent law from the outside.
“The international community should not turn its back on the Georgian civil society, but on the contrary, find alternative ways to support ongoing processes. More pressure on the government and more support for civil activism is needed so that the achievements we have gained for European integration over the years are not lost.” Khatiashvili said.
