,,By attempting to further close space for human rights defenders and media, the Georgian authorities sent a clear signal about their desire to silence dissent and voices calling attention to human right violations.” – noted Natia Tavberidze, coordinator of Human Rights House Tbilisi.

On March 14, Natia Tavberidze and the representative of “Rights of Georgia”, Mariam Mkhatvari hosted a parallel event of the OSCE Human Dimension Meeting (OSCE SHDM) in Vienna and talked about the threats to media freedom in Georgia.

The main topic of discussion in the Parliament of Georgia was the draft law “agents of foreign influence” initiated by “People’s Power” and supported by “Georgian Dream” in the first reading, which aimed to tighten the control of foreign funding received by civil society organizations and the media and the organizations receiving such funding.

They also discussed the issues that human rights defenders face in the country. The conversation touched on those foreign human rights defenders who were refused to enter Georgia.

The event was moderated by Dave Elseroad, Head of Advocacy and Geneva Office of the Human Rights House Foundation.