Georgia experienced a significant deterioration in human rights and democratic standards in 2025, with fundamental rights restricted through repressive legislation and actions, says the European Union’s 2025 Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy.
The report says human rights in Georgia were “severely restricted” by measures affecting equality and non-discrimination, freedom of expression, assembly and association, as well as the rights to privacy, liberty and security.
EU claims that ill-treatment of protesters by law enforcement officers was widespread in 2025 and in some cases amounted to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment. The report says no perpetrators were held accountable, contributing to what it describes as a climate of impunity.
The EU also raises concerns about arbitrary arrests, excessive use of pre-trial detention and disproportionately harsh sentences imposed on protesters and journalists, saying these developments have implications for the right to a fair trial.
The report cites cases of physical attacks, sexual harassment and threats of rape or death against women participating in demonstrations. It also says new legislation, including amendments to the Law on Broadcasting, the Foreign Agents Registration Act and legislation concerning family values and the protection of minors, negatively affected freedom of expression and the ability of the media to operate freely.
Reports of intimidation, threats, verbal and physical attacks and arbitrary detention of journalists and media workers were also widespread, according to the EU.
The report describes the state of democracy in Georgia as being marked by “significant backsliding.” It says the authorities adopted repressive measures against civil society, media representatives and opposition leaders that seriously undermined democratic decision-making and processes and effectively eliminated civic participation and checks and balances.
The EU says the freezing of bank accounts belonging to several civil society organizations demonstrated the use of the justice system “as a tool of repression and political persecution” aimed at depriving organizations of essential financial resources and suppressing dissent.
Political pluralism was also put at risk by the ruling party’s efforts to seek the banning of several opposition parties through the Constitutional Court, the report says. It adds that politically motivated prosecutions against civil society and the imprisonment of opposition leaders ran counter to fundamental democratic values.
The report notes that Georgia ranked 114th in Reporters Without Borders’ 2025 World Press Freedom Index, 52nd in the World Justice Project’s 2025 Rule of Law Index and 56th in Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index. Georgia also received a score of 34 out of 100 from the CIVICUS Monitor, indicating a “repressed” civic space.
The EU says it repeatedly called on the Georgian authorities to halt democratic backsliding, repeal repressive legislation and pursue democratic, comprehensive and sustainable reforms consistent with the fundamental principles of European integration and the nine steps linked to Georgia’s EU candidate status.
Brussels also urged the authorities to respect and protect human rights, including the right to a fair trial, freedom of expression and assembly, media freedom and pluralism, and called for the release of people it considers arbitrarily detained.
The report notes that no political dialogue between the EU and Georgia took place in 2025 because of the continued democratic backsliding, while the EU continued to downgrade the level of bilateral contacts. The EU-Georgia Human Rights Dialogue has not been held since June 2023.
The EU also continued to suspend financial assistance directly benefiting the Georgian authorities. In response to restrictions on civic space and the deteriorating human rights situation, €24 million in bilateral and thematic funding under the NDICI framework has been allocated to civil society and independent media since October 2024.
Support has focused on civil society organizations and independent media, access to justice, the rights of people with disabilities, gender equality, combating gender-based violence, minority and children’s rights, LGBTI rights, confidence-building and efforts to counter disinformation and foreign interference.
The report also addresses Georgia’s compliance with visa liberalization benchmarks. It says the European Commission concluded in December 2025 that Georgia had experienced further regression in governance and fundamental rights and continued to violate relevant benchmarks. The Commission subsequently launched a procedure under the revised visa suspension mechanism aimed at suspending visa exemptions for Georgian holders of diplomatic, service and official passports.
In the multilateral sphere, the EU says Georgia’s cooperation with the European Court of Human Rights and implementation of its judgments remain inadequate, with 45 cases under enhanced supervision by the Committee of Ministers.
The report also criticizes the Georgian authorities for failing to invite an OSCE/ODIHR observation mission early enough to allow comprehensive monitoring of the October 2025 municipal elections and says Georgia failed to address any of ODIHR’s significant recommendations from previous elections.
Despite these concerns, the report notes that Georgia generally maintained good cooperation in international forums, although it did not join several international and EU initiatives.
