UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor has urged Georgia to fully guarantee the right to peaceful assembly and to refrain from the excessive use of force against protesters, warning of a serious deterioration in the environment for civil society and human rights work in the country.
Lawlor made the remarks in response to the discussion of Georgia’s national report in Geneva during the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism. Special Rapporteur claimed that human rights defenders in Georgia have increasingly become targets of intimidation, threats and physical attacks, particularly in recent years.
In a statement published on X, Lawlor said that since Georgia’s previous UPR review in 2021, her mandate had sent or joined eight formal communications to Georgia’s mission in Geneva, none of which received a response. She also recalled her official country visit to Georgia in October–November 2023 and the presentation of her findings to the Human Rights Council in March 2024. During that visit, she documented what she described as a serious decline in the space to exercise the right to defend human rights, citing government repression of civil society organizations, critical journalists and independent human rights defenders.
Lawlor noted that since 2023, human rights defenders who opposed the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence had faced intimidation, threats and physical attacks for speaking out. She further pointed to developments following the Georgian Prime Minister’s announcement in November 2024 that the government would halt efforts toward European Union accession, after which mass protests erupted across the country. Special Rapporteur added that those demonstrations were met with alleged widespread human rights violations, excessive use of force by law enforcement and reports of torture and ill-treatment in detention.
She also criticized the legislative changes adopted between December 2024 and February 2025, when the Georgian Parliament rapidly passed reforms affecting the rules on assemblies, administrative offences and criminal law. Lawlor said these changes significantly restrict the ability of individuals and organizations to defend human rights. In parallel, she highlighted new laws targeting civil society, including the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and amendments to the Law on Grants, which require government approval for NGOs to receive or renew funding.
Lawlor noted that these legislative measures have been accompanied by smear campaigns and what she described as spurious criminal cases against human rights defenders, including accusations such as “sabotage.” She stressed that LGBTIQ+ rights defenders have been particularly affected, including through the adoption of what she referred to as the so-called “LGBT propaganda law.”
In her recommendations, the UN Special Rapporteur called on Georgia to repeal the Foreign Agents Registration Act and the recent amendments to the Law on Grants, as well as recent changes to the Code of Administrative Offences, the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations and the Criminal Code. She also urged the repeal of the Law on Family Values and Protection of Minors, a review of the functioning of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and the introduction of independent judicial oversight over decisions to freeze the bank accounts of human rights NGOs.
Lawlor further called on the Georgian authorities to implement the recommendations contained in her country visit report, to fully guarantee the right to peaceful assembly, to refrain from the excessive use of force against protesters, and to immediately cease smear campaigns against human rights organizations, defenders and lawyers, including those carried out by high-level politicians and government-controlled media outlets.
