The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), a leading human rights organization in Georgia with over three decades of history, announced it will temporarily cut its free legal aid services and focus only on strategic cases, entering what it called “crisis mode” amid increasing repression of civil society.
The move comes as the Georgian Dream-led parliament continues to adopt restrictive laws designed to strip civil society and media groups of their funding sources. Various watchdog groups announced their activities at least partly under the repressive environment.
“Under the gravest human rights situation, GYLA is temporarily shifting to a crisis working mode and will continue providing legal assistance only in the direction of strategic litigation,” the group announced on March 14, noting that it will also continue monitoring human rights, documenting violations, and providing “public, clear, and substantiated” responses to breaches.
According to the group, the repressive climate has affected numerous “important directions” of its work, including legal aid services, meaning that “thousands of citizens will no longer be able to receive the support they previously obtained annually through daily free in-person, telephone, or online consultations, document preparation, and court representation.”
Founded in 1994, GYLA has been one of the most prominent human rights organizations with offices across Georgia, offering legal assistance and representing human rights cases in international courts under successive governments. According to the group, its lawyers have delivered over 1.3 million free legal consultations and services across Georgia’s nine regions since its founding. The organization has also regularly deployed election observation missions throughout the country.
The announcement came ten days after the ruling party passed a new series of restrictive laws, including expanding the definition of what amounts to a “grant” needing government approval and introducing criminal sentences for related breaches.
“Today, civil society organizations are operating in one of the most difficult environments in the history of independent Georgia,” GYLA said in the statement, noting that the repressive environment “has forced a significant part of civil society organizations to either completely halt or sharply reduce their activities, while the real risk of criminal prosecution has established a constant regime of pressure on their work.”
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