Parliamentary Assembly

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Excellencies, distinguished members of the Assembly, I am honoured to address you in the house of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. We have just heard a beautiful piece of authentic Georgian polyphonic singing, where different voices come together in a complex union and embrace and enrich each other, developing and moving ahead. This is a strong marker of Georgian national identity, and when I think of being Georgian, this polyphony comes to my mind first. It is symbolic that we hear it today, as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe and the 20th anniversary of Georgia’s accession to it.

Yesterday, Georgia marked 30 years since tragic events. On 9 April 1989, a peaceful anti-Soviet demonstration demanding freedom and independence from the Soviet Union was violently dispersed by the Soviet Army using tanks and guns on Rustaveli Avenue in the centre of Tbilisi. I was very young then, but I still remember the event like it happened yesterday. On 9 April 1989, a small nation united to defend its freedom

the freedom of sovereign existence. In those events, the Georgian people dared to exercise their right to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in the Soviet Union. Their attempt was suppressed in bloodshed, but their fight for independence, freedom and democracy has not been lost. Two years after those tragic events took place, on the very same day, the Act of Re-establishment of Independence was signed. With that fight and sacrifice, Georgia regained its European identity, which seemed so distant 30 years ago. For that reason, my appearance today is dedicated to all the people who have sacrificed their lives for my country’s unity and freedom.

Since those years, we have faced many other challenges, and despite all of them, we still have achieved a lot – we have achieved almost the impossible. The success that my country has achieved in the last 20 years belongs to both Georgia and the Council of Europe, and therefore we can both be proud of it. Together we have created a country that has emerged as a true democracy between two continents, bridging Europe with Asia. In this challenging region, Georgia has an ambition to dictate peaceful rules of co-existence and create a sustainable model of democracy.

In the last 20 years since accession to the Council of Europe, Georgia has managed a dramatic transformation, and today we are a country on the rise. Twenty years ago, Georgia had serious challenges, and upon accession we made a list of commitments. We pledged to create a truly democratic State, to strengthen the rule of law, to carry out judicial reform, to fight corruption, to fight torture and ill treatment, to guarantee freedom of speech and a free media, to protect minorities and to strengthen national human rights mechanisms. Georgia has demonstrated progress in all those directions, through close co-operation with the different bodies of the Council of Europe.

I would like to take this opportunity to express gratitude on behalf of the Georgian people to the Parliamentary Assembly, the Committee of Ministers, the European Court of Human Rights, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the Venice Commission, the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights and other human rights monitoring bodies. As I said, we have achieved everything together.

Let me elaborate on the major achievements that are worth your attention. After many years, Georgia has finally managed to establish a fair system of checks and balances and has made irreversible democratic progress. In discussing our new constitution and all the deliverables that it brought to the building of our democracy, the best I can do is to refer to the most reputable institution to judge – the Venice Commission, which said: “the constitutional reform process completes the evolution of Georgia’s political system towards a parliamentary system and constitutes a positive step towards the consolidation and improvement of the country’s constitutional order, based on the principles of democracy, the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights.”

Our government became the first to refuse one-party domination. Our new constitution requires us to introduce a fully proportionate electoral system from 2014. Meanwhile, Georgia is going through an important transitional period. This will create better political balance and give minority parities a better chance of winning seats in parliament. With the introduction of a proportional electoral system, governments will be required to make greater concessions in policy making. This is our values-based choice, and we will never diverge from this path.

We are proud that for the first time in history Georgia has elected a female president. This is a profound milestone achievement in Georgia’s modern history. We are writing a new chapter in our history. With the election of the new president, the new constitution came into force. Now, Georgia is a parliamentary democracy where, in my capacity as prime minister, I am accountable to parliament and its members, who are elected by the Georgian people. As a result of the recent reforms, parliament has become stronger than ever. A strong parliament means robust oversight of the executive. For that very reason, we understand the importance of being accountable to our population. We understand how important it is for every single citizen to be informed about our day-to-day initiatives and reforms, and we are determined to strive towards more development and more accountability.

Just seven years ago, Georgia had serious challenges in the field of the rule of law and the functioning of an independent judiciary. We have made significant progress that is best measured here in Strasbourg. In fact, the European Court of Human Rights is the best indicator of shortcomings and improvements in the field of human rights. More people have started to seek and find justice at a national level, with no need to go further to the European Court of Human Rights. That has been confirmed by the significant drop in the number of applications filed against Georgia in the Court: in 2011, we had 395 applications to the Court, but in 2018 we had only a quarter of that figure. On the execution side, the total number of Georgian cases closed by final resolutions of the Committee of Ministers is 76. Around 80% of those cases have been closed since 2013. This demonstrates that the Government of Georgia effectively executes the Court’s rulings. Since 2013, applications to the constitutional court of Georgia by common courts have increased more than fivefold. Before, the number of applications was literally zero. Let me repeat that: literally zero. The quantity of administrative imprisonment cases has decreased by 68%. In addition, in recent years we have opened court rooms to the media and ensured the full transparency of trials.

Georgia has made immense progress in the fight against corruption and in ensuring the accountability and transparency of our government. In the 1990s, Georgia was among the most corrupt countries, but today we are proud to be one of the least corrupt countries in the world. Georgia is ranked No. 5 in the Open Budget Index, just below countries such as Sweden and Norway. Georgia is a proud member and former chair of the Open Government Partnership, a major international partnership with the aim of global openness, transparency and accountability.

Our government inherited a system of oppressive penitentiary machine, with the systematic practice of torture and ill treatment. The penitentiary system was failing, so we needed to take decisive measures. The reforms carried out have drastically changed the situation in penitentiaries. As a matter of fact, the Georgian penitentiary system deserves its place in good human rights stories from the United Nations and the European Union.

Georgia has transformed its attitude towards political freedoms. Freedom of expression and the right to peaceful manifestation, which previously were often violated, are now fully respected. Georgia has a vibrant civil society, a free media and Internet, and freedom of expression is fully respected. The unfortunate practice of violent dispersion of peaceful protests belongs to the past, and the government fully respects the right to assembly and manifestation.

The justice system has become more responsive to hate crimes and discrimination, and protective mechanisms have become stronger. I underline the fact that in April 2017 Georgia ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence.

Last but not least, Georgia has developed robust human rights mechanisms. For the first time, in recent years the Government of Georgia has developed a strategic approach to the protection of human rights, empowered the ombudsman’s office, and established effective oversight mechanisms at the parliamentary level. We have achieved a lot, but we are determined to progress further. We are building a modern European country where people are the centre of gravity – a country that grants equal opportunities to every single citizen, no matter what their social status or position, and where every citizen’s voice gets heard and the government feels the aspirations of its people.

I often say that we have two main challenges in Georgia: occupation and poverty. This became my precept and serves as the basis of every reform or initiative that the government introduces in the country. One such reform is truly revolutionary – I would say it is a real game-changer – and that is the reform of the education sector. Over recent decades, education had become a real bottleneck, and the development of human capital lagged behind the demands of a modern world. We are going to devote an increasing proportion of our GDP to the education sector, starting from this year, and it will reach 6% of GDP, which is a quarter of our total budget. That will be ensured by legislation, so that every government that follows will be obliged to invest in the development of our human capital – the people who advance our country and made the values-based choice to support us in our European aspirations. It is the development of human capital that will serve as the solution to our existing challenges. Only educated professionals will be able to raise our country to the heights that we envisage for our future generations.

Despite all this progress, we still face major human rights challenges in our occupied territories. Some 20% of our territory is occupied by the Russian Federation. More than 300 000 internally displaced persons cannot go back to their homes. Every day we have to deal with barbed-wire fences, the depopulation of occupied territories, grave human rights abuses and a general situation that is nothing but a humanitarian disaster, in every sense of the term. The growing militarisation of the occupied regions is in full swing and depopulation is intensifying by the minute. Because of the grave humanitarian, economic and human rights situation, the population in the occupied regions has decreased by a factor of five or six since the start of the occupation.

As a result of the occupation, we have Russian military bases in the heart of Georgia. Today, we still deal with the threat of the abduction, torture and murder of Georgian citizens. The recent victims are Archil Tatunashvili, Giga Otkhozoria and 18-year-old David Basharuli. Only several weeks ago, another Georgian citizen, Irakli Kvaratskheliya, was illegally detained. The details of his subsequent death are still obscure, with unclear circumstances. One fact is clear: a Georgian citizen has been illegally detained in the illegally occupied territory, at a military base built illegally by the Russian Federation.

I thank the Parliamentary Assembly for backing and supporting the Otkhozoria-Tatunashvili list. We should all line up against the grave human rights violations to ensure that the deliberate disregard for the rule of law will never be tolerated. The Russian Federation tries to undermine our peaceful initiatives. With diversions of this kind, it tries to block all our efforts, and with ethnic discrimination it tries to fully eradicate the Georgian identity, but this will not happen. We will never give up.

Recently, our government introduced a new comprehensive and inclusive peace initiative called “A Step to a Better Future”. With this initiative we seek to provide our population in the occupied territories with access to proper healthcare and education services, and to create opportunities for micro and small commerce and for entrepreneurship, so that they can feed their families and ensure their physical survival.

The Russian Federation continues to ignore its obligations under the 2000 ceasefire agreement to withdraw its troops from our territories. We only believe in peaceful resolution of the conflict; that is our one and only position towards the resolution of the conflict. Our joint victory will only come when our IDPs are able to return to their homes. Bridges between people will be fully restored. The rule of law and human rights will be ensured throughout the whole territory of Georgia. Today, from this stage, I would like to send a message to all our Ossetian and Abkhaz citizens: our every success is your success, and the only future that we see is together with you, united in peace and prosperity.

I thank the Council of Europe for its unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of my country, and for keeping the issue of the occupation of Georgian territories high on its political agenda. I thank you all for the annual decisions of the Committee of Ministers on the issue and on the consolidated reports of the Secretary General. We greatly appreciate the close co-operation and co-ordination, especially in the direction of confidence-building measures and in the restoration of bridges between the divided communities. We are bolstering people-to-people relations by insisting that we are one country, one sovereign and united European nation.

In spring next year, we will host a peace forum in Georgia. Our goal is to contribute to peace and stability in the wider region, and therefore to give all the countries in the region the possibility to utilise the huge opportunities that have not yet been unleashed. As for the outstanding issue of Russia, we firmly believe that the member States should not allow a lowering of the Council of Europe’s standards or any downgrading of our common values to overcome the challenges we face, including the financial crisis.

Georgia supports the efforts aimed at solving the current financial difficulties. However, the position of Georgia remains that non-payment by Russia should not become a factor or condition for changing the existing rules or procedures of the Parliamentary Assembly or the Statute of the Council of Europe. Georgia has benefited from the different institutions of the Organisation for the last 20 years and as a sign of our gratitude the Government of Georgia have decided to make a voluntary contribution to the Council of Europe of €500 000.

It should be particularly emphasised that the action plans of the Council of Europe remain a very important instrument in helping certain member States to fulfil the recommendations issued by the various independent human rights monitoring institutions of the Council of Europe. It is important that the Council of Europe continues its work in both directions; on the one hand, it identifies shortcomings in member States through its monitoring institutions; and on the other hand, it continues to assist member States to rectify the shortcomings that are identified. Action plans are crucial, indeed critical, in that regard.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, in 1999 – 20 years ago – the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, the late Zurab Zhvania, spoke in this wonderful city of Strasbourg at the historic moment that Georgia joined the Council of Europe and he made his famous statement. I vividly remember his words and therefore today, 20 years afterwards, I reiterate the words that Zurab Zhavania spoke here in the Council of Europe: “I am Georgian, and therefore I am European”. Since those historic words, 20 years have passed and symbolically this year we will take up the chairmanship of the Council of Europe, the Organisation that has been our principal supporter on our path. It is now our turn to accept this torch and pass it to future generations. Thank you. Gmadlob.