On Thursday, 29 June 2023, at 09:30, at the Georgian Museum of Fine Arts (Conference Hall), the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the Georgian Democracy Initiative, will host the first Georgian anti-SLAPP Conference, aimed at discussing the topics related to the Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs).
Stefan Sirbu, the Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, Eduard Marikashvili, Head of the Georgian Democracy Initiative and Tamar Gvaramadze, the first Deputy Public Defender of Georgia will open the event.
The SLAPPs are widely recognised tools to curb freedom of expression, as well as public participation and refers to filing unfounded lawsuits by politically or economically influential persons against active members of society (journalists, NGOs, activists). the threats posed by SLAPPs have a “chilling effect” on everyone actively engaged in public life and trying to take a stand on issues of public importance. In 2021-2023, the tendency towards SLAPPs can be observed in Georgia too. At this stage, no less than 38 defamation cases are pending in the general courts of Georgia. These lawsuits have similar characteristics and bear systematic nature.
The First Georgian Anti-SLAPP Conference aims at facilitating the discussion around the SLAPPs tendency worldwide and particularly, in Georgia, by bringing together the experts from Europe, the USA, and Georgia, as well as the representatives of key stakeholders, such as media, civil society, justice system, association of lawyers etc. The conference is a first attempt to raise awareness about SLAPPs and to identify solutions to it in Georgia. Herewith, the event will also become the occasion for establishing the Georgian anti-SLAPP platform by Civil Society Organisations.
The persons interested in the online participation, are kindly asked to register at the following link: Council of Europe Invitation / ევროპის საბჭოს მოსაწვევი - Google Forms
The conference is held in the framework of the Council of Europe project “Strengthening Media Freedom, Internet Governance and Personal Data Protection in Georgia”, in partnership with the Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI). The conference is supported by the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia, the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE), Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) and USAID Rule of Law Program implemented by the East-West Management Institute (EWMI).
Contact person:
Ann (Anuka) Toklikishvili, Communications Officer at the Council of Europe Office in Georgia
Email address: ann.toklikishvili@coe.int | Mobile phone number: +995 595 221 999.
