Georgian Parliament official: with transparency law, democracy has won in Georgia, political extremism has been defeated

With the law on transparency of foreign influence, democracy won in Georgia and political extremism was defeated, said on Monday Rati Ionatamishvili, the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights Protection and Civil Integration, during the discussion of the Georgian National Report on the State of Human Rights in Georgia (2021-2025) within the framework of the UN Universal Periodic Review.

“The principle of transparency, which is one of the most important institutional mechanisms of modern democracies, is inextricably linked to the protection of rights. International practice shows that financial flows of unknown origin pose a significant threat to both democratic governance and state sovereignty. In this context, the goal of transparency legislation is an informed citizen. The higher the transparency, the more protected national sovereignty is”, Ionatamishvili said.

“Additionally, there have been cases in Georgia when leaders of political parties established non-governmental organisations during the pre-election period, received grants in the name of the organisations and actually spent them in accordance with the interests of political parties. This is an anti-democratic practice. With the transparency law, democracy won in Georgia and political extremism was defeated”, he concluded.