URGENT APPEAL – THE OBSERVATORY
GEO 001 / 0309 / OBS 054
Acts of harassment
Georgia
March 30, 2009
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint
programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent
intervention in the following situation in Georgia.
Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by the Human Rights Centre (HRIDC)
about acts of harassment against Mr. Arnold Stepanyan, a defender of
the human rights of minorities in Georgia, Chairman of the human
rights NGO `Multinational Georgia’ and co-founder of the Multiethnic
Resource Centre for Civil Education Development.
According to the information received, on March 19, 2009, a district
police inspector visited, for the first time, the offices of the
Multiethnic Resource Centre for Civil Education Development, though
they are located next to the Ministry of Defence in an area closely
monitored by law enforcement bodies, and asked questions about the
organisation and its leadership.
On the same day, a person, who refused to identify himself, called and
asked a staff member whether Mr. Arnold Stepanyan was Chairman of
`Multinational Georgia’, whether he was at the moment in the office
and when he would come to the office.
In addition, on March 19, 2009, the Tax Inspection Office of the
Ministry of Finance closed down a small business called `Arnold
Stepanyan’, which was established in 2000 and was run by
Mr. Stepanyan’s father in his flat and a company called `Giperioni
Limited’, which was co-established by Mr. Arnold Stepanyan in 2006.
These acts follow the transmission to the Council of Europe, early
2009, of a critical alternative report on the protection of minority
rights in Georgia, of which Mr. Stepanyan, as Chairman of
`Multinational Georgia’, is one of the authors. Mr. Stepanyan is also
an expert in the field of inter-ethnic relations, an active member of
the Assembly of Tbilisi Armenians and Co-founder of the NGO Coalition
`For Democracy’. Finally, Mr. Stepanyan is a member of a group that
organised a demonstration held in Tbilisi on March 15, 2009 calling
for justice and freedom.
The Observatory expresses its deepest concern about these acts of
harassment against Mr. Arnold Stepanyan, which seem to merely aim at
sanctioning his human rights activities.
The Observatory recalls that as a Participating State of the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Georgia
must conform with paragraph 8 of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Resolution on Strengthening OSCE Engagement with Human Rights
Defenders and National Human Rights Institutions, which states that
the OSCE Participating States recognise `the need for particular
attention, support and protection for human rights defenders by the
OSCE, its institutions and field operations, as well as by
participating States’.
The Observatory also urges the Georgian authorities to conform to the
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on
Human Rights Defenders, so as to create an environment conducive to
human rights defenders, to take effective measures to protect,
promote, and respect them, to ensure their access to effective
remedies and to take action to prevent attacks and harassment against
them.
Action requested:
Please write to the Georgian authorities urging them to:
i. Take all necessary measures to guarantee, in all circumstances, the
physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Arnold Stepanyan;
ii. Conduct a prompt, effective, thorough, independent and impartial
investigation into the above-mentioned acts of harassment against Mr.
Arnold Stepanyan, the result of which must be made public, in order to
identify all those responsible, bring them before a competent,
independent and impartial tribunal and apply to them the penal, civil
and/or administrative sanctions provided by the law;
iii. Put an end to any act of harassment against Mr. Arnold Stepanyan
as well as against all human rights defenders in Georgia;
iv. Comply with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights
Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in
particular Article 1, which states that `everyone has the right,
individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment
of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and
international levels’ and Article 12.2, which provides that `the State
shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the
competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association
with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or
de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action
as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights
referred to in the present Declaration’;
v. Guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in
accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other
international human rights instruments ratified by Georgia.
Addresses:
* Mr. Mikhail Saakashvili, President, State Chancellery, 7 Ingorokhva
Street, 0134 Tbilisi, Georgia; Tel : (995 32) 28-27-13; (995 32)
28-24-00; (995 32)99 96 53; ( 995 32) 98-72-62, ( 995 32) / 99-87-50,
Fax: ( 995 32) 98-72-62 (99532) 28-27-68; (99532)28-27-14; E-mail:
[email protected], [email protected]
* Mrs. Eka Tkeshelashvili, Secretary of the National Security Council
of Georgia, 7, Ingorokhva Street. 0134 Tbilisi, Georgia, Tel: (995 32)
93 23 22 ; Fax: (995 32) 98 99 72 ; E-mail: [email protected]
* Mr. Ivane Merabishvili, Minister of Interior, Ministry of Interior
of Georgia, 10, Gulua street, Tbilisi, Georgia. Tel: (995 32) 74 62
50; +995 32 99 62 96 / 99 80 50 / 99 95 55/27 28 44/99 53 50/98 39 43;
Fax:(995 32) 98 71 46 / 99 95 24; E-mail: [email protected],
[email protected]
* Mr. Giorgi Arsenishvili, Head of the Parliamentary Committee on
Human Rights Petitions and Relations with the Civil Society,
Parliament of Georgia, 8 Rustaveli Avenue. 380018 Tbilisi, Georgia;
Tel: (995 32) 28 13 88; Fax: (995 32) 92 15 63. Email:
[email protected]
* Mr. Zurab Adeishvili, Minister of Justice, 19, Griboedov st,
Tbilisi, 0108, Georgia, Tel: (995 32) 93 27 21 / 93 50 49 / 75-82-22;
Fax: (995 32) 93 02 25 / 75-82-22 ; Email: [email protected]
* Mr. Sozar Subari, Ombudsman of Georgia, 11, Machabeli street,
Tbilisi 0107,Georgia, Phone: (995 32) 92 39 60 / 92 24 78 / 92 24 81 /
93 15 85; Fax: ( 995 32) 92 24 70; Email: [email protected]
* H.E Mr. Giorgi Gorgiladze, Ambassador, Permanent mission of Georgia
to the United Nations in Geneva, Rue Richard Wagner 1, 1202 Geneva,
Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22 733 90 33 ; Email:
<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]
* Diplomatic Mission of Georgia to Brussels, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 732
85 47
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Georgia in your
respective countries.
***
Geneva – Paris, March 30, 2009
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code
number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the
protection of human rights defenders and aims to offer them concrete
support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the
French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax OMCT : + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 (0) 22 809 49 29
Tel and fax: FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 33 (0) 1 43 55 18 80
Email: [email protected]