38 OSCE Countries Apply 'Vienna Mechanism' to Georgia Due to Serious Human Rights Violations

On Friday, 38 OSCE participating states, including Ukraine, initiated the so-called ‘Vienna Mechanism’ against Georgia in view of serious human rights violations in the country and the lack of a proper response from the Georgian authorities.

This was reported by Ukrinform with reference to a joint letter sent to the Georgian Mission to the OSCE.

‘We express our serious concern about reports of human rights violations committed by law enforcement officials and the use of violence by unidentified groups against peaceful protesters, journalists and passers-by, which has remained without a proper response from law enforcement agencies,’ the letter says.

Concerns were expressed about the ‘continuing failure’ of the Georgian authorities to ensure accountability and respond to cases of unjustified violence, including by law enforcement officials.

‘Given Georgia's unsatisfactory response to international calls to respect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression for Georgian citizens, as well as to release arbitrarily detained demonstrators, our countries initiate the application of the Vienna Mechanism (under the human dimension), together with Georgia's obligations and responsibilities under this mechanism,’ the letter reads.

It requests the Georgian authorities to provide concrete answers to a number of questions, including: what measures are being taken to investigate violations of the right to peaceful assembly, cases of arbitrary detention, torture, violence against protesters, journalists and observers; what actions have been taken to ensure freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association without repression; how the safety of opposition members and pluralism of opinion is guaranteed; what steps are being taken to prevent the recurrence of human rights violations and bring those responsible to justice; and

A joint letter to the representative of Georgia to the OSCE was sent on behalf of the delegations of Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Ukraine.

On 28 November, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said that Georgia was refusing to negotiate accession to the EU and to receive EU financial assistance until 2028. This position of the authorities caused outrage in society, and mass protests began in Tbilisi and other cities of the country.

The Vienna Mechanism is an OSCE method of work in the human dimension initiated by participating States. It includes the exchange of information and bilateral meetings between participating States at the initiative of any of them, as well as discussions between participating States and at OSCE events. This is the most important of the four mechanisms in the OSCE's arsenal, which is used in the event of the most sensitive security threats to the organisation, including potentially armed actions.