Georgian civil society organisations in crisis
Armorer Wason, BEARR Adviser
‘I haven’t experienced this kind of repression; I grew up in post-Soviet Georgia. I’m finding it really hard to adjust. Our whole identity is under threat.’
In mid-September I spent time with two civil society organisation (CSO) leaders in Tbilisi.
Nino (all names have been changed), the director of a well-respected non-governmental organisation, supporting a highly stigmatised and marginalised population, was reeling at the speed and force of the harsh political crackdown that CSOs are currently facing.
Ana, whom I met the next day, had travelled from the long-established and highly regarded NGO she works with in western Georgia, which supports a similarly vulnerable population. She was no less aware of the gravity of their situation.
I was meeting Nino and Ana at a critical moment. Two weeks beforehand, at the end of August, the assets of seven of the largest human rights NGOs had been frozen by the courts. Four went to court to argue that they could not register as ‘foreign agents’, as they don’t represent the interests of a foreign country. But that didn’t wash with the judiciary put in place by Georgia’s Georgian Dream government. The conversations I had with Nino and Ana were permeated by fear and worry: would civil society organisations be able to survive the government crackdown, and in what form? What would be the subsequent impact on the people their organisations serve?
Over coffee Nino told me that the Georgian government has introduced more than 50 laws since the disputed October 2024 election and subsequent mass protests, to restrict freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, media freedom, political pluralism and civil activism. Laws forcing NGOs, media organisations and individuals that receive foreign funds to register as ‘organisations serving foreign interests’ have been amended repeatedly to be increasingly draconian.
The authorities use similar ‘informal’ tactics to those used to pressurise voters in the run-up to the October 2024 election: threats to NGO staff and their families; trumped-up charges and heavy fines, for instance for buying medical supplies and protective equipment for people protesting in street demonstrations. And as with the elections, avenues for redress have been removed.
Nino told me that she is most frightened by the possibility that the authorities will try to get at her via her young child. Earlier in the year she received anonymous telephone threats, a voice telling her, ‘We know where your child goes to school’. She now tries hard to ensure that her child is never alone.
The continuing dilemma for NGOs is how to respond to the ‘foreign agent’ legislation.
The way this works is that a so-called “Anti-corruption Bureau” contacts the CSO with a requirement to register. The first version of the law, the ‘Transparency of Foreign Influence Act’, imposed fines for non-compliance, but those who are summoned to register under the subsequent ‘Foreign Agents Registration Act’, and do not do so, are at risk of imprisonment. Registering means providing all financial information and all contracts, and most serious of all, and ethically repugnant for Ana and Nino, the personal details of all their beneficiaries.
The laws are confusing and keep changing, application is arbitrary. Ana’s organisation has been summoned, and has provided the required financial information but has left blank the sections asking for the personal details of beneficiaries. So far, they haven’t been summoned to provide these details. Nino told me that while her organisation hasn’t yet been summoned, others which have, and which have provided financial information, have been told that they are ‘unacceptable’.
With the closure of USAID, the financial situation for CSOs was already very serious. Many international donors, including the EU, have paused their calls for proposals, given the ongoing uncertainty, and it is far from clear that NGOs will be able to sustain their activities. Neither Ana nor Nino are receiving salaries, but working as volunteers, relying on other part-time work in an effort to keep going in some form. Both are clearly focused on trying to find ways for their organisations to survive. For some CSOs this means finding ways for their organisations to operate informally – while giving the impression that they are not operating.
Ana described other dilemmas. Previously they worked closely with local government, and it was through their strong relationships with local government that they were able to do their work. But now few CSOs feel that co-operation with government is possible, even if walking away from local government partner is to the detriment of their beneficiaries. It no longer feels safe to maintain previously productive relationships with state authorities.
Unsurprisingly, the crackdown has created distrust and division between civil society organisations. Nino reports that some NGO staff have ‘changed sides’, saying ‘we need to adjust’. And it is becoming clear that some organisations are not so much NGOs as ‘GONGOs’ – Government-Organised Non-Governmental Organisations – secretly supported by and loyal to the state, and rewarded for their compliance.
One year on from the decision by the Georgian Dream government to pause European Union accession efforts, the political turmoil has not subsided. The huge street protests that followed the elections still take place on a smaller scale, with hundreds turning out each night, despite fines, imprisonment and the authorities’ cat-and-mouse efforts to drive the protesters off the main streets of the capital.
And despite the hugely difficult situations they face, Ana and Nino maintain their huge commitment to their work. Both believe that they can continue to do something, and that somehow their organisations must and will survive.
28 November 2025
Statement from Amnesty and others, 10 September 2025
EU Observer, 6 August 2025
When the state turns on its own: Georgia’s civil society under siege
Statement from British Embassy Tbilisi, 29 August 2025
Freezing of NGO accounts in Georgia
Transparency International Georgia, 4 April 2025
The Path to Dictatorship: Review of Georgian Dream’s Recent Repressive Legislative Initiatives
