PM: a number of NGOs have been created in Georgia, their activities “non-transparent”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Sunday said “a number of non-governmental organisations” had been created in the country over the years, with the activities of many of them remaining “non-transparent”.

In his interview with Imedi TV, the head of the Georgian Government said the recently rejected bill on transparency on foreign influence “aimed at making the NGOs activities and goals more transparent”. 

Speaking about the sector, the PM said the part of NGOs had been “directly engaged in inciting tension and provocations in the country”, naming Tbilisi Pride and the Shame movement as an example “that are funded by foreign organisations”. 

He also said his Government was considered one of the “most” transparent governments in the world and among leading democracies.

These NGOs call us out and urge us to be more transparent, which is good in its own, and our Government is considered one of the most transparent governments in the world and among leading democracies. Suffice to say, in terms of budget transparency, we rank 1st in the world… Our main interest, so to speak, was as follows: to protect our country’s national interests. And what I mean and meant by it is that, I pointed out, a lot of financing is channeled onto the accounts of NGOs, they have received hundreds of millions of USD since our country’s regained independence. Their goals, their activities are untransparent, we have very little information, and we requested minimal transparency and minimal accountability to our society,” the PM noted.

He added laws on foreign influence had been adopted in the United States and the European Union countries, with Great Britain and Canada also working on the adoption of such laws. 

The Georgian lawmakers had used the American version of the law that was adopted in 1938 and has been modified and refined several times since then”, he said. 

The draft law, which involved registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “agents of foreign influence” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad, passed its first hearing at the Parliament earlier this week, with its discussions accompanied by heated exchanges and clashes between MPs, as well as public rallies outside the legislative body.

The PM stressed the Government's opponents had used a “sensitive topic” of the Russian occupation of Georgian territories to “mislead” the public over the bill and the backlash from the international community had also “confused” the public.