Jim O'Brien, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs of the USA, spoke out against the bills initiated by the ruling party of Georgia.
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“Concerned about legislative initiatives in Georgia's Parliament that risk moving Georgia away from Europe. The U.S. will always speak up in defense of human rights for all, including freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly”, wrote O'Brien on the social network X.
The ruling Georgian Dream has reintroduced the draft law on so-called foreign agents, which it rejected a year ago due to a large-scale public protest, and has promised to recall it "unconditionally, without any reservations" from the parliament. The text of the draft law remains the same - only "agent of foreign influence" has been replaced by the term "organization carrying out the interests of a foreign power". The ruling party intends to pass the Russian law before the end of the spring session, even though it could harm Georgia's European integration process.
At the end of March, the leaders of the Georgian Dream also presented constitutional amendments, the purpose of which, according to them, is to protect "future generations from pseudo-liberal propaganda." In fact, the amendments prohibit any public expression of opinion or public gathering that could be considered a "promotion of same-sex relationships." The Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatovic assessed this initiative of the ruling party as manipulation of LGBTI phobia and discrimination.
