This joint submission—authored by the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC), Women’s Initiatives Support Group (WISG), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), ILGA-Europe, Transgender Europe (TGEU), and the Social Justice Center (SJC) - provides an updated assessment of Georgia’s implementation of the Identoba and Others v. Georgia group of cases concerning LGBTI related rights ahead of the Committee of Ministers' 1569th DH meeting. Focusing specifically on individual measures in Aghdgomelashvili and Japaridze and Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group and Others, as well as broader general measures affecting LGBTI rights, this submission responds to the Georgian Government’s Action Report of 29 June 2026. The submission highlights a complete lack of progress on domestic investigations and details how recent legal and political developments in Georgia contradict the State’s obligations under Article 46 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Despite repeated calls from the Committee of Ministers to accelerate investigations and grant victim status to applicants, the Georgian authorities have demonstrated total stagnation, with no meaningful investigative steps taken since 2025. In Aghdgomelashvili and Japaridze, over 16 years after the 2009 police raid, only a single officer faces a minor charge, while 16 others remain unprosecuted as statutory limitation periods expire. In Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group and Others, 13 years after the violent mob attack on peaceful demonstrators on May 17, 2013, not a single perpetrator or responsible official has been identified or charged. On general measures, the Government has explicitly refused to repeal the discriminatory "Family Values Law" despite explicit calls from the Committee. Instead, it has further regressed by introducing legislative restrictions on freedom of assembly, removing gender identity as a protected ground in antidiscrimination and hate-crime frameworks, and continuing with hostile public rhetoric against LGBTI individuals and civil society organizations.
The signatory organizations submit that Georgia’s posture has transitioned from noncompliance into open refusal to abide by the European Court’s final judgments. These domestic rollbacks have been independently condemned by international bodies, including the OSCE Moscow Mechanism Rapporteur, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. Consequently, the submission urges the Committee of Ministers to denounce, in strongest terms, Georgia’s defiance and a clear refusal to comply with the Identoba group cases, to consider taking new, stronger action in line with the avenues open to the Committee and to invite all other 45 CoE member states to substantially increase their bilateral engagement with Georgia on this group of cases, as well as on matters concerning the broader, continuing escalation of repression against and undermining of Convention rights and values in Georgia.
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