This week, Georgia’s State Agency for Religious Issues has made an unprecedented attack on civil society. At a parliamentary hearing on 6 May devoted to last December’s annual report on human rights by the Public Defender’s Office, representatives of the agency claimed that NGOs in Georgia are a driving force behind radicalisation. In a country with roughly 100-200 foreign fighters allegedly involved in Iraq and Syria, and a considerable Muslim minority, this is a sensitive allegation.
In recent years, the Georgian government has downplayed the threat of Islamic radicalisation. But these fresh accusations against Georgian civil society call into question the government’s ability to adequately address the problem.
Singling out
The State Agency, which implements the country’s policy on religion (especially in the area of financing as well as education and property), singled out the work of one NGO in particular, the Education and and Monitoring Centre (EMC).
