Georgia enacts controversial ‘foreign agent’ law despite large-scale protests News
VOA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Georgia enacts controversial ‘foreign agent’ law despite large-scale protests

Georgia enacted a controversial “foreign agent” bill on Monday despite large-scale demonstrations against the law and international opposition.

Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili signed the law On Transparency of Foreign Influence, also known as the law on foreign agents” or the “Russian law,” which was subsequently published on the country’s Legislative Bulletin website. According to Article 46 of the Constitution of Georgia, if the president refuses to sign a law passed by parliament, the law must be signed and published by the chairman of the parliament within five days.

The draft law was first announced on February 14, 2023. It proposed the creation of an open register of foreign agents in the country, which would include media and non-profit organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad, with possible repercussions for non-compliance. However, the government was initially unable to continue consideration of this bill due to large-scale protests. On March 9, 2023, the Georgian parliament rejected the bill at its second reading.

However, the bill was revived in 2024, which resulted in mass protests in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi. On May 2, Georgia’s parliament had to cancel a plenary session due to the demonstrations. While the parliament approved the law on May 14, four days later, President Salome Zurabishvili vetoed it because of its similarity to a controversial Russian “foreign agents” law and alleged unconstitutionality. However, on May 28, the parliament passed the law, overriding the presidential veto.

Some non-governmental organizations said on May 29 that they would not comply with the law on “foreign agents.” International human rights organizations, civil society groups and election observers have called on European leaders to halt Georgia’s EU integration because the law “threatens to provide the government with tools to suppress civil society and independent media.” The United States also condemned the Georgian parliament for overriding the presidential veto of the law.

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