24 OSCE countries have invoked the Moscow Mechanism in connection with human rights violations in Georgia.

The United Kingdom and 23 other OSCE countries have initiated the creation of an expert mission in response to the deteriorating human rights situation in Georgia. The mission's representatives are to assess human rights violations in the country from 2024.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in 2018, the OSCE Moscow Mechanism was activated against Russia in response to reports of human rights violations in Chechnya. At that time, 16 countries called for the creation of an extraordinary international investigation mission into Russia's violation of its commitments to the organization. In December of that year, a report prepared under the Moscow Mechanism was presented, citing information about enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial executions, pressure on human rights defenders, and persecution of gays in Chechnya as indisputable facts. At the same time, human rights activists indicated that the publication of this report will not affect the situation in the republic.

The United Kingdom and 23 other countries initiated the creation of an expert mission in connection with human rights violations in Georgia within the framework of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism. The mission is to assess the extent to which Georgia complies with its obligations to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The Moscow Mechanism was activated against Georgia, in particular, due to the country's authorities' actions to ban leading opposition parties through the courts, the criminal prosecution of opposition leaders, allegations of brutal treatment by security forces of detainees and prisoners, and legislative restrictions on the space for civil society and independent media.

The decision to use the OSCE Moscow Mechanism against Georgia was supported by Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Sweden, the British Foreign Office press service reported on January 29.

The mission's experts, co-created by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, are tasked with comprehensively examining the situation in Georgia "with a particular focus on events that have occurred since the spring of 2024," documenting human rights violations, and preparing an analytical report with recommendations. The analysis will cover the state of civil society, media freedom, the rule of law, judicial independence, and ensuring political pluralism.

A joint statement issued by the delegations of 24 countries notes that the Vienna Mechanism was invoked in December 2024 to obtain additional information about the situation in Georgia, but Tbilisi failed to respond to the main question—the responsibility of law enforcement agencies for the violent dispersal of protesters. "We urge Georgia to cooperate with the mission and facilitate its work," the statement reads.

Expected Results of the Mission's Work in Georgia

The work of experts within the Moscow Mechanism in Georgia will very likely reveal "specific crimes" of the ruling regime," which, in turn, could lead to the isolation of the Georgian government internationally, stated political scientist Dimitri Tskitishvili.

"This investigation could turn the ruling Georgian Dream party into lepers on the international level. (...) The regime will no longer be able to use the country to launder sanctioned and illegal capital and will lose vital financial resources. "Such an unviable system is of no interest even to Russian oligarchs," JAMnews quotes the political scientist as saying.

The Moscow Mechanism is one of the most stringent and rarely used instruments of the OSCE's humanitarian dimension. It is used in particularly serious situations requiring urgent international intervention, noted Tamta Mikeladze, Director of the Center for Social Justice.

"The use of the Moscow Mechanism means that the human rights situation in Georgia is being critically assessed by international organizations, and the Georgian government is already classified as one of the most authoritarian countries," the human rights activist noted.