Dr. Mohammad Salami‏‏

In recent days, hundreds of protestors have demonstrated in Georgia against the Parliament’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/may/14/georgia-tbilisi-protests-riot-police-demonstrations-foreign-agents-bill-live-latest-updates" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">proposed</a> "foreign agent" bill. The draft law was previously under consideration in February 2023, but widespread protests at the time caused the Parliament to withdraw its backing for the bill.The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party plans to try its luck again and has held two of three legislative sessions despite widespread protests, with the third soon to be held this month.The draft foreign agent law would require media and civil society organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from foreign sources to register as an "agents of foreign influence." Violators of this law could be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/02/georgia-protests-against-foreign-agent-law/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fined</a> up to $9,000 USD. Critics oppose the bill for two reasons: "intensification of Russian influence" and a "decrease in the power of civil society."A large percentage of pro-democracy and free-speech media, institutions, and think tanks in Georgia are financed by foreign sources. Georgia’s road towards democracy has been long and difficult, and human rights institutions have little domestic support. The implementation of this law would label such institutions as alien entities and cast them as espionage tools for foreigners.The GD, which has been accused of Russian influence, sees this bill as an opportunity. Georgia has parliamentary elections coming up in October 2024, and weakening civil society would give the GD more power to push aside its opponents in the elections.Moscow’s influence has created a wave of concern among Georgians because the proposed bill resembles a similar law in Russia. In 2011, Vladimir Putin faced widespread protests after he was re-elected president in a controversial election. At that time, the Kremlin realized that it needed to do more to stifle civil society organizations and institutions. As a first step, the foreign agent law was <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/01/europe/russia-foreign-agents-repression-intl/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">passed</a> in November 2012; the definition of foreign agents was gradually <a href="http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202207140018?index=8&amp;rangeSize=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">expanded</a> in 2022 to include foreign support for non-governmental organizations in addition to financial aid.Foreign agent laws have been implemented in many other countries. China, India, Cambodia, Uganda, and Ethiopia, among others, have similar legislation in place—so why was the bill met with such vocal opposition in Georgia?Under Viktor Orbán’s government, Hungary <a href="https://theconversation.com/georgia-is-sliding-towards-autocracy-after-government-moves-to-force-through-bill-on-foreign-agents-228219" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">passed </a>a foreign agent law in 2017, which was seen as a major blow to the country’s democracy. In March 2024, the Kyrgyz president signed a "foreign representatives" law that was almost identical to its Russian counterpart. The implementation of this law has caused various problems in different countries. In Ethiopia, the number of domestic human rights NGOs drastically decreased after the adoption of a foreign agent law in 2010. In Russia, the passage of the law led to the departure of several pro-democracy aid agencies, including USAID, the International Republican Institute, and the National Democratic Institute.Authorities in Georgia have defended the bill on the basis that similar laws have already been implemented elsewhere. For example, after the EU Commission’s <a href="https://balkaninsight.com/2024/05/08/eus-foreign-agent-law-is-misguided/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">approval</a> of the Directive on Transparency of Interest Representation on Behalf of Third Countries in 2023, which critics called the "EU foreign agent law," Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili <a href="https://agenda.ge/en/news/2024/38534#gsc.tab=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">announced</a> that the Georgian draft was based on this EU precedent.Likewise, in an attempt to refute accusations that Georgia’s bill was inspired by Russian legislation, representatives of the GD <a href="https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/georgias-foreign-agents-law-dangerous-gamble" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">claim</a>ed that their legislative agenda was inspired by prior US legislation. According to the GD, Georgia’s draft law was an exact translation of the 1938 American Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a law introduced by the Roosevelt administration on the eve of World War II to limit pro-Nazi propaganda, and which is still in force in the US today.There are differences between the Georgian bill and laws adopted in other countries. For example, FARA aimed to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/georgia-what-next-after-foreign-agent-bill-protests/a-64971920" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">prevent</a> political lobbying rather than to exert pressure on civil society. Although there were later <a href="https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/georgias-foreign-agents-law-dangerous-gamble" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">amendments</a> to FARA, only 5 percent of NGOs operating in the US are registered under that act. While other legislation of this type has aimed to stop foreign interference in internal affairs, Georgia’s draft law would continue down Russia’s path and expand the Kremlin’s influence over Georgia.The EU has expressed disappointment with Georgia’s draft law. On 16 April, Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, and Olivér Várhelyi, the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement,&nbsp;jointly <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/05/09/georgia-foreign-influence-bill-threatens-rights#:~:text=(Berlin%2C%20May%209%2C%202024,Human%20Rights%20Watch%20said%20today." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">urged</a> Georgia&nbsp;officials to withdraw the bill, which they said would "negatively impact" Georgia’s EU candidacy. On 1 May, Borrell condemned the violence against protesters.&nbsp;In 2022, the European Court of Human Rights previously found that the Georgia law would violate Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.Georgia has a population of 3.7 million people, including 1.1 million in the capital of Tbilisi, and is one of nine countries actively <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/11/thousands-protest-against-foreign-influence-bill-in-georgia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">seeking</a> to join the EU. Georgia was granted official candidate status last December. However, if the new law is passed, its EU ambitions will face a serious setback, since a free and independent press is a prerequisite to start accession negotiations. Tbilisi seems to be torn between the EU and Russia, and the country is fractured between the people, the pro-EU president, and the pro-Russia parliament.Russia managed to increase its influence in Georgia after the 2008 invasion that led to the seizure of 20 percent of the latter’s territory. On 4 April, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov defended Georgia’s draft law and <a href="https://civil.ge/archives/590134" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">claimed</a> that it was normal practice for Georgia to oppose the interference of other countries in its internal politics.Russia’s influence Georgian political society is hardly new. Tbilisi did not participate in Western sanctions <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/dispatch-from-tbilisi-amid-georgias-battle-for-democracy-russian-influence/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">against</a> Moscow and instead became one of Russia’s main trading partners. Direct flights between the two countries have resumed, and Russia removed Georgia from its list of unfriendly countries in March 2022. Georgia has facilitated a significant number of Russian businesses moving to Georgia, where thousands of Russian companies have been registered since the 2008 invasion.In May 2023, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili <a href="https://civil.ge/archives/545397" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">echoed</a> the Kremlin’s words when he claimed that NATO expansion was a main driver for the war in Ukraine.This <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/dispatch-from-tbilisi-amid-georgias-battle-for-democracy-russian-influence/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">bill</a> goes against the wishes of the more than 80 percent of Georgians who want to join the EU and the more than 70 percent who want to join NATO. In addition, the proposed law violates Article 78 of Constitution of Georgia, which requires the country’s constitutional bodies to take all necessary measures to ensure Georgia’s full integration into the European Union and NATO.Georgia has now become a dilemma for the EU. Tbilisi’s actions have generated pessimism and eroded public support, as has happened in other countries once eager to join the EU, such as Serbia. Since <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/with-russia-focused-on-ukraine-georgia-should-forge-ahead-boldly-with-its-euro-atlantic-ambitions/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">applying</a> for accession in 2009, Serbia stalled reforms and retreated from establishing media freedom and the rule of law. Public support in Serbia for joining the EU has since fallen from 65 percent in 2009 to only 33 percent in 2022.The passage of the Georgian bill is a test of democracy that reflects the willingness of different sectors to align themselves with Russia or the EU. It remains to be seen how differences between the Georgian authorities and the people will be resolved.

Why Georgia’s 'Foreign Agent' Bill Sparked Protests?