human rights

In the post-Soviet phase, the rhetoric of expanding human rights and democratic change in the Caucasus has far outpaced the reality of successfully implementing reform. While freedom of expression, transparent electioneering and judicial fairness have emerged with varying degrees of potency, governments in the region remain grossly deficient in protecting their citizens’ human rights. Either monopolized by oligarchs or the government itself, the press has struggled to develop a critical role, while public demonstrations in the wake of election fraud have been met with reprisal by state security forces. The judiciary has especially failed to become independent of pressures from quarters of society, where wealth and power are highly concentrated. In Georgia, where mainstream opinion makers hailed Mikhail Saakashvili’s rise to power as a boon to the spread of democracy, human rights groups continue to observe the same violation and lack of protection of basic civil liberties.