Tag Archives: law

Georgia to ban foreign farm ownership

JUNE 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — Georgia prepared to ban foreigners from owning agricultural land, another marker in a long-running debate over just how much of Georgia’s farmland to allow foreigners to buy. Former President Mikheil Saakashvili had promoted Georgia as a place for foreigners to set up farms, encouraging both South Africans and Indians to move to Georgia until a popular backlash forced him to abandon the policy. Now, media reports that the ruling Georgian Dream coalition government is preparing to tweak the constitution to limit foreign ownership.

ENDS

Copyright ©Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

 

Georgia to ban smoking, tighten cigarette packaging from 2018

TBILISI, MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin)  — Tough new smoking laws will bring Georgian legislation in line with guidelines included in a trade and association agreement that Georgia signed with the EU this year, said Georgia’s public ombudsman.

The bill, approved by parliament on May 17, will impose tighter rules on cigarette packaging and advertising, as well as a blanket ban on smoking inside public buildings.

Georgia has been slower than its neighbours in following a global trend to clampdown on smoking, partially because restrictions are so unpopular among Georgia’s heavy- smoking population. The World Health Organisation said more than half of all Georgian men smoke and between 9,000 to 11,000 die from smoking-related diseases each year.

Georgia’s ombudsman praised the new regulations as a step towards improving public health and said it “ brought the applicable tobacco legislation in line with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the recommendations and the directives of the Georgia-EU Association Agreement”.

Smoking in Georgia is currently banned only in medical facilities, educational institutions and public transport. Most bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants allow smoking.

Dato Zaaliasvhili, the manager of Cafe Kala, a modern cafe, said that his business will not suffer.

“We have implemented a non-smoking policy in our cafe already and clients’ reaction have not been bad. Our businesses will not be negatively affected by the new legislation”, he said.

But Nato, the manager of the more traditional Old Keria, disagreed.

“The vast majority of our customers smoke,” she said. “This will badly affect my business.”

The new packaging regulations will be imposed from January 2018 and the ban on smoking in public buildings a few months later.

ENDS

Copyright ©Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

 

Uzbekistan bans violent computer games to protect “civil harmony”

TASHKENT, MAY 25 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s government banned 34 computer games because it said that they were too violent and corrupted their users.

Investors and Western analysts will be concerned that the ban betrays an authoritarian streak in Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s administration but gamers in Tashkent suggested that it smacked more of a lack of understanding and incompetence.

The surprise announcement banned violent computer games such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty but also covered less aggressive games such as The Sims which focuses on parenthood.

The Uzbek government press release said that the games were a threat “to the political stability of the country, civil peace, interethnic and interreligious harmony”.

Mr Mirziyoyev has been Uzbek president since September 2016 when the authoritarian Islam Karimov, who banned pool halls, died. Mr Mirziyoyev has made a virtue of appearing less authoritarian than his predecessor, talking up the possibility of currency liberalisation and opening up to foreign investors.

In Tashkent, kiosks selling computer games continued to trade as normal with shopkeepers claiming that they hadn’t even heard of the ban. And there was also a sense in internet cafes that the government didn’t understand gaming culture.

One gamer who wished to remain anonymous said that most people download their games over the internet.

“This ban won’t have any effect,” he said. “Real gamers don’t visit internet cafes as the computers there aren’t powerful enough for the games on the banned list.”

Another gamer said the ban was “feckless” and “stupid”. He said the government had already tried and failed to ban hundreds of films as well as Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas.

ENDS

Copyright ©Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

 

Georgia ratifies domestic violence convention

MAY 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia became the first country in the former Soviet Union to ratify the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention aimed at increasing punishment for domestic violence, media reported. The Convention increases police powers and sets up a series of 24-hour telephone lines to report domestic violence.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)

 

Turkmenistan’s anti-corruption drive speeds up

MAY 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan is preparing a new draft law on combating corruption, continuing an anti-graft drive that has left onlookers wondering the motivation behind it. Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has said that the anti-corruption campaign is aimed at defending ordinary people’s rights but analysts have said it may be a tool to distract from the economic downturn, linked to a drop in commodity prices, and also a way to unseat ministers and officials that are considered to be too powerful.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

HRW praises new Kyrgyz domestic violence laws

BISHKEK, MAY 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) praised Kyrgyzstan for introducing new laws surrounding domestic violence, describing them as setting an important new standard for the region.

Activists have complained that domestic violence has largely gone unchecked and ignored by the male- dominated societies of Central Asia. They consider the introduction of the laws which make reporting domestic violence easier, as reported in issue 327 of The Conway Bulletin, to be groundbreaking.

Hillary Margolis, women’s rights researcher at HRW, said: “By enacting this new law, the Kyrgyz government has shown a commitment to the rights of domestic abuse victims and is setting a standard that others in the region should follow.”

The new laws improve protection for the victims of domestic violence and also validate that a complaint made by anybody about domestic violence has to be investigated by the police. Previously only a complaint by the direct victim had to be investigated and often these victims were reluctant to come forward.

HRW said that domestic violence was widespread in Kyrgyzstan, affecting a third of women. It said that only around half the cases were reported and, even then, only 7% were referred to courts as criminal cases.

It is a similar story across the region. Last year, in Kazakhstan, the issue of domestic violence was thrust into the mainstream when the popular TV host Bayan Yessentayeva was beaten by her husband at a petrol station outside Almaty. In subsequent interviews, women’s rights campaigners described domestic abuse as rampant because of a mix of heavy drinking and macho attitudes which subjugate women.

Referring to Kyrgyzstan, HRW said that the new laws needed to be backed-up by a change to the mindset.

“The new domestic violence law will only be meaningful if its promise is backed by action to make better protection for victims a reality,” Ms Margolis, from HRW, said.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

 

Azerbaijani court considers blocking critical websites

MAY 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Azerbaijan has started considering the government’s request to block access to a range of websites that it considers to be excessively critical, including the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Media freedom activists have said that the move is a blatant attack on free speech. The US and the EU have clashed with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev over his treatment of the media and opposition activists.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Domestic violence law in Kyrgyzstan becomes strengthened

APRIL 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev signed into law a bill that is designed to strengthen legislation against domestic violence. The new law obliges police to investigate all reports of domestic violence even if the complaint was not filed by the victim.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Kyrgyz president admin. files another law suit against media group

APRIL 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Independent Kyrgyz news website Zanoza.kg said that the Kyrgyz Presidential Administration had filed a fifth lawsuit against it for allegedly offending the dignity of Pres. Almazbek Atambayev. Media campaigners have said that press freedom is being squeezed in Kyrgyzstan, once held up as a bastion of free press in Central Asia.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Convicted terrorists in Kazakhstan to lose citizenship

APRIL 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh MPs passed into law a bill that will strip people convicted of terrorism of their citizenship. Kazakhstan and the rest of Central Asia have been fighting to dampen a flow of recruits to the extremist IS group over the past few years. The main suspects behind an attack in Istanbul and St Petersburg this year were from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)