The sitting of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee
The Parliament started development of drug policy liberalization. Committee considered the draft on Narcotic Means, Psychotropic Agents, Pre-cursors and Addiction Aid. The draft is entailed with the Decision of the Constitutional Court of October 24, 2015 N1/4/592 and the Judgment of February 15, 2017 N3/1/855.
As the acting Justice Minister, Alexander Baramidze stated, compliance of the public threat and respective penalty deriving from the committed actions have been considered upon development. “Despite that Marihuana has hazardous impact on health, preparation, storage, acquisition or transportation in small amount for personal use without threat of distribution and sale, is not hazardous for other persons and public order and hence, no criminal responsibility shall be imposed”.
The changes envisage preparation, purchase, storage and transportation of cannabis and marihuana in small amount for personal use will not entail detention. “Preparation of drugs, similar agents or pre-cursors in small amount, as well as illegal purchase, storage or use will be subject to administrative responsibility and in case of repetition – to criminal responsibility”.
15-day administrative detention shall as well be annulled. Administrative penalty shall envisage fine of 300 GEL or corrective labor of 1-6 months. The draft envisages change of definition of small and large amount of drugs – in case plant cannabis, large amount is defined with 140 gr instead of 50; particularly large amount – 1000 gr instead of 250; marihuana – dried form – large amount – 70 gr instead of 50, raw form – 140 gr instead of 100.
As noted, speaking about state policy and legislation on drugs, we shall tell 3 various terms apart: 1. Liberalization of law; 2. Decriminalization; 3. Legalization. All these terms have various meanings. Liberalization is when you alleviate the penalty but maintain responsibility. This is what draft offers instead of decriminalization or legalization”. The Committee supported the draft.
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Committee for European Union of the German Bundestag visits Tbilisi
A delegation from the committee for European Union affairs of the German Bundestag will visit Georgia from May 2nd to 5th, 2023. Members of the delegation are: Christian Petry (SPD, Head of delegation), Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU/CSU), Michael Sacher (BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN), Thomas Hacker (FDP) and Dr. Harald Weyel (AfD).
During the visit, meetings are planned with the Minister of Justice, H.E. Rati Bregadze, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, H.E. Levan Davitashvili, and Deputy Foreign Minister, H.E. Teimuraz Janjalia.
Furthermore, the delegation will hold talks with the Speaker of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili and the chairmen of several committees of the Georgian Parliament.
The program is completed by exchanges with representatives of civil society, the media, business and cultural institutions.
As Georgia submitted an application for membership to the European Union in March 2022 and has had the prospect of joining the EU since June 2022, the talks will concern necessary reforms and the structure of relations and cooperation between Georgia and the EU.
Against the background of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the focus will also be on coordinating questions of foreign and security policy, as well as on the regional effects of the war and geopolitical aspects.
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The Committee discussed the Draft Customs Code and the Draft Tax Code with the II reading and accelerated manner.
As the Deputy Finance Minister, Mamuka Baratashvili stated, the Bill extends the validity of certain norms to 2023.
The technical and editorial changes are to be introduced to the Tax Code. The Committee approved the Drafts.
Parliament of Georgia
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The NATO Military Committee and its Chairman, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach will be in Tbilisi, Georgia on 27 and 28 March 2019.
As a show of support to its long-time partner, the NATO Military Committee will hold a meeting in the NATO-Georgia format chaired by the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Air Chief Marshal Peach and the Georgian Minister of Defence, Mr Levan Izoria. The opening remarks will be open to the media. The NATO Military Committee will receive an overview of the regional security situation, including the occupied regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the Black Sea. The NATO Military Representatives will then be briefed on the ongoing implementation of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package, the ongoing Georgian Reforms as well as the continuing Georgian contributions to NATO operations and exercises.
On the 28th of March, the NATO Military Committee will head to the Vaziani Military Base to receive a briefing from the Combat Training Centre and visit the Georgia Defence Readiness Programme, a bilateral programme designed, by the US, to improve Georgian troops’ combat readiness and develop a self-sustaining institutional capacity to man, train and equip their national missions.
The NATO Military Committee will then proceed to the Joint Training and Evaluation Centre to observe the “NATO-Georgia Exercise 2019”. This joint multinational brigade-level, Command Post exercise aims to further develop the interoperability of Georgian, Allied and Partner Forces, as well as Georgian command and control capabilities.
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Meeting with Japanese delegation chaired by Co-chairman of Japanese – Turkmen Committee for economic cooperation Yoichi Kobayashi was held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 21.
During the meeting, the sides noted high level of cooperation between Turkmenistan and Japan especially in economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres. Subjects of joint projects for supply of Komatsu agricultural equipment as well as joint investments with the participation of Japanese Bank of International Cooperation have been reviewed. Relative Protocol has been signed by the outcomes of the talks.
It is worth mentioning that representative delegation of Turkmenistan has visited Japan in October 2018, during which the expansion of bilateral cooperation in trade and economic sphere has been discussed.
The state news agency of Turkmenistan
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Raffles University of Johor Bahru hosted a celebratory event for International Human Solidarity Day on December 29th and 30th at Capital City Mall in Malaysia. The event was co-hosted by international NGOs called Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) and International Peace Youth Group (IPYG) to raise awareness of solidarity for peace-building. Also, the Capital City joined the event in partnership.
The event included various booths, presentations and exhibitions. The Peace Letter project, one of the most-crowded booths during the event, encouraged the participants to write hand-writing letters in support of the establishment of international law for peace.
According to the volunteer of the IPYG running the booth, the letters written by the youth all over the world have been delivered to the head of each state. He added that the contents of the letters include the voice of youth urging for the legally binding document that prevents any war-like activities based on the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW).
Several schools in Malaysia including Dato Osman Awang, Mohd Khalid are known to implement peace education in their curriculum. With the aim of fostering a culture of peace through peace education, HWPL carried out a survey during the event. The participants partook in the survey that collected the demands of the citizens for implementing peace education throughout the country.
Denise, Education Consultant in Raffles University Iskandar who headed the event, said ‘I hope that this event can be an example for our students like how to organize events in future, and also to bring our students and society to a next level to more concern the world's news. And we believe this will also help our students to be more responsible to the society. ’ in regards to the expected outcome of the event.
Co-hosts IPYG and HWPL also stated ‘ First I want to thanks for all the help in this events and being our partner until the end of the event. And I do hope that we can work together next time.’.
