UPDATE 1-UK and 23 other OSCE members launch probe into Georgia over rights concerns

It lists restrictions on freedom of expression, legislative reforms ‍constricting civil society and legal actions against opposition groups among areas of concern. The South Caucasus ​country secured EU candidate status in December 2023, but Brussels has accused Georgia of "serious democratic ⁠backsliding" and said in November it was now considered a candidate nation "in name only".

Britain, Canada, Germany and 21 other OSCE members on Thursday said they would launch an ‌expert mission to examine the deteriorating human rights situation in Georgia, amid concerns in Europe of democratic backsliding in the ⁠EU candidate country.

Once among the most democratic and pro-Western of the successor states to emerge from the Soviet Union, Georgia has turned increasingly authoritarian since the outbreak of war in Ukraine ​and has deepened economic ties with neighbouring Russia. In a joint statement, the ‍countries said that in December 2024, 38 participating states invoked the OSCE's Vienna Mechanism to express concern about developments in Georgia and to request further information from the authorities.

The statement, published on the British ⁠government's website, ‌said their concerns ⁠over the authorities' implementation of international human rights obligations had increased. It lists restrictions on freedom of expression, legislative reforms ‍constricting civil society and legal actions against opposition groups among areas of concern.

The South Caucasus ​country secured EU candidate status in December 2023, but Brussels has accused Georgia of "serious democratic ⁠backsliding" and said in November it was now considered a candidate nation "in name only". Georgia has since abolished ⁠an anti-corruption body established on the EU's recommendation amid a crackdown on opposition politicians that has seen several of the most prominent ones jailed.

The ruling Georgian Dream party, ⁠in power since 2012, has signalled it will try to ban the main opposition ⁠groupings outright on the ‌grounds they pose a "real threat to the constitutional order". The opposition groups say the effort is politically motivated.

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