EU Report Says Georgia Saw Severe Human Rights Restrictions in 2025
By Messenger Staff
Friday, August 14, 2026
The European Union said Georgia experienced major democratic backsliding in 2025, with human rights "severely curtailed" by government measures targeting civil society, opposition figures, protesters and the media.
The findings were published on Aug. 11 in the EU's annual report on human rights and democracy in the world. The Georgia section reviews developments in 2025 and the state of EU policies and relations with Tbilisi.
"The state of democracy in Georgia was marked by significant backsliding," the report said. It accused the authorities of imposing repressive measures that "effectively abolished civic participation and the system of checks and balances."
The EU cited widespread alleged ill-treatment of protesters by law enforcement, an "environment of impunity" for those responsible and concerns over fair-trial rights in cases involving detained, arrested or sentenced protesters and journalists. It also referred to reports of abuse against women protesters and said journalists and media workers faced "intimidation, threats and verbal and physical assault, arbitrary detentions."
The report said new laws negatively affected freedom of expression and the ability of independent media to operate. It said fundamental rights including equality and non-discrimination, freedom of expression, assembly and association, privacy, family life, liberty and security had been restricted.
The EU also accused authorities of using the justice system "as a tool of repression and political persecution." It cited the freezing of bank accounts belonging to several civil society organisations and warned that political pluralism was at risk because of government efforts to ban several opposition parties.
"The politically motivated persecution against civil society and arrests of opposition leaders went against basic democratic values," the report said.
EU Response and Financial Support
The EU said it had repeatedly urged Georgia to reverse its democratic decline and took measures in response to Tbilisi's policies, including action over Georgia's failure to meet visa-liberalisation requirements.
Among those measures was the suspension of visa-free travel for Georgian diplomatic passport holders, which took effect in early 2026.
"There was no political dialogue between the EU and Georgia in 2025 due to the continued serious democratic backsliding by the Georgian authorities," the report said. It added that the bloc had continued to reduce bilateral contacts.
The EU-Georgia Human Rights Dialogue has not been held since June 2023. The report also referred to the European Council's 2024 conclusion that actions by the Georgian authorities had "de facto led to a halt of the pre-accession process."
The EU said it continued to withhold financial assistance that directly benefits the Georgian authorities in 2025. At the same time, 24 million euros had been contracted for civil society and independent media since October 2024 through the EU's Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument.
Civil society organisations also received increased support through the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility, while the EU continued helping Georgia's Public Defender's Office strengthen its institutional capacity.
The report criticized Georgia's handling of international election monitoring, saying the authorities did not invite an OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, or OSCE/ODIHR, observation mission early enough to allow meaningful monitoring of the October 2025 municipal elections.
It also said Georgia had failed to address any of the important recommendations made by the OSCE/ODIHR following previous elections.
The EU said cooperation with Georgia in international organisations generally remained good, but noted that Tbilisi did not align with some international and EU initiatives.
The report concluded that the EU would continue pressing Georgia to reverse its democratic decline, while maintaining support for civil society, independent media and democratic institutions.
