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Poland in the OSCE

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Invocation of the OSCE Vienna Mechanism on Georgia

20.12.2024

The OSCE participating States called on Georgia to provide concrete and substantive answers to a number of questions of concern in relation to developments following the announcement in November 2024 of Georgia's decision to suspend talks with the European Union on the opening of accession negotiations.

Vienna Mechanism on Georgia

38 OSCE participating States*, including Poland, have activated the Vienna Mechanism on the human rights situation in Georgia. Following Georgia's decision on 28 November 2024 to suspend accession talks with the EU, a wave of peaceful protests flooded the country. The immediate reason for the invocation of the Vienna Mechanism was emerging documented information from NGOs about hundreds of protesters arbitrarily detained; cases of disproportionate use of violence by police against demonstrators, as well as suspicions of unjustified use of violence against citizens as a form of punishment for participation in demonstrations; and dozens of cases of violence against journalists.

The OSCE participating States expect explanations from the Georgian authorities regarding allegations of restrictions on the right to peaceful assembly, as well as excessive use of violence against peaceful demonstrators, cases of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and torture by the police, harassment of opposition politicians, journalists and media representatives.

Established in 1989, the OSCE Vienna Mechanism is for the exchange of information on issues relating to the human dimension of the Organisation, and its activation does not require consensus, i.e. unanimity. Along with the Moscow Mechanism, the Vienna Mechanism is one of the tools at the OSCE's disposal for analysing the human rights situation in OSCE participating States. The commitments undertaken by the 57 OSCE participating States in the field of the human dimension are matters of direct and legitimate concern to all participating States and do not belong exclusively to the internal affairs of the State concerned.

* Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Ukraine