Public Movement "Multinational Georgia": Recent activities
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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2001 14:10:07 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Public Movement "Multinational Georgia": Recent activities
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Arnold Stepanian <[email protected]>
Public Movement "Multinational Georgia": Recent activities
Dear friends,
I send you some information about Public Movement "Multinational
Georgia"'s last activity from October of 2000 which were implemented
in minorities field in Georgia.
Public Movement "Multinational Georgia", in cooperation with
international NGO Caucasus Links and with financial support of the
European initiatives for Human rights and Democracy and the Board of
Great Britain Charity Lottery, have held a two-week long festival of
national minorities of Georgia "ALL FOR GEORGIA - GEORGIA FOR ALL -
2000" (15-25 October). Events were held every day in the offices of
the Georgia's ethnic communities (Armenian, Azeri, Jewish, Russian,
Yezidi, Polish, Greek, Ossetian, Latvian, German, etc.). Discussions
on issues important for national minorities, exhibitions of handicraft
arts, theatre performances, concerts, etc. were organised.
The biggest concert halls of Tbilisi city were employed. A conference
"National Minorities and the State" was held in the Parliament of
Georgia, organised by international NGOs LINKS, CAUCASUS LINKS, and by
the Committee on Civic Integration of the Georgian Parliament.
Organisational support for the conference was provided by the Public
Movement "Multinational Georgia". The festival was held already for
the second time and has become a tradition. Last year, the key phase
of the festival was "The Alive Chain" made of 1,200 members of
Georgia's ethnic communities, who, holding each other's hands, were
standing on the root Mosque - Armenian Apostolic Church - Synagogue -
Georgian Orthodox Cathedral "Syoni". In the meantime, in all these
temples the services were held in the name of peace and stability in
Georgia and in the Caucasus. A plenty of guests, representatives of
ethnic communities of Georgia, NGOs, members of the government and the
parliament of Georgia, international organisations, and special guests
from different countries were present at the festival "ALL FOR GEORGIA
- GEORGIA FOR ALL - 2000" (15-25 October).
Main tasks and purposes of the Festival were the following: raising
civic awareness of the national minorities of Georgia, intercultural
education, exchange and interaction, popularisation of the minority
rights defense campaign, development of the integration processes,
etc. Approximately 8,000 people were engaged in organisation and
conduct of the Festival. The Festival "ALL FOR GEORGIA - GEORGIA FOR
ALL - 2000" on 15 October was solemnly opened by the member of the UK
House of Lords, Baroness Smith Gilmor-Hill.
In November and December of 2000 we organised several projects:
1. Round-table: "Participation and collaboration. Problems and reality
of Ezid's community in Georgia and Caucasus" in co-operation with The
Union of Ezidian youth of Georgia
2. Seminar for Armenian schools' Teachers of Tbilisi to teach
tolerance and democratic citizenship in co-operation with The Union of
Armenian Youth of Georgia
3. "Development of Intercultural and Interregional communications in
the fields of NGOs".
Dialogue-meeting in Gardabani in co-operation with Gardabani district
Branch of Public Movement "Multinational Georgia"
4. Journalists' rights defense and Force Structures of Georgia
5. Seminar for leaders of Youth NGOs of Ethnic Minorities and Ethnic
Majority: "Legal Culture and role of intercultural collaborations."
6. "Living together in everyday life" - Dialogue for Mutual
Understanding.
7. Conference "National minorities � Human Rights" in co-operation
with The Association of Germans of Georgia "Einung"
8. "Integration of slavonian communities in democratic civil state
building" in co-operation with "Slavic House" of Georgia
9. The seminar "National conflicts in Trans-Caucasus: their resolution
and prevention" in co-operation with Association of Osetians of
Georgia
10. Monthly Newsletter "Multinational Georgia"
Movement will start to emplement in January of 2001 the new project
"Multi-Ethnic Resource center of Civic Education in Georgia" in wich
Representatives of ethnic minorities of Georgia will be able to
actively participate in the seminars, conferences, discussions (with
participation of members of Parliament, government officials, staff of
the office of Public Defender, international organizations and
diplomatic missions accredited in Georgia, representatives of Mass
Media, well-known conflict researchers and lawyers) and training
courses, Georgian and English language lessons. The students will be
taught computer skills and how to use Internet, they will attend
lectures on different issues and launch of a monthly newsletter is
envisaged. Hopefully, such a newsletter will allow the broader society
to carry out monitoring on protection of minority rights in Georgia
and keep them updated about the cultural and social life of ethnic
minorities in Georgia. Setting up of Library covering the books on the
aforementioned topics is envisaged as well.
In March, 2001 Public Movement Multinational Georgia will organise a
training course on empowerment of ethnic minority NGOs leaders in
Caucasus "Development and Democratization through Participation and
Citizenship".
Arnold Stepanian
Chairman of Public Movement "Multinational Georgia"
10 Kedis Commun str. 380005. Tbilisi Georgia.
Tel. (995 77)44 35 64 (mob) (995 32)98 33 39 (of)
(995 32) 99 52 28 (of)
Fax. (995 32) 93 56 41
E-mail: [email protected]
[email protected]
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