Georgia’s minimum wage has been stuck at $8 a month since 1999, but in recent years, unions and civil society organisations have called on the government to raise the country’s minimum wage to match standards of decent living in Georgia. This week in the Caucasus Digest, we speak to Jeff Vize from Human Rights Watch about the background of the current minimum wage, and Raisa Liparteliani from the Georgian Trade Union Confederation, about a new draft law that could potentially institute a liveabl...
Mar 01, 2024•34 min
Last week, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned that Azerbaijan might be preparing to launch a full-scale war. His warning came amidst peace negotiations between the two countries that have been ongoing since the end of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020. This week, we speak to Crisis Group’s Olesya Vartanyan, to independent researcher Shujaat Ahmadzada, and to writer and Carnegie Senior Fellow Thomas de Waal about the likelihood of a war breaking out between Armenia and Azerbaij...
Feb 23, 2024•55 min
Last week, a bill on domestic violence passed its first hearing in Armenia’s parliament. The changes would classify virginity tests, a controversial practice meant to determine whether a person’s hymen is intact, as a form of domestic violence. This week, we speak to Ani Jilosian of the Women’s Support Centre about what these amendments could mean and to Tereza Panchoyan, or Girlunmuted an Instagram blogger, about attitudes towards sex in Armenia and the importance of better sex education. Read ...
Feb 16, 2024•23 min
President Ilham Aliyev has prolonged his decades-long rule of Azerbaijan, securing a fifth term after winning the presidential elections this week — elections that were marred by the absence of any real opposition and blatant electoral fraud. On this week’s episode of the Caucasus Digest, we speak to Meydan TV editor Orkhan Mammad about the role of media in covering the elections, to political analyst and PhD candidate Bahruz Samadov about the mainstream opposition’s boycott of the vote, and to ...
Feb 09, 2024•44 min
The eviction of the Khatiashvili family from their home in Tbilisi last week has led to outrage in Georgia and accusations that the government is taking an ‘inhumane’ approach towards debt and housing. This week, we hear from Marina Khatiashvili, who was evicted alongside her family, and we speak to OC Media journalist and co-director Mariam Nikuradze about the protests surrounding the eviction, and to the Social Justice Centre’s Salome Shubladze about predatory lending and the government’s hand...
Feb 01, 2024•31 min
After over a decade of controversy over environmental, labour, and economic concerns, the Armenian government has finally greenlit the operation of the Amulsar gold mine in Jermuk. Since the project’s announcement, local communities in and around Jermuk have expressed concern about the mine’s potential impact on their lives and livelihoods, while environmental activists have warned about the catastrophic environmental effects the mines could have on the region. This week, we spoke to Knar Khudoy...
Jan 29, 2024•57 min
Georgia may finally have secured EU candidate status, but some in Georgia still question just how committed the ruling Georgian Dream party is to taking the country’s EU integration to the next stage. This week, we spoke to OC Media journalist and co-director Mariam Nikuradze about Georgian Dream’s apparent change of heart towards the EU and to the Social Justice Centre’s director of the democracy and justice programme, Guram Imnadze, about the remaining reforms Georgia must undertake in its pat...
Dec 22, 2023•31 min
Georgia’s defence code is stamping out loopholes that young Georgians use to get out of military service, as rights activists in the country warn that new amendments to the code could lead to discrimination against religious minorities. This week, we spoke to a Georgian student about why he chose to evade conscription, to Ioseb Edisherashvili from the Georgian Young Lawyers Association about the controversy surrounding the defence code, and to Giorgi Shaishmelashvili, the Head of Research at Civ...
Dec 15, 2023•42 min
Last week, Azerbaijani authorities raided the offices of AbzasMedia , an independent news outlet covering corruption in the country. They arrested four of its employees, including its director, Ulvi Hasanli, and editor-in-chief, Sevinj Vagifgizi, on charges of smuggling foreign currency into the country. They denied the charges and accused the government of falsifying evidence against them by planting €40,000 ($44,000) in their offices to disrupt their work. This week, the police also arrested A...
Dec 01, 2023•33 min
The recent suicide of a queer Armenian teenager shook many in Armenia, with activists accusing the authorities of lacking the sensitivity or willingness to help queer victims of abuse or bullying. In the absence of any legislation to protect them, queer people in Armenia are frequently subjected to discrimination and violence in Armenia, including in their own homes. This week on the Caucasus Digest, a queer Armenian student talks about the challenges of being queer in Armenia, Mamikon Hovsepyan...
Nov 23, 2023•37 min
Georgia generates a staggering 85% of its electricity through hydropower plants; however, while further exploitation of Georgia’s hydropower potential sounds promising on paper, local activists and researchers say that a lack of feasibility and safety research before the construction of hydropower plants could pose significant risks. This week on the Caucasus Digest, Hannah O’Sullivan, an energy researcher, talks about the present and future role of hydropower in Georgia. Salome Shubladze of the...
Nov 17, 2023•34 min
The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War has had a lasting impact on the South Caucasus, leading to a massive geopolitical shift. Azerbaijan emerged victorious, taking control of large swathes of territory in 2020, and eventually what remained of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023. Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population was forced to flee the region into Armenia, which since the war, has been forced to reassess its traditional alliance with Russia and to turn West for assistance. This episode, we spoke t...
Nov 09, 2023•47 min
The EU Commission is expected to deliver its recommendation on whether or not the European Union should now grant Georgia candidate status on 8 November. The decision to grant Georgia candidate status hinges on 12 priorities set out by the EU for the country to fulfil before its status could be reconsidered. While the Georgian Dream-led government insists that it has made real progress on those 12 priorities, many in Georgia remain sceptical about their commitment to the country’s EU aspirations...
Nov 02, 2023•41 min
The Kadyrov regime, installed by Moscow in Grozny after the fall of Ichkeria, a short-lived independent Chechen state that existed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has led to a severe deterioration of human rights in Chechnya, as reports of police brutality, disappearances, torture, and the persecution of people formerly associated with Ichkeria became all too common. Tens of thousands have since fled Chechnya and settled in Europe, with more attempting to seek asylum after Russia launche...
Oct 26, 2023•21 min
In early October, Aitaj Shakhmarova, 14, was murdered by a man who kidnapped her and forced her into marriage as she was trying to flee his home. The crime shook Georgia, where child marriage rates are relatively high. This week, we spoke to Samira Bayramova, a human rights activist from Kvemo Kartli, about the murder and prevalence of early marriage in Georgia and the importance of raising awareness of child marriage and the development of rural communities. Baia Pataraia, the executive directo...
Oct 19, 2023•25 min
Georgia’s Parliament adopted on Thursday evening amendments to the law on protests that would ban the erection of temporary structures – tents and stages included. Critics of the amendments have argued that the new regulations would stifle freedom of assembly in the country and have already begun dubbing it the ‘new Russian law’ in reference to the foreign agents law, which triggered a wave of massive protests that forced the ruling Georgian Dream party to drop it. This week, we spoke to OC Medi...
Oct 05, 2023•44 min
More than half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population have already sought refuge in Armenia less than a week after Stepanakert’s surrender to Azerbaijan. This week on the Caucasus Digest, OC Media’s Armenian staff writer Arshaluys Barseghyan talks about Armenia’s reception of Nagorno-Karabakh refugees and anti-government protests in Armenia. Laurence Broers, an associate fellow at the Russia and Eurasia programme at Chatam House, phones in to talk about the international community’s role in t...
Sep 28, 2023•32 min
On Tuesday, Azerbaijan launched a massive offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh. The aim was to ‘restore constitutional order’ and force the dissolution of the government in Stepanakert. Nagorno-Karabakh surrendered 24 hours later. This week on the Caucasus Digest, Thomas De Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe, talks about the short-lived fighting seen in Nagorno-Karabakh and what outcomes it might have had on the conflict. Knar Khudoyan, a journalist based in Yerevan, talks about reactions to...
Sep 20, 2023•55 min
Since its conquest by Russia in the 19th century, the North Caucasus has been the scene of genocides, forced deportations, wars for independence, and insurgency. The dozens of nations indigenous to the region continue to be repressed socially and culturally by the Russian Federation. However, Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has once again raised the imperial nature of the Russian state and has shone a light on how this imperialism extends to the North Caucasus, as several organisations led b...
Sep 06, 2023•36 min
Georgia’s Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Youth has seen a lot of changes since Tea Tsulukiani’s appointment as minister, with Tsulukiani, a veteran member of the ruling Georgian Dream party, overseeing the ‘reorganisation’ of the ministry and its agencies. This week on the Caucasus Digest, we spoke to Lika Zakashvili, editor-in-chief of Publika , about Tsulukiani’s tenure as minister and her reorganisation efforts. Luka Beradze, director of Smiling Georgia, talks about why Georgia’s film commu...
Aug 18, 2023•40 min
On 3 August, a fatal mudslide hit Shovi, a resort in the northwest of Georgia. At least 21 people were confirmed to have been killed as a result of the mudslide. This week on the Caucasus Digest, OC Media journalist and co-director Mariam Nikuradze talks about the mudslide and its aftermath. Aleko Sardanashvili, an activist and winemaker from Racha, talks about the impact of the disaster on the region, while Lasha Sukhishvili, a professor at Ilia State University and the deputy head of of the In...
Aug 10, 2023•27 min
On 23 July, Azerbaijani police detained Gubad Ibadoghlu, a prominent critic of the Azerbaijani Government and chair of the Azerbaijan Democracy and Welfare Party. Ibadoghlu was detained while visiting Azerbaijan from his home in London, and was charged with making, acquiring, or selling counterfeit money. On this week’s episode, we spoke to Ibadoghlu’s daughter, Jala Bayramova, a human rights lawyer and activist, about her father’s current condition and efforts being made to secure his release. ...
Aug 03, 2023•28 min
Last week, a group of North Caucasian immigrants in Tbilisi gathered at the Centre for Contemporary Art to celebrate their culture and discuss the experience of North Caucasians in Georgia. On this week’s episode of the Caucasus Digest, we are joined by the organisers of the event: the founders of Ored Recordings, Bulat Khalilov and Timur Kodzoko, and Zemfira Gogui, a human rights consultant from Karachay-Cherkessia. Khalilov and Kodzoko broke down the cultural significance of the event and talk...
Jul 28, 2023•37 min
Nagorno-Karabakh has been under various degrees of blockade for over seven months now as Azerbaijan continues to prevent the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh from leaving or entering the region. Russian peacekeepers stationed there have been barred from accessing the region since mid-June, while the International Committee of the Red Cross was blocked from accessing Nagorno-Karabakh after being accused of smuggling in phones, cigarettes, and fuel. This week, Marut Vanyan, a journalist based in Step...
Jul 21, 2023•15 min
This week, Tbilisi is celebrating Pride Week. But unlike most Prides, this one is being held behind closed doors. The fight for the right to be queer in public in Georgia is not new. This week, we spoke to Natia Ghvianishvili, one of a handful of activists who gathered on 17 May 2013 only to be attacked by thousands of people led by priests. We spoke to Mariam Kvaratskhelia, co-founder and co-director of Tbilisi Pride, about their activism. And OC Media’s Mariam Nikuradze spoke about the changin...
Jul 06, 2023•52 min
The village of Soyudlu in western Azerbaijan was locked down by the police in late June after its residents protested environmental damage caused by a goldmine. The police’s response to the protests provoked outrage in Azerbaijan, with many activists criticising for being disproportionate. This week, we spoke to Roya Malikzada a lawyer at Ecobill, an Azerbaijani environmental group that has been providing legal aid to people in Soyudlu, Elmaddin Shamilzadeh, a journalist who was detained for his...
Jun 28, 2023•30 min
OC Media staff writer Ani Avetisyan and Daniel Ioannisyan, the programmes director of the Union of Informed Citizens, talk about the latest cases of police brutality and violence in Armenia and the progress made to reform the police since the 2018 revolution. Read more: Backlash after Pashinyan appoints ‘childhood friend’ as Armenia’s Interior Minister ‘An attack on the clubbing community’: popular Yerevan club raided by police Become a supporter at oc-media.org/support_us , or on Patreon ....
Jun 22, 2023•22 min
‘Thousands’ of miners employed by Georgian Manganese in the mining town of Chiatura went on strike to protest working conditions in the mines. The miners demanded better pay, paid holiday and sick leaves, and the full resumption of production of mines after it had been put on hold for months. On this week’s episode, Robin Fabbro speaks to Mariam Nikuradze about the situation on the ground, and to the Social Justice Center’s Salome Shubladze about the legal challenges faced by the striking miners...
Jun 16, 2023•23 min
Last week, seven protesters were detained outside the Georgian Parliament for holding signs and posters the police deemed ‘offensive’. Three of those detained are being charged with petty hooliganism and disobeying police, as civil society groups questioned the legality of their detention and warned of a worrying deterioration of the state of democracy in Georgia. This week on the Caucasus Digest, OC Media’s Mariam Nikuradze talks about the protest and how the authorities in Georgia detained act...
Jun 07, 2023•26 min
Armenia and Azerbaijan have recently been engaged in a series of frequent meetings between the country’s leaders and foreign ministers in an attempt to reach a peace agreement. Despite hopes that the two countries would sign new agreements in at least one of Moscow on 26 June or Chisinau on 1 June, neither meeting broke new ground. This week in the Caucasus Digest, we spoke to Bahruz Samadov, a PhD candidate at Charles University in Prague, and Tigran Grigoryan, a political analyst and head of t...
Jun 02, 2023•26 min
