Georgia's peasants and small producers’ future is on pins and needles, as the country’s democracy is living some of its worst days. Despite the heavy protests against a draft law on transparency of foreign influence, that was heavily criticised for two years in a row, the law has passed and it’s already affecting the society. The law is forcing associations and other non governmental entities to declare themselves as “foreign agents”, meaning an organization carrying out the interests of a foreign power, if they get more than 20% of their resources from outside the country, imposing many unrealistic and sometimes ridiculous conditions. In other words, this means that they could be labeled as national enemies or foreign agents.
Any human rights associations, independent media or other entities in Georgia which receive help from international sources, are labeled by this law as agents following another country’s interests, despite their work for the Georgian citizens. Amongst those most affected will be the small scale producers and peasants.
According to a study conducted by FAO in 2019, but also to the most recent Georgia’s national data, “smallholders and family farms are the main driving force behind Georgia’s agriculture”. Despite their power, they are powerless - only 2246 out of 642.209 holdings are legal entities. In order to survive, many of the peasants and small producers have united in associations that use international financial support, in order to advocate for their rights. Amongst these associations is Elkana, founded in 1994. Its initial activities were limited to advisory services of farmers, but their range of goals have been expanding since - from sustainable & organic farming extension and training, to supporting the business activities of organic farmers & farmer groups, product development & promotion on local and international markets or advocacy for farmers’ rights.
Like most of the non governmental associations in Georgia, Elkana needs international connection and support to reach it’s goals, from knowledge exchange to financial support. Even though they work for the common good of the Georgian peasants and small producers, they are now forced to declare that they “serve the interest of a foreign power”.
Elene Shatberashvili, Elkana’s lawyer, explained for Eco Ruralis, a fellow association from Romania, what are the risks that peasants from Georgia are now exposed to:
“They are taking away your voice. They are forcing you to write that you don’t articulate what your society needs, even if you work for the interests of your citizens. They force you to declare yourself as nothing more than a servant of a foreign power. And then you have to fill in very humiliating and very detailed transparency papers / declarations, which will be published online, for everybody to see it, opening the door to public shaming.”
In the discussion that Elene Shatberashvili had with Eco Ruralis, she underlined several times that they are not against transparency.
“But this law doesn’t aim at transparency. They want us to declare if we gave a pen, a t-shirt to someone. We have to write all the details of that person who received such a small thing and that will also be published. So not only the staff of the organizations has to give details about themselves, but anyone who received anything from these organizations. Imagine that anybody can see your bank account number. How is this connected to transparency?”.
Elkana’s lawyer believes that this law will make farmers hesitant to work with the association, especially in small rural areas.
“If you are living in a big city, you don’t really care, but if you live in a small community it’s a big pressure and I think that it will slowly kill any form of civil society in Georgia, if it will really go like this.”
When it comes to UNDROP, there is a flagrant violation of the peasant’s rights. These are the articles that have been voted by 121 countries and are now being threatened by the Georgian’s “foreign agent” law:
Art. 9: Freedom of association
9.1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to form and join organizations, trade unions, cooperatives or any other organization or association of their own choosing for the protection of their interests, and to bargain collectively. Such organizations shall be independent and voluntary in character, and remain free from all interference, coercion or repression.
9.2. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those which are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
9.3. States shall take appropriate measures to encourage the establishment of organizations of peasants and other people working in rural areas, including unions, cooperatives or other organizations, particularly with a view to eliminating obstacles to their establishment, growth and pursuit of lawful activities, including any legislative or administrative discrimination against such organizations and their members, and provide them with support to strengthen their position when negotiating contractual arrangements in order to ensure that conditions and prices are fair and stable and do not violate their rights to dignity and to a decent life.
Art. 10: Right to participation
10.1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to active and free participation, directly and/or through their representative organizations, in the preparation and implementation of policies, programs and projects that may affect their lives, land and livelihoods.
10.2. States shall promote the participation, directly and/or through their representative organizations, of peasants and other people working in rural areas in decision-making processes that may affect their lives, land and livelihoods; this includes respecting the establishment and growth of strong and independent organizations of peasants and other people working in rural areas and promoting their participation in the preparation and implementation of food safety, labour and environmental standards that may affect them.
Art. 16: Right to a decent income and livelihood and the means of production
16.1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, and to facilitated access to the means of production necessary to achieve them, including production tools, technical assistance, credit, insurance and other financial services. They also have the right to engage freely, individually and/or collectively, in association with others or as a community, in traditional ways of farming, fishing, livestock rearing and forestry and to develop community-based commercialization systems.
16.2. States shall take appropriate measures to favor the access of peasants and other people working in rural areas to the means of transportation, and processing, drying and storage facilities necessary for selling their products on local, national and regional markets at prices that guarantee them a decent income and livelihood.
16.3. States shall take appropriate measures to strengthen and support local, national and regional markets in ways that facilitate, and ensure that peasants and other people working in rural areas have, full and equitable access and participation in these markets to sell their products at prices that allow them and their families to attain an adequate standard of living.
16.4. States shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that their rural development, agricultural, environmental, trade and investment policies and programs contribute effectively to protecting and strengthening local livelihood options and to the transition to sustainable modes of agricultural production. States shall stimulate sustainable production, including agroecological and organic production, whenever possible, and facilitate direct farmer-to-consumer sales.
16.5. States shall take appropriate measures to strengthen the resilience of peasants and other people working in rural areas against natural disasters and other severe disruptions, such as market failures.
16.6. States shall take appropriate measures to ensure fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value, without distinction of any kind.
Art. 25: Right to education and training
25.1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to adequate training suited to the specific agroecological, sociocultural and economic environments in which they find themselves. Issues covered by training programs should include, but not be limited to, improving productivity, marketing, and the ability to cope with pests, pathogens, system shocks, the effects of chemicals, climate change and weather-related events.
25.2. All children of peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to education in accordance with their culture, and with all the rights contained in human rights instruments.
25.3. States shall encourage equitable and participatory farmer-scientist partnerships, such as farmer field schools, participatory plant breeding, and plant and animal health clinics to respond more appropriately to the immediate and emerging challenges that peasants and other people working in rural areas face.
25.4. States shall invest in providing training, market information and advisory services at the farm level.
What now?
Elkana, just like many other organizations in Georgia, is protesting against the law that’s threatening the whole civil society, by not registering as “foreign agents”. This means that they and anyone connected to them in Georgia are risking huge fines - “If they require personal information and you don’t submit it immediately - not in 5 days, but immediately - they can give a fine to the organization or to any person connected to the organization, as frequent as they want, twice a week if they want”, explains Elene Shatberashvili.
Not obeying the law also means that Elkana and the other NGOs or media might face systemic abuse, but also direct violence from those extremist groups who will see this law as a strong tool to justify their violence.
“The law says that even if you fill the declaration and they don’t like how you filled it, they will start an investigation. And if you don’t fill it, they will investigate you anyway and might ask for information like medical situation or sexual life. Imagine what this means for associations who work for women rights, women who come from violent backgrounds, they want all the info about their families, relationships. You don’t own your personality anymore! This is the kind of transparency that they want and they say that it’s alright.”
Despite the numerous voices against this law - on a national and international level as well - the propaganda is working in Georgia.
Georgia, along with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, was on the way to integration into the European Union - that is until their politicians voted for the foreign agents law. It still retains its candidate status, but the accession process is frozen for now.
In October, Georgians will re-elect their Parliament. It will be an existential moment and one that has the power to also instill a lot of hope, not only fear, to peasants and the rest of civil society. Meanwhile, Elkana is also hoping for the success of an application they’ve sent, together with more than 100 organizations, to the Constitutional Court in Georgia.
Despite what happens before and after the elections inside the country, Elene believes that Georgia “needs continuous support and I hope that the EU will not abandon Georgia and continue to support its democracy and democratic development - this is the key for all vulnerable groups, including peasants.”
When it comes to the solidarity that other peasants, from other countries, can show for Georgians, Elene Shatberashvili thinks that “there is little experience in peasants standing for peasants, but it doesn’t mean that there is no capacity. If you never try, you can not know - and we never tried it. And there are more farmers and more rural producers who know the value of democracy, the value of freedom and free choice to do dignified work and it’s important to support each other and make our voice stronger.”
Photo: Elkana, International Conference: Organic Farming and Agroecology, June 2023
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