Four Non-governmental Organizations Issued the Third Report in the Framework of the Project Promoting Property Rights in New Touristic Zones

For immediate release - April 11, 2012

• On the whole territory of Georgia and especially in touristic zones several dozen citizens simultaneously abandoned their property or relinquished it to the state as a gift. (for instance: twenty cases of giving  property to the state as a gift and two cases of abandonment of property were reported between December 13-23, 2010, in Sairme. 79 facts of abandonment of real property by private persons were reported  between January 13-25, 2011, in the territory of Bakhmaro resort).
• The state often registers its title to the property via electronic versions, which are already officially registered under a citizen’s ownership based on the paper version of drawings. Often it is the state that is the new owner.

April 11, 2012 - Four non-governmental organizations: Transparency International Georgia, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Georgian Regional Media Association, and the Association Green Alternative issued third report “Stripped Property Rights in Georgia” in the framework of the project “Promoting Property Rights Protection in New Touristic Zones”.

The project aims to promote property rights protection in  newly developed touristic regions (namely Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and Adjara). Property rights protection guarantees are recognized under the law, the Constitution, and international norms. The project endeavors to minimize the threats of property violation and to render free legal assistance to the injured population. Within the project framework, the first report  was drafted in March 2011  concerning  deprivation of property by the state from 271 residents of village Gonio (Adjara). The second report was published in July 2011, and describes cases of  infringement of private property in Mestia (Svaneti) and the difficulties the local population encountered when registering their titles to  land plots.

Because property infringement cases are reported throughout the country  we have decided not to limit ourselves with the problems faced only in the touristic zones . The present report concerns  issues of property infringement  in various forms and covers several regions. It consists of two main parts: (1) the facts of abandonment - when  citizens give property to the state as a gift; and (2) arbitrary registration of the state’s title to the real property already registered by the owners. These two  chapters are followed by  conclusions and recommendations.

The project is carried out by financial support of Open Society - Georgia Foundation.