Georgian authorities are using repressive laws, funding restrictions, and politically motivated criminal investigations to dismantle independent civil society, a Human Rights Watch report says.

According to the organization, new laws place virtually all foreign funding under strict government control, impose stigmatizing “foreign agent” labels, and threaten activists and independent groups with severe fines and prison sentences.

“The government should repeal these unjustifiable legal measures and allow independent groups to operate free from undue interference. Georgia’s international partners should step up their response by increasing the costs of repression, including through sanctions, and urgently expanding support for independent groups”, reads the report.

“The Georgian government’s goal has been to suppress critical voices and dismantle the country’s vibrant independent civil society, and it is making frightening progress,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities are creating a system in which independent groups cannot operate safely, sustain funding, or support the communities that need and have relied on them.”