Additional Context: This information was collected by Human Rights Watch, or HRW, in an interview with a former staff member of the East-West Management Institute, which implemented a USAID-funded project working to increase citizen oversight and provide legal assistance to those facing judicial action in Georgia.

According to HRW, this USAID project was the main source of legal aid funding in the country, circumventing restrictions on foreign aid that were signed into national law in 2024. The termination of the project thus removed access to about $1 million in legal aid to people facing trial following their participation in protests against the suspension of European Union accession talks by the Georgian Government. Civil society organizations had been particularly impacted by this law, which forced organizations receiving foreign funding to accept the label of 'foreign agent,' work from exile, or abandon work altogether.

Source: Human Rights Watch