03.05.2007 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Parliament prepares bill that would dramatically increase the country's military budget for 2007 ("Georgia Mulls Twofold Increase In Military Spending") [ID 19823]

Document(s): Open document

22.03.2007 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

President Saakashvili wants the army's capacity to call up 100,000 men, introduces new law making every man aged 27 to 40 undergo 24 days training every two years; analysts say that new regulations will only encourage corruption and bribery ("Georgia Creates Army Reserves") [ID 19186]

Document(s): Open document

02.05.2006 - Source: EurasiaNet

"Georgia puts a modernized military on display" ("Georgia puts a modernized military on display") [ID 15374]

Document(s): Open document

17.02.2006 - Source: Civil Georgia

Controversial former governor of Imereti region Akaki Bobokhidze becomes new chief of National Guard ("Controversial Ex-Governor to Become Chief of National Guard") [#44489],  [ID 4544]

Document(s): Open document

17.11.2005 - Source: Civil Georgia

Tbilisi: Dozen of servicemen from the 4th Brigade hospitalized after massive fist-fight took place in one of military units ("Massive Soldier Fist-Fight Reported in Military Unit") [#41961],  [ID 5958]

Document(s): Open document

01.03.2005 - Source: Civil Georgia

Georgia sent 573 servicemen to Iraq to become a part of coalition forces stationed there ("Georgia Sends More Troops to Iraq") [#43259],  [ID 4580]

Document(s): Open document

08.2003 - Source: Human Rights Center

Military tribunal abolished ("Monthly Bulletin No 8 (54), August 2003") [#15124],  [ID 5959]

"According to the President’s statement, a higher military man will not have right to arrest a lower one. This does not mean that the violators of the discipline will not be punished. They will be punished according their crime not under the will of officers but under the court decision. According to the Georgian constitution, which in this case is in the level of European standards, the liberty of a person might be restricted under the court decision only. For this reason military tribunal had been abolished."

Document(s): Open document

25.04.2003 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Hunger is one of the main reasons for the high level of desertion within the armed forces ("Hunger, Desertion Plague Georgian Army") [#13333],  [ID 5960]

"Hunger is one of the main reasons for the high level of desertion within the armed forces. According to the annual report of Georgia's human rights ombudsman, the military prosecutor's office investigated 1872 instances of desertion in 2000, and 2498 in 2001.

The defence ministry will not officially provide any more up-to-date figures than that, but a source at the general staff of the Georgian military told IWPR that 1102 soldiers had left their units without official leave by the end of the first quarter of 2002.

Other young men manage to avoid military service altogether. Georgian law gives prospective conscripts the option of buying an official 12-month deferral for 200 lari (about 100 US dollars). Some get out of conscription without paying anything. Last year, the military recruited somewhere between one third and a half of the conscripts it needed.

To be called up means to suffer a terrible ordeal. "We have recently monitored military units in the regions of Kakheti and Kartli," Nodar Efremidze, assistant human rights ombudsman for military matters, told IWPR. "Soldiers are facing enormous hardships both socially and psychologically."

The problems the soldiers face include poor nourishment, shortage of uniforms and medical supplies, low wages and unsafe accommodation. "Some units do not even have bed sheets," said Efremidze. "The footwear they issue to soldiers is so inferior it only lasts about a month."
[...]
Georgian defence officials concede that the situation has been bad but insist that it is improving.

"It is important to note that in recent years, the supply of food and uniforms in the army has noticeably improved," wrote Lt Gen Joni Pirtskhalaishvili, chief of the general staff, in a letter to human rights commissioner Nana Devdariani in August last year. "We could say that the main motives for desertion have been eliminated."

Dodo Turkoshvili, head of the sanitation and epidemic control service of the defence ministry, also stresses that food quality has improved in the army.

"We are now more concerned with soldiers' health and what they eat," she told IWPR. "The food has really improved and diversified in the last two years. We haven't had a single case of mass food poisoning. Soldiers never complain about anything."
[...]
Moreover, to fulfil its quotas, the defence ministry mainly feeds soldiers high-calorie foods like pasta and bread. As a result, soldiers never get their daily share of protein, fat and carbohydrates, which are just as important for their health. Military hospitals are full of soldiers, fed on this diet, who suffer from gastrointestinal conditions.
[...]
The soldiers themselves refuse to talk to journalists or identify themselves, fearing reprisals. They will only reveal the gruesome details of their service once they desert the unit and have nothing to lose."

Document(s): Open document

07.2001 - Source: Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development

CIPDD: Servicemen of the national army are in extremely poor conditions; high level of desertion ("Georgia's Membership in the Council of Europe, Achievements and Failures") [#10549],  [ID 5961]

"Georgian army may be one of the most conspicuous expressions of the dire economic situation of the
state. The servicemen are in extremely poor economic conditions. This leads to very high level of desertion. On
May 25, 2001 a battalion of the National Guard under the ministry of defense initiated a mutiny stating
economic demands and went back to barracks only after the president visited them and promised the
improvement of the economic situation of the army. Social prestige of the army is extremely low.
In 1998, International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) was created to provide assistance to the reform
of the Georgian armed forces. Such recommendations come also from other groups of western experts,
including European Command of the US Armed forces. Their major recommendations include abolition of
parallel structures in the army and reduction of armed forces so that only small but better equipped mobile
forces exist and greater stress is made on the preparation of the reserve. It is recommended to reduce the forces
of the Ministry of Defense from the current size of 20-21 to 12-13 thousands by 2005. Following the
recommendations, the Georgian government has adopted the national security concept and in 2000 the MoD has
published “White paper” on the course of the Georgian army. The actual reform, however, progresses very
slowly if at all.
One of important issues related to service in the army is that of conscientious objection and alternative
service. The law on the Non-Military Alternate Labour Service was enacted on October 28, 1997. However, no
mechanisms for its implementation were created. In 2000, the president decreed that the implementation of the
law shall be entrusted to the Ministry of Public Health Care, Social Security and Labour. Some funds were set
aside in the 2000 state budget for these purposes, but they were not expended, as the mechanism was not
created. In May 2001, the president issued another decree that included regulations for the alternate service.
According to these regulations, a state commission for the alternate service has to be set up as a department of
the ministry. The ministry took some steps in this direction but the commission has yet to be created. An
important impediment is that the 2001 state budget does not provide any funding for the alternate service, so
there is no source to pay to the commission staff. While it was planned that the Commission would start
working already during the fall draft, it seems more likely that its actual functioning – that is, implementation of
the law – will be postponed until the next spring."

Document(s): cipdd-geo.pdf