The Parliament heard the Report of the Public Defender of Georgia On the Situation of Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Georgia for 2023, introduced by the PD, Levan Ioseliani.

The report overviews the human rights protection progress and challenges, as well as the recommendations and proposals issued by the Ombudsman. Ioseliani accentuated the tendencies outlined in human rights protection in 2023, that require appropriate and timely response from the government.

“In 2023, 4,849 applications about the facts of human rights violations were submitted to the Public Defender’s Office, to which, due legal response has been ensured. 17,567 calls were received on the hotline. In view to eliminate the detected violations, the Public Defender’s Office issued 79 recommendations/proposals to the state agencies in 2023; and developed 10 special reports and 3 alternative reports, submitted to international organizations. The Office developed 3 constitutional claims, 23 Amicus Curiae, and 3 communications for the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. In order to identify and monitor rights violations and challenges, the Office of the Public Defender carried out a number of visits to various institutions, and detailed overview of those visits are provided in the report.

The fulfillment of the recommendations issued in 2022 to the state agencies. Per his assessment, the fulfillment of the recommendations remains unsatisfactory. In 2022, the PD Office issued 281 recommendations in sum to the state and municipal bodies, and submitted 63 proposals to the Parliament and the President.

263 out of 281 recommendations were directed to the state agencies, 11% of which have been completely fulfilled, 19% - partially fulfilled, and 52% - unfulfilled. Due to the failure of the institution to submit information, 6% of the recommendations could not be fulfilled, and 10% - were not fulfilled on reasonable grounds. As for the proposals issued to the Parliament and the President in 2022, 1 proposal issued to the President has been completely fulfilled, and 48 out of 62 proposals issued to the Parliament were not fulfilled, 4 were fulfilled partially and 10 – completely. Hence, the general situation in this regard is still unsatisfactory”, - said the Ombudsman.

As the reporter elucidated, the legal state of the conflict-affected population constitutes one of the priorities for the PD. He overviewed the legal state of the IDPs, stressing the facts of the illicit detentions and ill-treatment of the Georgian citizens on the occupied territories. He noted that the protection of the rights of the citizens becoming refugees in their own country requires the utmost attention of the government.

Levan Ioseliani dwelt on the human rights protection tendencies underlining that the situation required a proper and timely state response in 2023. He overviewed the human rights state in the penitentiary departments, Interior Ministry system, mental clinics, and shelters for individuals with mental disorders, and highlighted the necessity of effective prevention of domestic violence. According to him, poverty remains one of the acutest problems in the country along with the scarcity of the allowances for eco-migrants; the solution implies the establishment of bi-lingual education for the integration of national minorities and the protection of rights of persons with disabilities.

The Ombudsman concentrated on the violations in the gender equality sphere and the facts of femicide. As he noted, despite numerous effective steps taken in 2023, higher efforts are required.