Mr. Ucha Nanuashvili (Georgia)- October 8th, session 3
Merida Conference
History has recoded many occasions when the progressive part of the international society
united for the protection and promotion of human rights around the world. The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which has become a starting point for the internalization of
human rights and which I am sure represents a desk book for all of us here, is a good example
to be mentioned. Since then many decades passed and many international human rights
documents were created but decent living conditions are still not achieved by many; still many
live in extreme poverty and education and health is still a matter of dream for millions of
people around the globe.
In 2000 the states around the world have decided to acknowledge these problems and
introduce Millennium Development Goals together with 15 year action plan on how to tackle
these problems. As a result, less people live in poverty now and more children go to school and
more have access to medicaments.
This is good, but this is not enough. Numbers do not matter for human rights, even if one
person suffers from violation of his/her rights the alarms must be on. The Sustainable
Development Goals are ambitious and correspond to the logic mentioned here: everyone’s
rights should be respected, and everyone should be reached this time.
The SDG is broader than MDG. The goals to be achieved in the next 15 years encompasses
protection of all kind of rights: civil, political, economic, social and cultural. These Goals cannot
be achieved by international organizations, it cannot be achieved by states, it cannot be
achieved by corporations, it cannot be achieved by NGO’s, and it cannot be achieved by NHRIs.
The SDG has to be achieved by international organizations, states, corporations, NGOs and
NHRIs together!
Therefore, here I propose to create a forum in our respective regions, with the participation of
all stakeholders (international organizations, governments, companies, NGOs, NHRIs). I would
like to ask ENNHRI to be locomotive towards this great cause and organize meetings at least
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Mr. Ucha Nanuashvili (Georgia)- October 8th, session 3
once in a year, where we can meet to discuss progress made towards the SDG, identify
problems and seek for solutions.
I do strongly believe that ombuds institutions can play vital roles in fulfilling the goals set forth
in SDG and Now, I would like to draw your attention to the activities of the Public Defender’s
Office in this direction.
Since 2009 Public Defender of Georgia exercises the functions of the National Preventive
Mechanism, envisaged by the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Regular or ad hoc
visits of the NPM in all closed types of institutions are followed by the report on human rights
situation in relevant closed institutions which are disseminated in the public through our
website, by holding press conferences and presentations, or meetings with different
stakeholders.
Ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is undoubtedly a
positive step toward the protection of rights of PwD in Georgia. In accordance with the
Convention, Public Defender was assigned the mandate to monitor popularization, adherence
and implementation of the UNCRPD at the sixth meeting of the State Coordination Council
chaired by the Prime-Minister of Georgia.
Ombudsman of Georgia was also designated the role of the Equality Body under the Law of
Georgia on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination adopted in May 2014. To oversee the
issues of elimination of discrimination and ensure equality, we established the Equality
Department at our Office, which examines applications on alleged discrimination, in both public
and private sector and prepares relevant recommendations. By this mechanism, we aim to
establish high standards of human rights protection in the country and the spirit of equality in
the society. It also worth noting that the public defender’s office is the first state institution in
the country, which has established a special department of gender equality within the office.
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Mr. Ucha Nanuashvili (Georgia)- October 8th, session 3
Starting from November 2014, special parliamentary secretary is working for the Office of
Public Defender, the main function of which is to ensure Public Defender’s participation in the
legislative process in the Parliament of Georgia by developing and presenting his
recommendations and opinions to the law-makers about the draft-laws concerning human
rights.
By the initiative of public defender the government of Georgia has prepared and the parliament
of Georgia has adopted 7 year human rights comprehensive strategy aiming at identifying all
problematic areas and challenges in the field of human rights and elaborate concrete action
plans to implement the objectives of the strategy. The Public defender’s Office is actively
involved in the process of elaboration of the government’s 2016-2018 human rights action plan.
I am convinced that a real, meaningful realization of SDG goals is closely linked with awareness
of the citizens about their rights and with their ability to hold the governments accountable for
their policies. For this particular reason, the office of public defender has established a human
rights academy under the office, aiming to equip various groups of the society with more
human rights knowledge and enable them to better exercise their fundamental freedoms.
Public Defender’s Office has elaborated a new approach to reflect human rights violations not
only in an annual parliamentary report, but also prepare special reports concerning different
issues of human rights. Only last year the office published up to 20 special reports covering
wide areas of human rights: right to adequate housing, health, Rights of IDP’s, Persons with
Disabilities, Children’s and Women’s right, Rights of other vulnerable groups and so on.
Our experience shows that in order the NHRIs to be more effective and contribute to the
implementation of the SDG we should have an opportunity to observe the protection of human
rights not only by state organs but also by private companies. Nowadays, they have a great
potential to become cause for human suffering.
Therefore, for the better protection of human rights we decided to start a dialogue with the
business sector, and organize regular meetings with their representatives within the country.
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Mr. Ucha Nanuashvili (Georgia)- October 8th, session 3
We believe that it is in the best interests of enterprises to act according to Corporate Social
Responsibility principles and we want to make them believe in this as well.
Here, I would also like to propose one more forum for cooperation between those NHRIs who
have experience working with private companies and those who does not, similar to us. I
believe ENNHRI can help to organize such meetings.
We have to make sure that poverty and injustice that many of us witnessed in our countries,
becomes past and that future generations learn about it only from history books and
documentaries.
Thank you for your attention!
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