On December 6, 2017, Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili introduced the rules of cooperation with NGOs within the framework of the mandate of the National PreventiveMechanism to the public. The rules aim to regulate the existing format of cooperation with NGOs.

According to the rules, NGOs working on human rights or prevention of torture will be ableto submit a project application to the Public Defender in order to carry out joint projects under the mandate of the National Preventive Mechanism and together with the employees of the Public Defender’s Office, which may include thematic visits to the penitentiary institutions or other facilities where liberty is otherwise restricted to conduct sector surveys or educational and awareness-raising activities in order to study the situation in similar facilities in depth. NGOs will be able to apply to the Public Defender within the framework of the contests periodically announced by the Public Defender or any time, without a contest.

The submitted project will be considered anda decision on the reasonability of the implementation of the project will be made by the Consultative Council of the National Preventive Mechanism, which will then send the project to the Public Defender.

The draft rules were prepared by the Department of Prevention and Monitoring of the Public Defender’sOffice and were submitted to the Consultative Council of the National Preventive Mechanism for consideration, after which, they were approved by the Public Defender’s order N366.