On November 11, 2021, the Western Georgia Division of the Public Defender's Office, in cooperation with the Department of Equality and the Department of Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, organized a webinar on the theme: Freedom of expression, hate speech and incitement to discrimination.

Ana Kvachadze and Tinatin Tinikashvili, representatives of the Public Defender's Office, spoke about the challenges relating to the regulation of hate speech, including in the media space. They also discussed the importance of freedom of expression in a democratic state and the area protected by the right to freedom of expression.

Representatives of the media and non-governmental organizations operating in the region were updated on the repeatedly voiced initiatives and precedents that were aimed at restricting freedom of expression and contradicted international human rights standards.

The webinar participants also discussed a specific case, in which the European Court of Human Rights found a violation of Article 10 of the Convention (Freedom of expression) against Georgia. They spoke about the cases of incitement to discrimination from the Public Defender’s practice and the mandate of the Public Defender as an equality body in this direction.

After delivering reports, a discussion was held.

It should be noted that educational activities in the field of protection of human rights and freedoms are an important direction of the mandate of the Public Defender. Representatives of the Office regularly hold informational meetings on human rights with various target groups. The Western Georgia Division of the Office continues to hold meetings on equality issues with various target groups as part of the Equality Week.