The Public Defender's Office launched survey of the reform process of the Capacity Institute within the framework of monitoring of the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in February 2016.

The survey is aimed at assessing the compliance of the Capacity Institute of Georgia with the standard of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Article 12 of the above-mentioned Convention, which concerns equal recognition before the law, opens a completely new perspective in terms of regulation of legal capacity.

The Constitutional Court of Georgia delivered a judgment on 8 October 2014 in the case of “Citizens of Georgia - Irakli Kemoklidze and David Kharadze v. Parliament of Georgia”, according to which, the then Incapacity Institute of Georgia was declared as unconstitutional. On March 20, 2015, the Parliament of Georgia passed a package of amendments, which served to implement the court's decision. The legislative changes took effect on April 1, 2015.

The current legal framework, as well as its implementation process, will be assessed within the framework of the evaluation of the Capacity Institute. Apart from normative acts, decisions of the common courts, reports of the forensic examination bureau and their compliance with the legislation, as well as with the Convention and the Constitutional Court judgments will be studied within the framework of the survey.

The survey will last five months and will be led by Vakhushti Menabde, professor of Ilia State University and member of the monitoring group of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in cooperation with the Department of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the Public Defender’s office.