On October 5, 2022, the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia and UNHCR Georgia held a joint presentation of the report on the rights situation of asylum seekers and internationally protected persons.

Tamar Gvaramadze, First Deputy Public Defender of Georgia, and Johan Frantz, Protection Officer at UNHCR, emphasized the importance of joint work in the direction of the protection of human rights of asylum seekers and internationally protected persons and expressed hope for continued cooperation.

Monitoring of the rights situation of foreign citizens, including asylum seekers and internationally protected persons, detection of rights violations and promotion of the restoration of violated rights through recommendations is one of the priority directions of the Public Defender of Georgia.

The special report assesses the rights situation of asylum seekers and internationally protected persons in Georgia, as well as the challenges and gaps in the enjoyment of fundamental rights by them, and identifies the functions and roles of the relevant state institutions during the provision of services in accordance with law.

The key findings and recommendations of the report were presented by the First Deputy Public Defender. Tamar Gvaramadze spoke about national and international instruments, availability and quality of status determination procedures, reception of asylum seekers and use of state services by them. She noted that the report devotes special attention to children, groups with special needs and of vulnerable categories; The information requested from the state agencies is also analyzed in the report.

In the process of working on the report, representatives of the Public Defender of Georgia conducted monitoring at the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, penitentiary establishments of the Ministry of Justice, state border, common courts, reception center for asylum seekers and schools. They also met various persons and beneficiaries, including asylum seeking and internationally protected women, as well as women living in the reception center and representatives of the Agency for State Care and Assistance for Victims of Trafficking.

The presentation, which was attended by representatives of the relevant state and non-governmental agencies, as well as international organizations, continued in the discussion mode.

The event was held within the framework of the joint project with UNHCR Georgia.