On November 25, 2020, the Public Defender's Office of Georgia, non-governmental organization UPR-info and Open Society Georgia Foundation held an online pre-session hearing, during which representatives of non-governmental organizations and the Public Defender updated the diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia of the human rights situation in the country. In addition, representatives of the diplomatic corps listened to the specific recommendations that their countries should desirably give to Georgia within the framework of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on January 26, 2021 in order to improve the protection of human rights in Georgia.

At the pre-session hearing on November 25, Tamar Abazadze, Head of the Analytical Department of the Public Defender's Office, delivered a report on the rights of prisoners and spoke about the challenges in this direction. Representatives of non-governmental organizations discussed important issues such as: women's rights and sexual violence, reproductive health services, LGBT+ rights, children’s rights, rights of persons with disabilities, social and economic rights, justice reform, law enforcement system, ethnic minority rights, freedom of religion and belief, and racial discrimination.

The Universal Periodic Review, a mechanism established by the UN Human Rights Council, aims to improve the human rights situation in the UN member states. Under the mechanism, the human rights situation is assessed in all UN member states and relevant recommendations are issued to the countries in every 4-5 years. It should be noted that the Public Defender of Georgia has been actively cooperating with the mentioned human rights mechanism since 2010, both by submitting periodic reports and directly participating in the Human Rights Council sessions.

On January 26, 2021, the human rights situation in Georgia will be assessed for the third time within the framework of the UN Universal Periodic Review. UN member states will make recommendations to Georgia in various directions to improve the human rights situation.

On July 9, 2020, the Public Defender of Georgia submitted an alternative report to the United Nations for the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review of Georgia.