On October 5, 2020, within the framework of the 45^th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Lara Jamarauli, Representative of the Public Defender’s Office to the Office of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, presented information on the human rights situation in the occupied territories of Georgia.

Speaking on behalf of the Public Defender, Lara Jamarauli noted that the cases of violation of the right to life in the occupied territories of Georgia - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - were alarming. To date, no one has been punished for the deprivation of the lives of Davit Basharuli, Archil Tatunashvili, Giga Otkhozoria and Irakli Kvaratskhelia.

Lara Jamarauli spoke about the long-term closure of the so-called checkpoint in 2019, which led to the humanitarian crisis and problems with access to medical care in the occupied Akhalgori district.

Lara Jamarauli also referred to the arbitrary restrictions imposed on freedom of movement by the de facto authorities, which negatively affect the exercise of various rights by locals, including the rights to health and education.

In addition, she touched upon the restrictions on the right to receive education in the mother tongue in the occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the complete prohibition of Georgian as a language of education in all primary schools of Gali and Akhalgori.

On behalf of the Public Defender, Lara Jamarauli called on the Georgian authorities to use all international formats to conduct negotiations in order to make the Government of the Russian Federation allow international monitors to have full and unrestricted access to the occupied territories of Georgia.