The Public Defender's Office of Georgia has prepared a special report on the implementation of the tasks assigned to state agencies by the Parliament’s Resolution of November 1, 2023 "On the Situation of Human Rights and Freedoms in Georgia". The aforementioned resolution was issued on the basis of the Public Defender's 2022 parliamentary report.

The Public Defender issued a total of 281 recommendations[1] to various agencies and officials in the 2022 parliamentary report. The Parliament of Georgia reflected approximately 85% of the recommendations and issued 277 tasks to ensure their implementation. It should be positively noted that the rate of reflecting the recommendations of the Public Defender by the Parliament in the 2023 resolution has increased compared to the corresponding rate of the previous year (in the 2022 resolution, the Parliament reflected 82% of the recommendations of the Public Defender).

The presented report analyzed 258 tasks issued by the Parliament.[2] Of these, 20 tasks are not subject to assessment due to a substantial change in their content by the Parliament. In addition, due to the lack of relevant information provided by state agencies to the Parliament of Georgia and the Public Defender's Office, it is impossible to assess the implementation of 24 parliamentary tasks. One task was not assessed due to duplication.

The analysis of the tasks issued by the Parliament's resolution revealed that the status of implementation of tasks has not changed compared to last year and, therefore, is still unsatisfactory:

• Approximately 19% of the tasks have been fully implemented;
• 24% partially implemented;
• 34% are assessed as unimplemented.

It should be noted positively that the trend of decreasing the number of recommendations that the Parliament did not reflect in the resolution continues. In particular, in the resolution of November 1, 2023, the Parliament did not reflect 22 recommendations, while in the resolution of 2022 this indicator was 23, and in 2021 - 30. The list of the 22 recommendations, with the reference to the relevant addressees and the parliamentary chapter, is attached to the presented special report as an appendix.

The Parliament adopts a resolution based on the annual report of the Public Defender. By this act, the Parliament assesses the report of the Public Defender on the situation of human rights and freedoms in the country and gives instructions to the state agencies to implement the recommendations presented in the report. The issuance of instructions by the Parliament places the implementation of the recommendations issued by the Public Defender under parliamentary oversight. For this purpose, the implementation of the instructions of the Parliament by the agencies is monitored by the Parliamentary Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee. Unfortunately, the Committee, like in previous years, did not hold a committee discussion on the implementation of the instructions reflected in the Parliament's resolution this year either.[3]

The Public Defender once again calls on state agencies to realize the importance of implementing the instructions issued by the Parliament of Georgia, and, in turn, calls on the Parliament of Georgia to strengthen the practical use of all control mechanisms at its disposal, as provided for by the Constitution of Georgia and the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, in order to improve the implementation of the instructions issued by the Parliament.

[1] 1 recommendation is duplicated in the parliamentary report due to a technical error, therefore the statistical data presented in the report are counted in relation to 280 and not 281 recommendations.

[2] The Parliament issued 277 tasks by resolution, which includes tasks issued to the autonomous republic and municipal bodies - a total of 19 tasks. The presented report does not assess the implementation of the aforementioned 19 tasks.

[3] In accordance with Article 6, paragraph 4, subparagraph “b”, of the Statute of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee of the Parliament of Georgia shall examine the implementation of the tasks set forth in the resolution of the Parliament by the addressees and shall conduct a committee discussion with the participation of the Public Defender and the addressees of the recommendations.