On 14 November 2019, Public Defender Nino Lomjaria participated in the conference of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutes (ENNHRI) in Brussels, Belgium.

The Public Defender briefed the attendees on Georgia’s human rights situation in the socio-economic context, reviewed the steps taken to improve the situation since the Soviet period and noted that the level of socio-economic development remains limited and insufficient in the country.

“It should be noted that Georgia has not fully ratified the European Social Charter and has made reservations on a number of articles. Therefore, the challenges in Georgia in terms of socio-economic rights differ significantly from those of many European countries, which directly impacts the work of the Public Defender's Office in this direction,” Nino Lomjaria said in her speech.

The Public Defender spoke about the activities and mandate of the Public Defender’s Office for the protection and monitoring of socio-economic rights in the country.

“Our office regularly works on various socio-economic rights, in particular health care, adequate housing, social security, including targeted social assistance and adequate nutrition. In addition, the Public Defender studies the situation of realization of the socio-economic rights of vulnerable groups, including children, older people, persons with disabilities, conflict-affected persons and eco-migrants. While working on the above issues, within the competence granted by our mandate, we use response mechanisms at the individual, systemic and political level“, said Nino Lomjaria.

The theme of ENNHRI's annual conference is "Realising Economic and Social Rights in Europe – The Role of NHRIs’.

Tamar Gvaramadze, First Deputy Public Defender of Georgia, and Beka Javakhadze, representative of the Public Defender's Office, are also attending the meetings in Brussels.