On December 1, 2023, Public Defender Levan Ioselian participated in an event dedicated to the completion of the Council of Europe project "Strengthening Protection of Social and Economic Rights in Georgia".

The project ongoing within the framework of the continuous promotion of social and economic rights aimed to strengthen the social interest of Georgia by bringing it closer to the provisions of the European Social Charter.

The needs assessment revealed problems related to the realization of employees' rights, segregation in vertical and horizontal professional activities, and the gender wage gap. Opportunities for long-term cooperation to address the above problems and projects developed in this direction were presented at the event.

In his welcoming speech, the Public Defender talked about the supervision of the protection of social rights as one of the priority areas of the Public Defender's activity. According to him, despite the positive changes implemented in the recent period, there are still a number of systemic challenges, for the solution of which the Public Defender continues to work actively and cooperate with the relevant bodies, prepares recommendations and periodically submits alternative reports to the European Committee of Social Rights.

The Public Defender talked about the importance of international support for improving the protection of social rights and the Council of Europe project "Strengthening Protection of Social and Economic Rights in Georgia" in this context. He expressed hopes that the support of the Council of Europe for the protection of social rights would continue in the future and Georgian legislation, through cooperation and joint efforts of all relevant agencies, would be brought in line with the European Social Charter and other international standards.

First Deputy Public Defender Tamar Gvaramadze spoke about the challenges in terms of protection of social rights. She emphasized the recent reform of the labour legislation, creation of the labour inspectorate and strengthening of its mandate in the direction of the right to work in a safe and healthy working environment. She noted that, despite a number of changes, fair remuneration remained a challenge, as well as the provision of effective compensation for women employed in the private sector during paid maternity leave.

Tamar Gvaramadze also spoke about the need to strengthen efforts for the elimination of problems relating to the rights of older people, homeless persons, child poverty and child abuse.

The event was jointly organized by the European Social Charter and the Council of Europe.