On January 27, 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia and the International Foundation Lea held an event dedicated to the international HolocaustRemembrance Day in the Information Centre on NATO and EU. The event was attended by representatives of the diplomatic corps, state agencies and members of the Public Defender’s Councils of Religions and Ethnic Minorities.

"Today we have gathered here to recall those who were labeled as offenders only for their racial, ethnic, religious, political and ideological identities, their disability, different sexual orientation or other signs, and became victims of the Nazi hell. That is why we should be alarmed in case of even minor expression of xenophobia, intolerance, discrimination, in order to prevent revival of this evil which may turn into a mass trend and a weapon of unprecedented destruction. Today, in the world full of conflicts, some of the central problems of which are revival of ethnic nationalism, terrorism and fundamentalism, fight against xenophobia and antisemitism is urgent as never before,"- said the Public Defender.

During the event, the guests were addressed by Marine Solomonishvili, Head of the International Foundation LEA, Adel Nino, Consul of the Israeli Embassy, Mariusz Maszkiewicz, Polish Ambassador to Georgia, Janosh Herman, Head of the EU Delegation to Georgia and Niels Scott, Head of the UN Development Program. At the end of the event, Rabbi Avimelekh Rosenblatt and Rabbi Besion Izraelishvili read a memorial prayer. The participants of the event lit candles and paid tribute to the 6 million Jews and 2 million Romanies killed during the Holocaust, as well as all other victims of the Nazi regime.

27 January was declared as the Holocaust Remembrance Day by the United Nations General Assembly on the basis of a resolution adopted in 2005.

The event was organized by the Tolerance Center of the Public Defender and the Promoting Integration, Tolerance and Awareness Program (PITA) of the UN Association of Georgia (UNAG), which is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).