On November 28-29, 2016, in Warsaw, Poland, Ekaterine Skhiladze, the Deputy Public Defender, and Vanda Jijelava, the Public Defender's Adviser on Legal Issues, took part in the experts’ meeting on strengthening of independence of national human rights institutions in the OSCE region.

Heads of European national human rights institutions, experts, representatives of international organizations and other human rights institutions spoke about the importance of independence of national human rights institutions and reviewed various best practices in this field. Discussion was also held about necessary future steps for ensuring pluralism and independence of national human rights institutions.

The meeting was organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights of Poland, the International Ombudsman Institution, the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions and the Council of Europe.