Public Defender of Georgia Ucha Nanuashvili met with NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai in the framework of his official visit to Brussels. At the meeting that was held at NATO Headquarters, the situation in human rights and on-going processes aimed at improvement of the situation were discussed.

The Public Defender of Georgia provided the NATO Secretary General‘s Special Representative with information on ongoing projects and plans of the Public Defender’s Office aimed at protection of rights of military servicemen; he spoke about the issue of the human rights situation on the occupied territories; especially emphasized the process of implementation of anti-discrimination legislation and systemic reforms of justice and law enforcement agencies. They also discussed necessity of establishment of the independent investigative mechanism.

The NATO Secretary General‘s Special Representative gave a positive assessment to the country’s progress with respect to improvement of human rights situation though he also mentioned challenges that still remain.

We told the Public Defender that work of his institution is very important since during the annual evaluation we pay great attention to human rights situation in the country. I rely on reports prepared by him. The Public Defender presented a reform plan realization of which will be valuable for Georgia and it will bring the country closer to European standards. It is important not just for NATO but also for the population of the country, said James Appathurai after the meeting with the Public Defender.