On December 8, 2017, Nino Lomjaria, the Public Defender of Georgia, started performing her duties. The Parliament of Georgia elected the sixth Public Defender of Georgia for a five-year term on November 30.

On her first working day, Nino Lomjaria told reporters her priority will be the protection of social and economic rights, along with political and civil rights. According to her, she is going to intensify the efforts of the Public Defender’s Office in terms of protection of the rights of vulnerable groups (children, women, persons with disabilities) and to focus on the rights of employees and healthy lifestyle. Other important areas will be strengthening of regional offices and creation of decent working conditions for the staff of the Public Defender’s Office.

Nino Lomjaria, Master of Law of Washington University in St. Louis and Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, was the First Deputy Auditor General of Georgia in 2016-2017; from 2003 to 2016 she occupied leading positions in the following organizations: International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO), Georgian Young Lawyers' Association. Nino Lomjaria delivers lecture course - Democracy and Election Systems at the University of Georgia; she had been delivering lectures in Election Law as a visiting professor at Ilia State University in previous years. She is the author of about twenty surveys and publications.

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Pursuant to the Law of Georgia on the Public Defender of Georgia, the Public Defender of Georgia shall monitor protection of human rights and freedoms on the territory of Georgia and under its jurisdiction; monitor protection of and respect for the rights and freedoms recognized by the state for every person on the territory of Georgia and under its jurisdiction by the state and local self-government authorities, public institutions and officials; detect violations of human rights and freedoms, including cases of discrimination, and promote restoration of violated human rights and freedoms; carry out educational activities in the field of human rights and freedoms; performs the functions of the National Preventive Mechanism.

The Public Defender of Georgia shall act independently and carry out his/her activities according to the Constitution of Georgia, treaties and international agreements of Georgia, universally recognized principles and norms of international law, this law and other legislative acts.