On June 30, 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia held another public debate on the theme: Rights of Foreigners and Persons with Neutral Documents and State Security. Natia Katsitadze, First Deputy Public Defender of Georgia, moderated the event.

At the opening of the meeting, Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili briefly reviewed the state practice on the use of state security as grounds for refusing to grant refugee and humanitarian statuses. He noted that the reason for refusal is unknown for asylum-seekers and their defenders, which violates the principle of effective judicial protection.

The Public Defender also talked about the situation of persons residing in the occupied territories, their movement at the dividing line and the importance of their involvement in the public health and education programs; difficulties in issuing neutral documents and inadequate, humiliating and sometimes offensive treatment by the officers of the State Security Service located at the dividing line.

Johannes Van Der Klaauw, Regional Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in South Caucasus, Shota Getsadze, a judge of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal, and Tamta Mikeladze, Head of the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center, delivered speeches at the debate.

After the delivery of speeches, the attendees, representatives of international and local NGOs talked about the shortcomings in the existing practice and discussed individual cases.