Ucha Nanuashvili, Public Defender of Georgia, and Lara Jamarauli, chief specialist of international human rights law at the Department of International Relations, Project Management and Civil Education of the Public Defender’s Office, attended the annual meeting of the Bureau of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions in Costa Rica.

The meeting was attended by representatives of national human rights institutions from all regions of the world, as well as partners from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The event was opened by Ana Helena Chacón, Vice President of Costa Rica, and Alejandro Solano, acting Foreign Minister of Costa Rica.

The directions of the activities for 2018 were defined and global trends, developments after the last meeting of the Bureau in March 2017 and the progress of the organization were evaluated during the three-day meeting.

As a result of the meeting, the Bureau members developed a strategy implementation plan for 2018 to determine the priorities for the next one year. In particular, it was decided that thematic focus will be put on the following areas: issues relating to conflict and post-conflicts, reduction of democratic space and human rights activists, business and human rights, fight against gender discrimination, rights of older people, rights of persons with disabilities, refugees, migrants and refugees, sustainable development goals.

The participants of the meeting also discussed the alarming trends of reduction of democratic space in all parts of the world, repressions, threats and other hindrances in the activities of human rights activists and national human rights institutions. In a number of countries, national human rights institutions are threatened for their efforts to protect and promote fundamental rights.

The meeting also focused on the specific cases of repression and the role of the Global Alliance and its regional networks, as well as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Development Program, in promoting endangered institutions.

The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GAHNRI) unites national human rights institutions from 4 regions: Africa, America, Asia and Europe. The alliance is managed by the Bureau composed of four institutions (A status accredited) from each region. The Public Defender of Georgia, together with the national human rights institutions of Germany, Finland and Croatia, was elected as a representative of the European region for a three-year term by the 22 March 2016 decision of the General Assembly.