On January 18, 2018, the Public Defender of Georgia met with representatives of non-governmental organizations working in the field of human rights. At the meeting, Nino Lomjaria introduced her deputies to the guests and spoke about their working directions. She also spoke about the strengthening of strategic directions and goals.

The aim of the meeting was to listen to the views and priorities of the NGO sector, as well as to discuss the existing challenges, in the process of preparation of an annual parliamentary report on the protection of human rights and freedoms. The Public Defender spoke about the changes in the format and style of the report and noted that the report would be mainly focused on evaluation, analysis and detection of systemic problems, while individual cases would be attached as a separate document.

More than 20 non-governmental organizations offered their proposals and recommendations to the Public Defender within the framework of cooperation. Among other issues, they spoke about the importance of improving the anti-discrimination law and strengthening of the Public Defender's mandate in this context, necessity for establishing an independent investigative mechanism, problems related to labour safety, land registration, residence permit and citizenship issues.

The NGOs’ opportunities for getting involved in the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in the field of protection of the rights of vulnerable groups, especially children, were also discussed at the meeting. Another topic of conversation was the problems in the judicial system.

The Public Defender noted that her Office would observe the ongoing investigation into the kidnapping of Afgan Mukhtarli and the refusal to grant citizenship to Mustafa Emre Çabuk.

The Public Defender expressed her readiness to hold regular thematic meetings in order to outline trends and find solutions to the existing problems.