An integrated youth festival was organized within the framework of the civic education program Future Generation by the Akhaltsikhe Youth Center in cooperation with the Public Defender’s Samtskhe-Javakheti Office in the city of Akhalkalaki on July 29. 77 students from Georgian and non-Georgian public schools of the Akhalkalaki and Akhaltsikhe municipalities took part in the festival.

The main goal of the festival was to raise civic awareness of the youth and promote integration of ethnic minorities. The festival was opened in the Akhalkalaki House of Future with a quiz led by Salome Quljanishvili, representative of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Office of the Public Defender's Regional Department. The quiz questions concerned human rights and freedoms, civic education and European integration, as well as national and international mechanisms for the protection of human rights. It is noteworthy that participants of the quiz from an Armenian public school comprehensively answered questions about the Public Defender’s institution and its mandate.

Raised awareness of the Public Defender’s institution in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region is a result of the recent intensified activities, which had been regularly carried out in the region in order to inform locals of the Public Defender’s mandate.

The Public Defender’s Office supports similar types of youth activities and expresses readiness for active co-operation in the future.