On 1-2 November 2018, the Public Defender's Office organized a regional conference of national human rights institutions. The theme of the conference was: "Protection and Integration of Refugees". Representatives of human rights institutions from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova, Denmark and Portugal attended the event.

The aim of the conference was to share the best practices of national human rights institutions in the field of protection and integration of refugees in the region and Europe and to develop human rights-based approaches for studying the rights situation of asylum-seekers and internationally protected persons.

Nino Lomjaria, Public Defender of Georgia, and Johannesvan der Klaauw, UNHCR Regional Representative in the South Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia), spoke about the importance of protection of the rights of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons and conflict situations in the world. They emphasized the importance of the role of the Public Defender's Office of Georgia in monitoring and protecting the rights of asylum-seekers and internationally protected persons.

First Deputy Public Defender Tamar Gvaramadze reviewed the mandate of the Public Defender of Georgia and the activities carried out by the Office in the field of protection of the rights of asylum-seekers and refugees. She also talked about the active cooperation with the UNHCR Regional Representative in the South Caucasus and a joint project.

At the sessions, participants of the conference discussed the role of national human rights institutions in the protection of the rights of asylum-seekers and internationally protected persons, and provided examples of their countries; they also talked about access to asylum and protection, and socio-economic rights of refugees and asylum-seekers.

At the end of the conference, a joint declaration was developed on the role of national human rights institutions in promoting the protection of the rights of asylum-seekers and internationally protected persons and their integration.

The guests attending the conference visited the temporary accommodation center of the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs together with representatives of the Public Defender of Georgia and received information about the function and standards of the center.

The event was held within the framework of the “Support to the Public Defender's Office in Studying the Situation of Refugees and Internationally Protected Persons" project and was jointly funded by the Public Defender's Office and the UNHCR Regional Representative in the South Caucasus.