The Public Defender’s Office of Georgia echoes the Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, which has been celebrated on January 27 on the initiative of the United Nations since 2005. The celebration of this day does not only have a symbolic meaning, as it helps us to understand the scale of the tragedy that can be caused by intolerance and hatred based on ethnic, religious or other grounds.

Unfortunately, intolerance, exclusion and oppression of the different, including in Georgia, is not a rare thing even today. This is evidenced by the applications received by the Public Defender’s Office, in which representatives of various social groups point to the violations of their rights and freedoms on discriminatory grounds. As a rule, discrimination and exclusion of the different are based on abstract fears and harmful stereotypes. In this regard, it is necessary to properly realize that each culture consists of different groups of people, and without mutual respect and tolerance, it is impossible to form a civilized and safe society.

It is significant that the international human rights system in the form that we have today was created in response to the atrocities committed during the Second World War. It is very important to understand the magnitude of this sacrifice, to respect it and to make every effort so that in the modern world, the intolerance of the different does not become the basis for violating the rights of any group.

The Tolerance Center of the Public Defender, with the support of the United Nations Association of Georgia, Ilia University and Tbilisi State University, held an event to celebrate the Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. At the event, Ketevan Shubashvili, Head of the Equality Department of the Public Defender's Office, spoke about the challenges relating to non-discrimination in Georgia and the importance of remembering the victims of the Holocaust in the process of protecting equality.