The Public Defender welcomes the Prime Minister's decision, according to which, amendments will be drafted for the appointment of a 22-lari subsidy additionally for more than 23 000 veterans, who were involved in military actions for the territorial integrity, independence and freedom of Georgia. The assistance had been suspended for a certain group of veterans since the enactement of the 2009 regulations.

The problem has been described in the Public Defender’s report since 2015. The Public Defender has been recommending amendments to the Government’s decree No 4 of 11 January 2007 for the purpose of equalizing the situation of the subsidy beneficiaries so that all veterans could enjoy the subsidy, as it had been envisaged by the same decree before being amended on 1 September 2012.

“The above recommendation was reflected in the Parliament’s decree 2018 on the Public Defender’s report on the situation of human rights and freedoms in Georgia 2017, while in October 2018, the Public Defender filed a suit with the Constitutional Court of Georgia and requested that paragraph 7 of Article 8 of the rules approved by the decree No 4 of 11 January 2007 be declared unconstitutional and invalidated.

We hope that the political decision of the Government of Georgia will be timely reflected in the relevant normative act and all veterans will be able to receive a subsidy without discrimination.