Meetings were held between the representatives of the Georgian Public Defender and the Portuguese Ombudsman in Portugal’s capital Lisbon on May 24-26, 2017, for the purpose of sharing experience in the field of protection of the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

First Deputy Public Defender Natia Katsitadze and representatives of the Public Defender‘s Office, Tamta Papuashvili and Beka Javakhadze, met with representatives of the Portuguese Ombudsman's Office, as well as heads of the centers of reception and accommodation of asylum seekers. They were familiarized with the integration programs operating in Portugal for persons with migrant and refugee statuses, which are believed to be one of the best programs in Europe.

Henrique Antunes, Deputy Ombudsman of Portugal, and Rosa VieiraNeves, Head of the Ombudsman’s Office, talked about the structures and activities of the Ombudsman's Office; João Portugal, co-ordinator of the Department of Human Rights and Freedoms, Health and Social Rights, reviewed the Ombudsman's activities in the field of protection of the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, as well as the mandates of the Ombudsman, the High Commissioner for Migration and centers of accommodation of asylum seekers.

The Georgian delegation, together with the representatives of the Refugee Council, got acquainted with the situation in the juvenile reception center; they visited the Bobadela center of asylum seekers and a kindergarten there, which serves Portuguese citizens along with the children of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in order to improve the integration process.

The visit was held within the framework of the project "Support to the Public Defender's Office in Studying the Situation of Refugees, Persons with Humanitarian Status and Asylum Seekers" with the financial support of the UNHCR Representative in the South Caucasus.