2012-2017 Progress Report of Public Defender of Georgia
The report provides information about the efforts carried out within the mandate of the Public Defender of Georgia in the field of individual cases, monitoring, public awareness raising and education, as well relations with international human rights organizations.
Significant part of the report concerns the expansion of the Public Defender’s mandate, structural changes in the Public Defender’s Office and the progress made by the Office at the national and international level over the last five years.
In the reporting period, the number of applications submitted to the Public Defender increased two times; in particular, 4 291 applications were submitted in 2012, 8 827 - in 2016, and 7697 – in 2017 (as of November). It is important that a hotline has been functioning in the Public Defender's Office since November 2015, which has received 4801 calls in 2017 and 7625 calls in 2015-2017 from the capital and regions of Georgia, as well as penitentiary institutions.
The Public Defender of Georgia issued 107 recommendations, proposals and general proposals in 2017 for various state agencies and private (physical and legal) persons, while a total of 657 recommendations were developed in 2012-2017.
74 special reports, 14 legislative proposals, 35 opinions and notes on draft laws, 12 constitutional lawsuits and 28 amicus curiae briefs were worked out in 2012-2017.
The Public Defender’s engagement in terms of relations with international organizations has been increased as well. The Public Defender has prepared and sent 45 written opinions/questionnaires to various international human rights institutions in 2014-2017.
The Public Defender of Georgia is focused on strengthening his regional offices. In the reporting period, three new offices were opened: Telavi - in 2014, Ozurgeti - in 2015 and Mestia - in 2017. By this time, the number of regional offices is 9, which have consulted 4 940 citizens. In addition, 106 visits were paid to the regions in order to meet the local population there.
The Public Defender started to monitor the deportation of Georgian citizens illegally residing in the EU countries to Georgia in 2014; return of 247 citizens was monitored in 2014-2017.
