George Tugushi was elected as a Public Defender of Georgia by the Georgian Parliament on July 31, 2009, for a five-year term. He assumed his duties on September 17, 2009. George Tugushi, aged 32, is a specialist in Human Rights Law. He has a 14-year working experience and, in addition to his native language, has a good command of the English and Russian languages.

Education

George Tugushi graduated from the Faculty of International Law and International Relations of Tbilisi State University in 1999. In 2001, he obtained a Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the Georgian-American Institute of Public Administration (GIPA). In 2003, George Tugushi became a graduate student of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Lund University Law Faculty, Sweden and obtained an LL.M. in International Human Rights Law.

Professional Experience

From 1996, George Tugushi worked first in the Legal Department of the Tbilisi City Hall, then as the Assistant to the First Vice-Premier of the Tbilisi Government. And from 1999, he worked as the Head of the Staff of the Chairman in the Tbilisi City Council.

From 2000, George Tugushi was the National Expert of TACIS in the development of trans-border cooperation. In the same period, he worked at the Georgian Parliament, first as the Leading Specialist on Legal Issues in the Parliamentary Committee on Regional Policy and Self-Governance, then as the Leading Specialist on Legal Issues in the Parliamentary Committee on Sector Economy Issues, and later as the Assistant to the Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia.

In 2000-2002, George Tugushi worked as the Senior Legal Expert for the local self-governance reform project of the Urban Institute and USAID. From 2002, he became the Local Legal Expert for GOPA Consulting (Germany) and a lecturer in Public International Law and International Human Rights Law at Zurab Zhvania Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA).  

His working experience includes a joint media project of the Council of Europe and the European Commission, which was implemented by Liberty Institute, and a national project of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in which he worked as the National Project Legal Professional.

In 2004, George Tugushi was the Head of the International Relations Division at the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia. Soon he became the Human Rights Officer at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Georgia. George Tugushi worked in the OSCE  Mission to Georgia till 2008.

Prior to being elected Public Defender, George Tugushi worked as the Coordinator of the project “Support to the Public Defender’s Office”, funded by the European Commission. The project is implemented by the consortium leaded by Human Dynamics KG (Austria) in partnership with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and the Greek Ombudsman’s Office.

From December 1, 2005, George Tugushi is a member of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) (he was elected for a four-year term, till December 19, 2009), and from March 25, 2009, he was re-elected as a  member of the abovementioned committee for the second term (till December 19, 2013).

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In parallel, George Tugushi took part in the working groups and special councils created as part of various reforms and was engaged in teaching/training activities in the framework of several international projects, in particular:

Expert of the Criminal Justice Reform Interagency Coordinating Council;

Expert of the Interagency Coordination Council Working on the Issues of the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;

Trainer in monitoring for the Council of Europe project “Promoting Culture of Human Rights”; trainer in International Human Rights Law in the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR);

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) trainer in international monitoring practices of the places of deprivation of liberty;

Invited trainer/expert in the Law of International Organizations and International Human Rights Law at the Training Centre of the Ministry of Justice;

Lecturer in the Law of International Organizations at the Caucasus University School of Law;

Vice-President of the International Students Committee of the Faculty of Law of Lund University;

Member of the Self-Governance Commission of Open Society Georgia Foundation;

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Georgian Association of Experts in Local Self-Government;

Member of the Selection Committee of the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs;

Junior Research Fellow of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS)