On June 21, 2016, Deputy Public Defender Natia Katsitadze participated in the 9^th meeting of the U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership Commission Working Group on Democracy, where the ongoing and implemented democratic reforms, their results and a number of topical issues were discussed.

The Deputy Public Defender, together with other participants of the meeting, discussed in detail the implementation of the anti-discrimination legislation and the number and contents of the cases studied by the Public Defender's Office. She talked about positive developments, as well as drawbacks that need immediate action-oriented response.

When talking about the National Preventive Mechanism, Natia Katsitadze once again emphasized the difficulties related to retention of video recordings in prisons and police stations for a short period of time and limited access to the video recordings that hinder effective activities of the Public Defender.

Special attention was paid to challenges, including documentation and investigation of hate crimes, creation of an effective labor inspection, etc.