Public Defender’s Activity Report 2016
On February 6, 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia introduced the Activity Report 2016 to the representatives of the Parliament, governmental agencies, international organizations and non-governmental organizations.
The document includes the statistical data of applications submitted to the Public Defender’s Office, Public Defender’s recommendations and their implementation, activities of the Public Defender’s Advisory Councils, efforts carried out for raising awareness and knowledge of human rights, as well as data of financial and human resources of the Public Defender’s office and information about projects carried out by the funding from various donor organizations.
According to the statistical data included in the report, the number of applications submitted to the Public Defender was still high; 8 827 applications/complaints were submitted to the Public Defender’s Office in the reporting period, proceedings into 7 196 out of them have already been completed. Among them: the Public Defender issued 77 recommendations, proposals and general proposals to various governmental agencies and private (natural and legal) persons; 15 out of them were issued within the framework of the competence granted by the Law on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination. It is important that 39% of the recommendations have already been implemented; 10% have been partially implemented; 17% have not been implemented; middle response has been received with regard to 4%; we have been promised that the recommendations would be fulfilled in 12% of cases, while no reply has been received at all with regard to 18% of recommendations.
In 2016, the hotline of the Public Defender's Office received 2 559 calls; 337 protocols were drawn up; 167 notifications concerned alleged rights violations in the detention facilities.
In 2016, 12 special reports, 4 legislative proposals, 1 constitutional proposal and 9 amicus curiae briefs were prepared.
Public Defender’s communication with international organizations was significantly increased; high trend of covering the activities of the Public Defender's Office by the media was maintained and expanded; important comments and assessments were made about human rights violations at different periods; 417 press releases were prepared and spread in the media, including the Public Defender's public statements.
In 2016, 15 thematic training courses were held within the framework of the Human Rights Academy of the Public Defender, which was attended by 347 people.
The Public Defender has been presenting Activity Report to the public since 2013.