On September 12-14, 2018, Office of the Public Defender organized a training on International Refugee Law and International Protection for students of law and international law faculties of different universities. The training was organized with the support of the Representation of the UNHCR in the South Caucasus.

In their welcoming speeches, Tamar Gvaramadze, First Deputy Public Defender and Christina Bunea, Regional Legal Adviser at the UNHCR South Caucasus, addressed problems pertaining to the increasing number of asylum seekers in the world due to wars and conflicts; they underlined the importance of the work done by the Office of the Public Defender toward the monitoring and protection of human rights of asylum seekers and persons granted international protection.

The training addressed principles and mechanisms of international law on protection of refugees as well as national legislation and practice against international standards. Participants were familiarized with the mandate of the Public Defender, legislative framework on human rights and refugees, interpretation of the term “refugee” pursuant to the Convention and criteria for granting the status, persecution standards, universal principles and notions of protection of refugees, asylum system and legislation in Georgia and national and international case law on refugees.

Training was conducted in the framework of the project “Support Public Defender to enhance the capacity to address the situation of asylum seekers and persons granted international protection”.