Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic is paying an official visit to Georgia. The purpose of the visit is to assess the current state of human rights.
Mijatovic will summarize the information gathered from the civil society, government officials and government agencies and prepare a report outlining the recommendations that the state should take into account for better protection of human rights.
Today’s meeting of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights was held with non-governmental organizations, including representatives of Tbilisi Pride.
We talked to the co-director of Tbilisi Pride, Mariam Kvaratskhelia about the details of the meeting. According to her, the current situation in terms of human rights protection, as well as recent developments were discussed during the meeting.
Dunja Mijatovic noted at the meeting that the situation with regard to the protection of LGBTQ+ rights is one of her top priorities. According to her, the situation in terms of LGBTQ+ rights in the country is alarming. The meeting focused on hate crimes, organized violence by ultra-right groups, education, access to health care for LGBTQ+ people, the anti-discrimination law, as well as issues of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in work environments.
According to Mariam, a recent study by the CRRC and the Council of Europe found that public attitudes towards LGBTQ rights are changing in a positive direction. The co-director of Tbilisi Pride told us that it is especially important to work actively for the protection of human rights in the light of the recent rise of non-progressive, violent groups.
Recently, Western institutions have increasingly become targets of attacks, and violent, non-progressive establishments are becoming stronger. In this context, working on human rights, such as LGBTQ+ human rights guarantee, strengthening human rights organizations, sharing experiences and having dialogues, is particularly important. This meeting has also served this purpose. The Council of Europe is actively working for the protection of human rights, developing the necessary recommendations to be implemented to eliminate violations. We hope that the final report of the commissioner will reflect the topics discussed at the meeting and the relevant recommendations will be taken into account”- says Mariam Kvaratskhelia.
