What does the Ombudsman's 2020 report say?

The Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has released her 2020 report which concerns problematic issues in the country. 

The report says that last year the Public Defender’s office received 5,698 notifications of alleged cases of human rights violation, while 3,859 of the 5,698 notifications were accepted. 

The report says that the improper treatment in prisons and the presence of criminal influence there still remain a serious challenge. 

We have received 154 notifications on alleged improper treatment mostly by prison administration and police employees,” said the report. 

• Ombudswoman: prisons run by groups of inmates, Defender’s office employees hampered in their work

Ombudsman says that prisons are being run by groups of inmates rather than the prison administration. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge. 

The report praised the adoption of laws ‘on the elimination of all forms of discrimination’ and the law for people with disabilities in the last year, as well as amendments in the labour code which should ensure equal working conditions for men and the women. 

However, the ombudswoman stated that the pandemic restrictions have hindered the effective enforcement of the equality rights. 

Beyond the objective obstacles created by the pandemic, there have been governmental regulations which particularly affected several groups and their rights, especially the women, representatives of religious minorities, LGBT+ community and people with disabilities,” said the report.

The report says that the changes in the labour code which boosted the supervisory power of the labour inspection and increased the number of inspectors were positive. 

Lomjaria mentioned negative aspects of coronavirus restrictions. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge. 

However, the report says that the safety of the workforce is still a serious challenge. 

39 individuals died at the workplace in 2020 and 249 received injuries,” said the report. 

The ombudswoman said that compared to previous years the number of fatalities at the workplace has decreased. 

59 individuals died at the workplace back in 2019, while the figure stood at 45 in 2018,” said the report. 

The report called for special attention for the lonely and poor elderly population during the pandemic who are 41,995 in the country. 

The report says that 843 restraining orders were issued last year for violence against women. 

The report says that there is the need for retraining of police employees because there are cases when police officers are ‘insensitive to victims of violence or show improper attitude’ which leads to double victimisation.