Public Defender’s 2022 report says “no significant” improvement of human rights protection

Georgian Public Defender Levan Ioseliani on Friday presented his annual report to the Parliament in which he criticised several legislative changes and said in 2022 “the situation with human rights protection did not significantly improve, moreover, there has been a significant deterioration in some areas”.

Ioseliani pointed to the “lack of proper investigation” in cases of “endangering the right to life” and spoke about the “vicious” practice of long-term placement of prisoners in solitary cells without any grounds stipulated by the law. He said the “sharp decrease” of police body cameras in the law enforcement system was “alarming”.

The importance of “fundamental reform” of the High Council of Justice of Georgia to ensure the right to a fair trial was emphasised by the Public Defender, who stressed the need to bring the national legislation in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.

He said the 2022 amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, extending scope and time limits on covert investigative actions, surveillance and wiretapping by state authorities, “aggravated” the protection of the inviolability of private life in the country.

According to the report, media representatives still have to work “in a dangerous environment” and called the detention of assembly participants for petty hooliganism and disobeying of police “an outdated practice”.

The Public Defender also reviewed problems in various areas, including poverty, protection of labour rights and access to education for national minorities, as well as gender equality. He added despite important changes in the legislation, the high rate of femicide still remained.

The deinstitutionalization of large residential institutions for children was positively evaluated by Ioseliani, who stressed the need to strengthen the prevention of violence against children. He also welcomed the launch of the State Dialysis and Transplantation programme.

The report called the draft law on transparency of foreign influence, proposed by the People's Power movement and later withdrawn by the ruling Georgian Dream party after backlash by domestic opposition, the civil sector and diplomatic representations in the country, “a disturbing fact”.