UNDP Georgia

Georgia

UNDP Activities in Human Rights

Promoting democratic governance accounts for the largest number of UNDP’s projects. Here, the immediate beneficiaries range from the state structures of the executive, legislative and judicial branches to local governments and NGOs promoting democracy and human rights. On the one hand, UNDP’s activities are providing support for institutions of governance, with an emphasis on building the human rights capacity of these institutions and providing direct support to human rights institutions. On the other hand, activities in raising public awareness contribute to building the trust among the population on the rule of law, to the human rights policy dialogue and UN conference follow-up.

UNDP has contributed to capacity-building of the Public Defender’s Office, and to raising public awareness on the functions of the this body. The Public Defender’s programme involves partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Government of Sweden, the Government of the Netherlands, the Danish Centre for Human Rights and the Swedish Raoul Wallenberg Institute. Advocacy and human rights education efforts were undertaken through grass roots seminars and public awareness campaigns. The project assisted the Public Defender's Office in fulfilling its constitutional mandate to promote and protect human rights in Georgia. Four specialised Public Defender centres opened in Tbilisi and six regional offices to better protect human rights. At present the project comprises the following components: 1. Internal capacity building of the Public Defender's Office in Georgia and strengthened co-operation between the Ombudsmen offices in South Caucasus; 2. Human rights training of law enforcement agencies; 3. Support to libraries in Tbilisi and the regions of Georgia; 4.Initiating the development of a National Human Rights Action Plan.

Georgian Government has elaborated a judicial reform program aiming at implementation of civilised standards of judiciary, and first of all, of the court system. From this standpoint, establishment of the Constitutional Court in 1996, should be considered as the first successful achievement of the ongoing legal reform in the country. In 1997-2000 UNDP and the Constitutional Court implemented first phase of the project "Assistance to the Constitutional Court". Within the project framework the Constitutional Court has significantly strengthened its capacity and achieved some results, especially in public awareness of the constitutional rights of citizens and improving professional skills of the personnel and judges. The Court already acquired a significant experience through resolution of important law suits dealing with adherence to the Constitution. At present the second phase of the project is being implemented, which aims at strengthening capacity of the Constitutional Court, in particular improving instruments for law suits, providing judges of the Court and their administrative personnel with all means of support for their professional development.

A separate project has been executed through an NGO "the Centre for Protection of Constitutional Rights" that supports pro-bono human rights litigation, demonstrating to the vulnerable that the legal system can be equally accessed by all members of society. The project was designed to facilitate the protection of human rights, to broaden access to the legal system and to encourage respect for the rule of law through subsidized litigation.

Other UNDP activities in Georgia include an essay competition for local journalists, a human rights research award for university students, a series of group discussions and seminars on human rights, the production of the bulletin "Religion" and the Discussion Paper "Human Rights in Georgia: A critical Analysis" by G. Nikolaishvili.