On 9 December, the European Union (EU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) launched a €2.5 million programme to promote and defend human rights in Georgia, reported georgiatoday. 

The new program will assist Georgia in reinforcing its achievements in promoting and strengthening human rights policies and practices, and addressing the areas of concern outlined by the independent assessment commissioned by the EU and the UN in 2019.

The program focuses on five areas:

1. Enhancing the public bodies that are responsible for developing, monitoring and implementing human rights policies;

2. Assisting law-enforcement agencies and human rights institutions in carrying out their duties;

3. Promoting the rights of minority groups and vulnerable citizens;

4. Supporting human rights protection at the local level; and

5. Ensuring that citizens have full access to human rights information and protection mechanisms.

“Investing in human rights, democracy and the rule of law is essential to achieve more fair, more resilient and inclusive societies,“ said EU Ambassador Carl Hartzell. “Human rights, democracy and the rule of law, as well as a gender-responsive approach, will remain at the heart of the EU’s response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“Georgia has come a long way in enacting the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” said UNDP Head Louisa Vinton. “But the pandemic has exposed cracks in society that threaten these values. Our program responds by putting inclusion and equality at the heart of any post-Covid recovery.” 

“Today we stress the imperative to build back better by making human rights central to recovery efforts,” said OHCHR Senior Adviser Vladimir Shkolnikov. “We will reach our common global goals only if we create equal opportunities for all, address the failures exposed and exploited by Covid-19, and apply human rights standards to tackle entrenched, systematic and intergenerational inequalities, exclusion and discrimination.”

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia thanked the EU and UN for their support generally and during the pandemic. “We have taken several important steps, legislative and practical steps, to ensure further and better protection of human rights. I want to thank our supporters for their continued assistance during the pandemic to maintain achievements for human rights and cope with new challenges,” Gakharia said. He stated that ensuring human rights remains a key priority for the Georgian Dream government.