Categories
Journalistic Survey
Articles
Reportage
Analitic
Photo Reportage
Exclusive
Interview
Foreign Media about Georgia
Editorial
Position
Reader's opinion
Blog
Themes
Children's Rights
Women's Rights
Justice
Refugees/IDPs
Minorities
Media
Army
Health
Corruption
Elections
Education
Penitentiary
Religion
Others

Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili About New Challenges and Future Plans

December 10, 2012

 Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi

On November 7, the Parliament of Georgia elected a new Public Defender for the next five years with 82 vs 12 votes. Parliamentary minority did not vote for Ucha Nanuashvili. Moreover, they said he is [Georgian] Dream’s Ombudsman. Instead, the parliamentary majority fully supported him and declared “he was the best candidate for the guarantee of protected human rights [in the country].”

“I do not have illusion that no human rights violations will occur during my working on the position of Public Defender. However, I would like to declare with full responsibility that all violations will be responded to,” Ucha Nanuashvili gave this promise to the society from the Parliament’s tribune and today he started to implement his responsibilities on the position of Public Defender of Georgia.

In his interview to humanrights.ge, the fifth public defender of Georgia spoke about his working plan and priorities and about reinforcement of the Ombudsman’s office in general.

First to be done

“First of all, we will start working on the cases which have been pushed for the last time. For example, Tengiz Gunava’s case and topic of famous detentions in general. We will study every case to avoid all questions about politically motivated persecution of people. I will do everything in my power to guarantee this. I think maximum and exhaustive information shall be provided about these issues. When we will have full information, an adequate response will be guaranteed. Court processes will be open and transparent. Investigation is going on. We are waiting for the materials and evidence of the prosecutor to be published. We can state that the process is open. None of the detainees will complain about breached rights. Nobody will be beaten or tortured, which was common during previous years. Moreover, interviews with detainees will be published, which did not happen during previous years. I do not remember any interview with any pre-trial detainees. I think the parliamentary minority hurries to declare those people to be political prisoners. I assure you, I will be one of the first who will make public statement if somebody is targeted with political oppression and persecution. In order to allow the prisoner to talk, the system shall be open and transparent.

In Georgia, the standards of protection for human rights in many fields do not conform to the international standards. This was caused by different legislative amendments over the last few years as well as additional factors. I have accepted difficult inheritance and know it will require years of work to improve the situation. I am far from the illusion that everything will be done soon and rapidly. However, the presence of political will and desire to protect human rights in the country is the main point.”

Reinforced regional offices

“I believe the Public Defender’s Office shall be reinforced by all means. The institute shall become more open for civil society. A permanent consultation council shall be set up together with human rights defenders. A more active regime of cooperation with the civil society is necessary. A regular cooperation mechanism shall be worked out. I am ready to permanently receive recommendations on different issues from human rights defenders.

The [Public Defender’s] regional offices shall be reinforced both in the view of human resources and in other directions too. One or two people cannot work in the ombudsman’s regional offices and protect human rights in similar conditions. It is impossible. I fully intend for their resources, capacity and awareness to be increased; they shall have more contact with the head office. It is a fact that the big part of violations is observed in the regions. I am fully aware that with the present budget it is impossible but now we will use funds donated by the international community and international donor organizations. As a rule, the public defender cooperates with these organizations and receives funding from alternative sources. It will become a main source to reinforce regional structure.”

Most serious mistake committed by the new government for the last two months

“It is mass dismissal of people from public agencies and recent events in general. I think I will have to study many cases. The Human Rights Center, where I worked until now, has studied some of these cases, responded to them and several people have already returned to their working places. Most cases were about MIA. The problem is urgent but it might not be large scaled.

It is not justified that recent dismissal of employees from public institutions were not advocated. I do not mean senior officials; I am speaking about lower circle of employees. Unfortunately, similar facts occurred.

Besides that, the government was passive with regard to Nigvziani’s incident and they did not interfere in the ongoing process. Of course there are mistakes. There are new challenges. There is topic of detentions which shall be studied. Some conclusion shall be prepared on this issue in order to eradicate all speculations. A final report shall be prepared, which will answer all questions. I hope we will have to work on these issues in near future.”

Monitoring Councils

“Current reality showed that National Mechanism of Prevention shall be reinforced. Unfortunately, this mechanism could not ensure protection of human rights in custodies. Consequently, we received horrible situation in the prisons. This mechanism shall be revised and rectified. It can be achieved by involvement of different human rights organizations. Monitoring councils are also very important. First of all, we should the government should institute a political will that every public monitoring council, monitoring both penitentiary and psychiatric institutions, shall function under the Public Defender’s Office. If they co-exist together with any ministry, their activities will depend on the will of the ministries. So, loss of their trust was result of similar situation. The Public Defender shall be the power who will guarantee and assist the effective activities of those monitoring councils.

Present Monitoring Council functioning under the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance, is the subject of serious criticism. There are no criteria in selecting its members. Consequently, people of different professions and interests are unified in it. However, it is urgently important to unify only those people who have professional experience in human rights issues so that they will be accountable to the society. Society shall know everything about the activities of this group, about the cases and violations observed by group members. And the most important issue – the Council shall be completely free from any political influences.”

Recommendations and Cooperation with other Candidates of Public Defender

“Previous public defenders prepared many important recommendations, reports whose main parts were never implemented. It is time to renew a significant part of those recommendations. Today we still face old challenges and the Public Defender’s Office will have to revive old recommendations and many old problems. We will maximally try to review old cases and will start work to adequately respond to them.”

“Additionally, I have an idea to invite other candidates, who were nominated by different organizations for the Public Defender’s position, to become members of council of special advisors in order to maximally consider their views and recommendations.”

News