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“Our Diversity Is Our Wealth” – International Day of Tolerance

November 17, 2016
 
Lana Giorgidze

On November 16, the administration of the State Ministry for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia organized an official reception to mark the International Day of Tolerance. Representatives of the legislative and executive branches of the Government of Georgia, diplomatic corps, international and non-governmental organizations attended the reception. 

“We are all different. Our ethnicities, culture, traditions, beliefs, which mostly estimate our identity, are different; for that reason tolerance means mutual respect. For me, unique cultural heritage in the middle of our capital – the Old Tbilisi – is the best example of tolerance. There you can clearly see the diversity that is our wealth. I, as a citizen of this country, am proud with the Old Tbilisi, which is a face of our history, present and future. It is the symbol of Georgia, which stands on strong traditions of diversity and tolerance and strives to build the best international practice on that basement,” the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili congratulated the International Day of Tolerance to the guests. 

The winning photos of the photo-competition “Our Diverse Homeland” were exhibited on the International Day of Tolerance. The State Minister and the head of the Tolerance, Public Awareness and Integration Program of the UN Association of Georgia (UNAG) Ramaz Aptsiauri awarded the authors of the winning photos with the 500 GEL gift vouchers with the financial support of the USAID and UNAG Program. The administration of the State Ministry plans to publish the 2017 calendars with the photos. 

“One of our priorities was to promote originality of ethnic minorities. In the photo-competition, we were interested to reflect the integration of ethnic minority groups into the general society and peculiarities of their culture, regions and traditions in the photos,” jury member and the deputy director of the department for the art and education at the Ministry of Culture Irine Saganelidze said.

Lawyer of Human Rights Center was among the winners of the photo-competition.
“I learned about the competition from internet and sent the photo taken by me to the jury. A little Roma girl is on my photo, whose eyes clearly show hard social life of the Roma people living in Georgia,” the HRC lawyer Tamar Lukava said.

At the reception ceremony, video-rolls about the Association Agreement and international education programs were screened.

“This day is very symbolic and important for us because it is milestone of our policy. This year, we took several significant steps. It is the first year, when the new strategy went in force. The strategy was adopted in the summer of 2015 and it determines the human rights policy and the priorities of the state for the next 5 years. Huge attention is paid to the promotion high-quality education of ethnic minorities, improved knowledge of the state language that is pre-condition for their full integration in different fields. Also, huge attention is paid to the access to media. The strategy is focused on ethnic groups and gender mainstreaming that was not part of the strategy before,” the State Minister Ketevan Tsikhelashvili told humanrights.ge.

Multiethnic festival “Under One Sky” will close the Tolerance Week on November 20, which will take place in Batumi. Pupils of the musical schools from the Western Georgia (Kutaisi, Samtredia, Ozurgeti, Zugdidi and Batumi) and beneficiaries of the Ozurgeti house for socially indigent children will take part in the festival.

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