Public Defender presents annual human rights report to Parliament

The Public Defender of Georgia has presented the annual report on the state of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the country to the Georgian Parliament.

According to the Office of the Public Defender, the report highlights key trends and challenges that demand a prompt response from the authorities, while also recognising some progress made in recent times. Particular attention is devoted to legislative changes enacted in 2025 that are impeding the adequate protection of human rights in the country.

“The document addresses the rights situation of those living in the occupied territories and in areas adjacent to the occupation line, including unlawful detentions and imprisonments emboldened by the impunity of occupation regime representatives, so-called borderisation, violations of property rights, access to education in one’s mother tongue in the occupied territories, ethnic persecution, and psychological pressure. It also examines the threats arising from the migration of young people from villages along the occupation line, and the question of providing long-term housing for a portion of the internally displaced population.

A significant portion of the report is dedicated to documented cases of mistreatment during the 2024 and 2025 protest rallies, the inadequate investigation of these incidents, and the safeguarding of freedom of expression. It also highlights instances where public officials were dismissed from their positions, allegedly due to their publicly expressed political and civic views.

The report highlights issues of overcrowding in penitentiary institutions and identifies deficiencies in the mechanisms for early conditional release and the commutation of sentences to lesser penalties. It also addresses longstanding, unresolved problems within the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The state of equality remains a persistent challenge, as does the prevention of gender-motivated killings of women, femicide, and the effective discharge of justice and law enforcement functions in such cases.

The report surveys the linguistic and informational barriers faced by representatives of national minorities, their access to employment support programmes and other public services, and matters of freedom of conscience and religion.

Among social issues, the report examines, in the context of the right to health, systemic shortcomings in the protection of patients’ rights; in the context of the right to labour, the legal guarantees ensuring the right to decent remuneration; as well as questions of access to water and compliance with social housing standards.

The rights situation of vulnerable groups, children, persons with disabilities, and older people is examined, a situation further compounded by poverty, the ineffectiveness of mechanisms for identifying and responding to violence, and the disregard of legal protection guarantees. Among the various issues addressed, the report dedicates a specific chapter to awareness-raising and human rights education. It also surveys the situation in the field of defence, the rights situation of asylum seekers, and the provision of housing for ecological migrants.

With a view to resolving the identified problems, the Public Defender prepares recommendations which are reflected in the annual reports, and the Georgian Parliament issues instructions to the relevant agencies regarding their implementation,” the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia stated.