2020-07-03
The 13th round of the human rights dialogue between Georgia and the EU has been held. Formats of this kind are very important for us to sit at a virtual round table, for example, and discuss the country's human rights achievements and challenges, the Prime Minister's Human Rights Advisor Lela Akiashvili stated during the 13th round of the Human Rights Dialogue between Georgia and the EU.
According to her, the discussion's participants spoke about such important issues as improving the human rights structure in the country, including the empowerment of the Interagency Human Rights Council and the development of a new human rights strategy.
"During the discussion, we spoke about such important issues as improving the human rights structure in the country, including the empowerment of the Interagency Human Rights Council and the development of a new human rights strategy-also, the achievements we had in 2019 through interagency cooperation. In addition, the parties emphasized the importance of civil society's engagement in human rights-related work, and we all agreed to pay special attention on protecting human rights through the COVID-19 pandemic," the Prime Minister's Advisor said.
The meeting was also attended by Head of the Human Rights Secretariat Ana Buchukuri. According to her, the dialog-format meeting underlined the process of developing the country's national human rights strategy.
"During the meeting, among other issues, I informed the participants about the process of developing the country's national human rights strategy. As you know, it is one of the priority directions which, besides the Government Administration's Human Rights Secretariat, enjoys input from various public institutions, international partner organizations, and the civil sector. And the Georgian Prime Minister has repeatedly emphasized the importance of developing the national human rights strategy. We exchanged information and discussed this and other relevant issues," Ana Buchukuri said.
During the 13th round of the Georgia-EU Dialogue, the Georgian side was chaired by First Deputy Foreign Minister Vakhtang Makharoblishvili, and the EU side was led by Head of European External Action (EEAS) Eastern Partnership Bilateral Relations Service Richard Tibbels. The event's participants also included representatives of Georgia's executive and legislative, the Central Election Commission, the National Communications Commission, the Office of the State Inspector, and the Office of the Public Defender.
This annual dialogue seeks to promote deeper human rights cooperation with the EU as a parallel format under the Georgia-EU Association Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security.
Press Service of the Government Administration