Prevention of Torture
Invited guests:
Giorgi Tugushi - Public Defender of Georgia,
Maka Jishkariani - the President of the Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture “Empathy”,
Irena Gabunia - Lawyer, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association;
Expert consideration:
Nikhil Roy - Program Development Director of the organization “Penal Reform International”,
Besarion Bokhashvili - the Deputy Team Leader of the EU project Support To The Public Defender’s Office
Discussed issues:
On the 1-2nd of October, within the framework of the EU funded project “Torture Prevention in Georgia”, which is implemented by the organization “Penal Reform International”, the conference “ Prevention of Torture: What does it mean and how well do we do it in the South Caucasus?” was held in Tbilisi.
The guests of the program spoke about the importance of prevention of torture. As it was mentioned, Georgia has been the first post-soviet country, who ratified the Facultative Protocol of the Convention against Torture.
In July 2009, the amendments to the Organic Law on Georgian Public Defender entered into force, according to which the Public Defender is announced as the national prevention mechanism.
The Public Defender commented what the new prevention mechanism means and how it is implemented in Georgia.
The guests explained what the torture means and what components should be in the action, the last one to be considered as a torture.
During the program those main international acts and recommendations were discussed, which the state should envisage to prohibit the torture in Georgia, also how the obligations taken in accordance with these international instruments are fulfilled.
Ms. Maka Jishkariani, the President of the Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture “Empathy” presented the project, implemented by their organization in cooperation with the EU. Within the framework of this project the representatives of “Empathy” are regularly monitoring the jails.
