On 25 April, 2016 a roundtable meeting was organized by the Council of Europe (CoE) on the role of Public Defender in providing guidance on human rights issues to national judicial institutions through the use of amicus curiae. Ana Zec Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, Nino Gvenetadze Chairperson of Supreme Court, Natia Katsitadze Deputy of Ombudsperson of Georgia and Mahir Mushteidzada CoE project manager addressed the invited audience at the opening session. The goal of the meeting was to discuss instrument of amicus curiae, its significance, to share best practices from European countries and discuss challenges in this regard.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Parliament of Georgia, Public Defender, Judiciary, Legal Aid Service (LAS) and NGO’s. The participants of the meeting discussed Amicus Curiae instrument in the practice of Constitutional and common courts of Georgia and overviewed existing experiences and deficiencies. CoE international consultants presented the role of third party interventions before European Court of Human Rights and engaging court’s interest.

The meeting was held  within the framework of the project “Improving the operational Capacities of the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia” funded by  the (CoE)   Human Rights Trust Fund.