“The Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia is a valuable instrument to facilitate bringing national legislation, institutions and practice in full conformity with European standards in the areas of Human Rights, Rule of Law and Democracy.” stated Lasha Darsalia, First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia, at the opening of the first Steering Committee Meeting on the implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia 2020-2023 on 21 October 2021. The meeting was held in a hybrid format with participants connecting from Strasbourg and Tbilisi.
Verena Taylor, Director of the Office of the Directorate General of Programmes of the Council of Europe, thanked the Georgian partners involved in the implementation of the Action Plan as well as Council of Europe’s colleagues in the Council of Europe Office in Tbilisi and in Strasbourg for their commitment. “Over the last years the COVID-19 global pandemic has restricted direct contact and travel, but we have all together managed to continue implementing our programmes and reach good results. Nevertheless, we all hope to soon be able to meet in person again”.
The meeting brought together over 70 participants including: Shalva Tsiskarashvili, Director of the International Organisations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, high-ranking representatives of the Georgian authorities and professional associations involved in the implementation of Action Plan projects, as well as the representatives of the Council of Europe Secretariat and the Council of Europe Office in Tbilisi.
The participants exchanged views on the state of implementation of the projects in the areas of democratisation of society, rule of law, human rights protection and promotion of equality. They positively assessed the results of the two years of implementation of the Action Plan, such as for example the increased capacities of judges, prosecutors, investigators and lawyers to combat ill-treatment; established data collection system on cases of discrimination and hate speech; recommendations on compatibility of Georgia’s Criminal Procedure Code and related legislative provisions with European standards; strengthened mechanism for the prevention and detection of money laundering/terrorism financing cases; further alignment of the education policies and practice with the Council of Europe standards; continued co-operation of archives professionals on both sides of the conflict line.
The Council of Europe 2020-2023 Action Plan for Georgia was adopted and officially launched in Tbilisi in November 2019. The Action Plan is implemented through the Council of Europe Office in Tbilisi in co-operation with the relevant national stakeholders. Action Plan projects are backed by Norway, the European Union, Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Human Rights Trust Fund, Luxembourg, France, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, the Fund to End Violence Against Children (EVAC), the Czech Republic and Latvia. Through the actions implemented in 2020, the Action Plan contributed to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably SDGs 4, 5 and 16.
