On December 22, the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Protection of Social and Economic Rights in Georgia” hosted an online workshop for the representatives from Public Defender’s Office. During the meeting, the Council of Europe international consultant Dr. Monika Smusz Kulesza spoke about the role of the national human rights institutions in the implementation and promotion of the European Social Charter. Among other relevant topics, we discussed the monitoring procedures of the European Social Charter, in particular on the reporting procedure and the collective complaints procedure, in order to enhance the capacities of the Public Defender’s Office in the reporting practice and to support the Office to take active position in standing for and promoting the acceptance of Additional Protocol providing for a system of collective complaints (1995); Ms. Smusz Kuleszaa also discussed the procedure provided for by Article 22 of the European Social Charter on “non-accepted provisions”. Last but not least, we examined the opportunities for the Public Defender’s Office in Georgia to submit additional information to the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) for conclusions 2022 related to the thematic group 3 – “Labour Rights”. By the end of the workshop, participants felt more well aware of the European Social Charter best practices and more prepared to use it in their work respectively as needed.

The event was organised within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Protection of Social and Economic Rights in Georgia.” The Project is part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia 2020-2023.