Levan Ioseliani, the Public Defender of Georgia met with officials of USAID (the United States Agency for International Development) and representatives of many other agencies.
He is on an official visit to Washington, the capital of the United States of America accompanied by Tamar Gvarmadze the country’s first deputy public defender.
During the meetings with USAID officials, the Public Defender spoke about the importance of the United States of America’s support. He also emphasized how Georgia expects that the further continuation of the long-term relationship between the two countries will contribute to the implementation of many innovative programs. Some of these programs will allow Georgia to maintain its democratic development course.
On this occasion, during the discussion of the issues of enforcing the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence,” the public defender presented his position regarding the law. He also apprised the USA side about the opinion of the friend of the court (amicus curiae) that they have sent to the Constitutional Courts.
Both sides further discussed the upcoming parliamentary elections and the state of human rights protection in the pre-election period including the joint statement of the Public Defender of Georgia and the CEC. In this joint meeting politicians and media representatives were called to ensure an election environment free from discrimination and hate speech.
Notably the public defender noted that the institution has been studying all the facts of misconduct for years and intensively delivers the prepared report to the public. The other essential meetings by Public Defenders were held with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US State Department and curator of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Monica Jacobsen.
The meeting also held with the curator of the Bureau of International Anti-Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Brandon Yoder and Curator of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Joshua Huck as well as with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Administrator for European and Eurasian Countries Erin Elizabeth Mackey. Public defenders while commenting on the visit termed it a very productive as well.
