EU, UNDP, OHCHR to launch $3 million 3-year programme to promote, protect human rights in Georgia

The European Union (EU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will launch a $3 million (about €2.5 million) programme to promote and defend human rights in Georgia.

The three-year initiative ‘Human Rights for All’ was signed to mark International Human Rights Day which is celebrated on December 10 across the world.

The programme will be implemented by the two UN agencies in close coordination with the national human rights institutions and legislative, executive and judicial authorities, as well as civil society and communities.

Investing in human rights, democracy and the rule of law is essential to achieve fairer, more resilient and inclusive societies. Human rights, democracy and the rule of law, as well as a gender-responsive approach, will remain at the heart of the EU’s response to overcome the Covid-19 crisis and recover from the pandemic”, said EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell.

We will reach our common global goals only if we create equal opportunities for all, address the failures exposed an exploited by Covid-19, and apply human rights standards to tackle entrenched, systematic and intergenerational inequalities, exclusion and discrimination”, OHCHR Senior Adviser for South Caucasus, Vladimir Shkolnikov commented on the deal.

The programme focuses on five areas:

• Enhancing the public binstitutions that are responsible for developing, monitoring and implementing human rights policies;
• Assisting law-enforcement agencies and human rights institutions in carrying out their duties;
• Promoting the rights of minority groups and vulnerable citizens;
• Supporting human rights protection at the local level;
• Ensuring that citizens have full access to human rights information and protection mechanisms.

Human Rights for All builds on the achievements of a previous four-year partnership between the EU and the UN agencies.

The new stage of the programme runs from December 2020 to October 2023.