When: Saturday, 14. December 2013
To: Sunday, 15. December 2013
Where: Tbilisi (Georgia), Human Rights House Tbilisi
Host: South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders
Contact: Katerina Špácová, HRHF’s Regional Coordinator for South Caucasus (katerina.spacova@humanrightshouse.org)

On Saturdy 14 and Sunday 15 December 2013, members of the South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders will meet in Tbilisi:

  • 10 member NGOs from Armenia, 9 from Azerbaijan, and 8 from Georgia, in addition to the coordinators of the Azerbaijan Human Rights House and the Human Rights House Tbilisi;
  • In addition Human Rights Watch‘s Senior Researcher for South Caucasus Giorgi Gogia and Danuta Przywara, Head of the Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, member of the Human Rights House Network, will also participate to the meeting, along with staff from the Human Rights House Foundation.

Although the meeting is not public, we will enjoy public parts with great speakers.

Greeting by Maina Kiai and Ucha Nanuashvili

Participants to the meeting will be greeted on Sunday by Maina Kiai, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly, and the Georgian Umbudsman Ucha Nanuashvili.

Along with Ucha Nanuashvili, Maina Kiai inaugurated the Human Rights House Tbilisi in February 2012, when Maina Kiai held his first regional consultations after becomming Special Rapporteur. Maina Kiai’s first official visit to a country as special rapporteur also was Georgia and he underlined at the time that “there are a number of worrying signs that indicate that the focus on greater modernization and investment can easily derail the human rights achievements.”

The Parliament of Georgia elected Ucha Nanuashvili to become the new Ombudsman on 7 December 2012, by 82 votes against 18: read his interview following his election. Before being Ombudsman, Ucha Nanuashvili was the head of the Human Rights Centre and also the first Chairman of the Human Rights House Tbilisi.

Panel discussion on traditional (national) values

A panel discussion on tradition (national) values will also be one part of the meeting and will have human rights defenders from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia addressing the situation they face, with inputs from Florian Irminger, Head of Advocacy and HRHF Geneva Office.