The Public Defender’s Office and president’s council on tolerance and integration signed a memorandum on June 26 to cooperate in further strengthening of ethnic minority rights in Georgia.
“In frames of the memorandum, the both sides commit themselves to cooperate for developing and strengthening the tolerant environment in Georgia, protecting the ethnic minority rights and increasing their participation in the public life,” the document says.
A 17-member council, involving civil society representatives and senior government officials, has been established last month to develop a draft strategy and action plan for national integration and tolerance issues.
The group, in accordance with a presidential decree, must submit the draft strategy to the government before October 31, 2008. It must then be submitted to Parliament for approval before the end of the year.
The group is chaired by Tamar Kintsurashvili, a former general director of the Georgian Public Broadcaster, who was appointed as a presidential aide for ethnic minority issues in April.
Kintsurashvili said on June 26, that the signed memorandum demonstrated the state’s willingness to promote tolerance and ethnic minorities’ integration process, which “is still problematic.”
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