From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

CHAPTER 2 Case Studies: Georgia, Kenya, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka
8. Support NHRIs to Integrate Internal
Displacement into their Work
Is there a national human rights institution
(NHRI) that gives attention to the issue of
internal displacement?
The Office of the Public Defender, which was established
by law in 1996, 122 has been recognized since
October 2007 as the internationally accredited national
human rights institution for Georgia. 123 Its mandate is
“to oversee observance of human rights and freedoms
on the territory of Georgia and within its jurisdiction”
and in particular “to independently monitor the observance
of human rights and freedoms and examine cases
concerning alleged human rights violations.” 124 The
Public Defender is required to submit a report on these
issues to Parliament once (previously twice) a year.
The Office of the Public Defender has been monitoring
and reporting on IDP issues since at least 2004, when its
report to Parliament that year (the earliest such report
available on its website) included a chapter on IDPs and
refugees. 125 By 2006, the human rights of IDPs and of
refugees were assessed in separate chapters of the Public
Defender’s report. The IDP chapter tended to focus on
the socioeconomic rights of IDPs. Also relevant is the
chapter on the human rights situation in the conflict
zones, which gives attention to the situation of returnees.
126 The most recent annual parliamentary report
122 Public Defender of Georgia, Organic Law of Georgia on
the Public Defender, 16 May 1996 (www.ombudsman.ge/
index .php?page=777&lang=1&n=7).
123 OHCHR, “Chart of the Status of National Institutions,
Accredited by the International Coordinating Committee
of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection
of Human Rights,” accreditation status as of August 2011”
(www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/NHRI/Chart_
Status_NIs.pdf).
124 Public Defender of Georgia, Organic Law of Georgia on
the Public Defender.
125 Public Defender of Georgia, Report on Conditions of
Human Rights in Georgia in 2004 (www.ombudsman.ge/
files/ downloads /en/szounjmrncjpwcvdgasn.pdf), pp. 66–73.
126 Public Defender of Georgia, Human Rights in Georgia:
206
available in English, the report covering the second half
of 2009, merges the human rights situation of “IDPs
and persons affected by conflict” into a single chapter.
It begins by noting that “[o]ne of the priorities in the
Public Defender’s activities has been the examination
of internally displaced persons’ legal status, considering
the topicality of the issue. In the reports submitted
to the Parliament, a separate chapter has always been
devoted to issues related to IDPs.” 127 An important development
is that the attention devoted to IDP issues by
the office, including use of the Guiding Principles, has
not only continued but also increased with the change in
mandate-holder (a new Public Defender was appointed
by Parliament in July 2009 for a five-year term).
Yet, as the Public Defender has pointed out, the office’s
efforts to monitor and report on internal displacement
nonetheless have been limited:
Study and assessment of the situation was not
easy because of the large number of IDPs and
diversity of the problems in this sphere. Large
numbers of IDPs and diversity of the problems
they face does not allow the Public Defender
to undertake a full analysis of the situation and
IDPs legal status. 128
Strengthening the capacity of the Office of the Public
Defender to address issues related to internal displacement
was the specific aim of a 2010 project entitled
“Support to Public Defender’s (Ombudsman’s) Office
in Solving the Problems Related to IDPs and Persons
Report of the Public Defender of Georgia, First Half of
2006, 2007, pp.156–68; and Public Defender of Georgia,
Human Rights in Georgia: Report of the Public Defender
of Georgia, Second Half of 2006, 2007, pp. 148–66. Both
available at Public Defender of Georgia, “Reports,” (www.
ombudsman.ge/index.php?page=21&lang=1).
127 Public Defender of Georgia, The Situation of Human Rights
and Freedoms in Georgia: Second Half of 2009, pp. 174-79.
At the time of finalizing this study, the Ombudsman’s
report for the first half of 2010 was available, but only in
the Georgian language.
128 Ibid., p. 174.