A/HRC/36/65 4. Combating discrimination 19. Combating discrimination is a centrepiece of all OHCHR capacity-building activities, due to the many challenges in this area. OHCHR supports the operationalization of the Government’s commitment to building an inclusive society as outlined in the National Human Rights Strategy and the national human rights action plans. 20. In May 2014, Parliament adopted the Law on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination, with an extensive list of prohibited grounds for possible discrimination. While earlier proposals had envisaged an “equality inspector” to oversee the implementation of the law, that role was ultimately assigned to the Office of the Public Defender, which lacks powers of enforcement and can only issue recommendations. 21. On 17 May 2017, at the invitation of the Government of Georgia, OHCHR observed a one-hour rally held by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community on International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. The gathering took place before the building of the Administration of the Government of Georgia, nearby Tbilisi’s main central avenue, under heavy police protection. The Government and the police are to be commended for making this rally possible and providing the necessary security. The event required heavy protection, due to credible threats of violence by some individuals observing the “Family Day” announced by the Georgian Orthodox Church for that same day. Observers of the “Family Day” were granted unrestricted and exclusive use of Tbilisi’s central avenue for events they had organized for that day, thus impeding any further International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia activities in the area. Such an approach illustrates persisting discriminatory attitudes towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons and their rights. 8 22. Discrimination on religious grounds is one of the issues that OHCHR regularly addresses in its capacity-building activities. Since 2014, the Georgian State, in addition to funding the predominant Georgian Orthodox Church, has also provided funding to the Roman Catholic, Armenian Apostolic, Muslim and Jewish communities. For several years, in its regular reporting, the Office of the Public Defender noted that the Muslim community had been facing difficulties in carrying out religious services. A recent example is the refusal of the mayor of Batumi (the second-largest city), in May 2017, to issue a permit to the Muslim community to build a new mosque, notwithstanding that the existing mosque is too small, forcing many Muslims to pray in the open air. 9 According to the information provided by the Government of Georgia, a reconstruction project for the existing mosque has been developed. A new plot has been allocated to expand the mosque and the Government will bear the cost of the project. 5. Gender equality and combating domestic violence 23. OHCHR contributed to advocacy by the United Nations country team on gender equality and combating domestic violence. In 2016, the Office of the Public Defender reported 13 cases of femicide, and national non-governmental organizations reported a worrying trend of courts issuing pretrial measures and lenient sentences in cases of domestic and gender-based violence. About 30 per cent of those convicted of domestic crimes and crimes of violence against women received a prison term, while the others were either subjected to a conditional sentence or sentenced to community service. In 2017, OHCHR started training legal professionals on the application of law in cases of domestic and gender-based violence. 24. Joint advocacy by the United Nations country team and other international actors resulted in an amendment to the Civil Code that does not allow the State to register marriages of persons below the age of 18 years, so as to end the harmful practice of child 8 9 6 In 2015, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Georgia had failed to protect the right of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals to freedom of peaceful assembly. A similar case is pending with regard to events that took place in 2013. See http://ombudsman.ge/uploads/other/4/4442.pdf, p. 56.