A/HRC/36/65 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 34/37, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to provide technical assistance through the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Tbilisi, namely the Senior Human Rights Adviser. The Council also requested OHCHR to present an oral update 1 on the implementation of its resolution 34/37, at its thirty-fifth session, and a written report on related developments, at its thirty-sixth session. In resolution 34/37, the Council also called for immediate access for OHCHR and international and regional human rights mechanisms to Abkhazia, Georgia, and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia. 2. The present report describes the technical assistance provided by OHCHR in Georgia and reviews the main human rights developments pursuant to resolution 34/37. 3. It draws on information provided by the Government of Georgia; the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia (an “A” status national human rights institution); international and regional organizations, as well as local non-governmental organizations; and credible open source documents.2 4. OHCHR exercised due diligence to corroborate, to the extent possible, the validity of the information received, within the constraints of limited resources and the lack of access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The present report therefore does not provide a comprehensive account of the human rights situation, but rather highlights some of the key human rights issues and developments on the basis of the information received by OHCHR. 5. OHCHR reached out to various stakeholders, and posted a call for submissions pursuant to resolution 34/37 on its website to seek contributions for the oral update and the report of the High Commissioner, including from Member States, United Nations entities, the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. II. Technical assistance and human rights developments 6. In 2007, an OHCHR Senior Human Rights Adviser was deployed to Tbilisi, who covers the South Caucasus region. He is supported by national staff members in Georgia and Azerbaijan. In Georgia, he has been advising and providing technical assistance to the Government, Parliament, the judiciary, the Office of the Public Defender, civil society organizations, the United Nations country team and the donor community, including to address gaps, build on progress, and support compliance with international human rights standards, and to assist, among other things, in the implementation of the National Human Rights Strategy and the related plan of action. A. Main areas of technical cooperation 7. Following the parliamentary elections of October 2012, human rights issues became more prominent on the agenda of the executive and legislative branches of the Government of Georgia. 8. A report entitled Georgia in Transition, completed in September 2013, by Thomas Hammarberg, the European Union Special Adviser on Constitutional and Legal Reform and Human Rights in Georgia, was used as the baseline study for the development of the 1 2 The oral update was presented on 21 June 2017. An archived webcast of the oral update is available from http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/human-rights-council/regular-sessions/35thsession/watch/item10-general-debate-32nd-meeting-35th-regular-session-human-rights-council /5478270539001. With a cut-off date of 1 June 2017. 3