A/HRC/39/44 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 37/40, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to provide technical assistance through the presence of his office in Tbilisi. The Council also called for immediate access for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and international and regional human rights mechanisms to Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia.1 2. The Council requested the High Commissioner to present an oral update on the follow-up to resolution 37/40 at its thirty-eighth session 2 and a written report on developments relating to and the implementation of the resolution at its thirty-ninth session. 3. In the current report the High Commissioner presents an update on the technical assistance provided by OHCHR in Georgia and on the main human rights developments since his first written report on this subject in 2017.3 The report therefore covers the period from 1 June 2017 to 31 May 2018. 4. In April 2018, OHCHR posted on its website a call for submissions pursuant to resolution 37/40 to seek contributions from various stakeholders in order to inform the oral update and report of the High Commissioner. The present report therefore 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 and non-governmental organizations, as well as on other credible open-source documents. 5. OHCHR has continued to exercise due diligence to corroborate, to the extent possible, the validity of the information received, within the constraints of limited resources and the continuing lack of access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In the report the High Commissioner highlights key human rights issues and developments on the basis of information received by OHCHR and does not seek to present a comprehensive account of the human rights matters related to Georgia. II. Technical assistance and human rights developments 6. The OHCHR Senior Human Rights Adviser for the South Caucasus, who has been deployed in Tbilisi since 2007 and supported by national staff in Georgia and Azerbaijan, with the benefit of the full cooperation of the host country, has continued to advise and provide technical assistance to the Government and institutions of Georgia, civil society organizations and other actors. He continued to focus on supporting the compliance of legislation, policies and practices with international human rights standards, addressing respective gaps and assisting the implementation of the National Human Rights Strategy and the related Action Plan. 1 2 3 For the purposes of the present report, Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia are referred to as Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The oral update was presented on 4 July 2018, with an archived webcast available at http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/watch/item10-general-debate-34th-meeting-38th-regular-sessionhuman-rights-council/5805366324001/?term=. Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 34/37, adopted in March 2017, an oral update and a written report of the High Commissioner (A/HRC/36/65) on the same subject were presented to the Council for the first time on 21 June and 28 September 2017, respectively. The archived webcast of the oral update is available at http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/human-rights-council/regularsessions/35th-session/watch/item10-general-debate-32nd-meeting-35th-regular-session-human-rightscouncil /5478270539001. 3