A/HRC/42/34 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 40/28, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to provide technical assistance in Georgia through the presence of her office in Tbilisi. The resolution also called for immediate and unimpeded access to be given to 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 The Council also requested the High Commissioner to present an oral update at its forty-first session on the follow-up to resolution 40/282 and a written report at its forty-second session on developments relating to the resolution and its implementation. 2. The present report gives an update on the technical assistance provided by OHCHR in Georgia and on the main human rights developments during the period from 1 June 2018 to 31 May 2019.3 3. OHCHR applied the same methodology for the elaboration of the present report as for those prepared in 2017 and 2018.4 The report thus 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, regional and non-governmental organizations and credible open-source documents. 4. OHCHR draws the attention of the Council to the ongoing constraints related to the implementation of the reporting element of resolution 40/28 in the continued absence of a dedicated budget for this purpose. It encourages Member States to provide an adequate programme budget implication5 for any future requests. II. Context 5. On 28 October and 28 November 2018, presidential elections took place in Georgia. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) assessed the elections as competitive and well administered, while reporting incidents of misuse of administrative resources throughout the electoral campaign. It held that the gathering of voter data and mapping of political preferences, together with tracking voters on election day, raised concerns about the potential for intimidation and the ability of voters to vote free of fear of retribution. In addition, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights observed that “the use of negative, harsh and at times violent rhetoric significantly overshadowed the campaign” and went unaddressed by the authorities.6 III. Technical assistance and human rights developments 6. An OHCHR Senior Human Rights Adviser for the South Caucasus has been posted in Tbilisi since 2007, benefiting from the full cooperation of Georgia. He has been supported by national staff in Georgia and Azerbaijan. The Senior Human Rights Adviser 1 2 3 4 5 6 For the purpose of the present report, Abkhazia, Georgia, and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia, are hereinafter referred to as Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The oral update was presented on 10 July 2019. The webcast is available at http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/human-rights-council/regular-sessions/watch/item10-generaldebate-36th-meeting-41st-regular-session-human-rights-council/6057827136001#player. Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 34/37 and 37/40, the High Commissioner presented written reports on cooperation with Georgia in 2017 (A/HRC/36/65) and 2018 (A/HRC/39/44). A/HRC/36/65, paras. 3–5; and A/HRC/39/44, paras. 4–5. Statement detailing the administrative, financial and programmatic changes that the adoption of a draft resolution would entail. See www.osce.org/odihr/elections/georgia/412724. 3