BackOn 25 October 2018, Nika Kvaratskhelia, Head of the Department of Prevention and Monitoring of the Public Defender's Office, was elected as a member of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment for 2019-2022.
The candidate of Georgia won with 55 votes at the 7th meeting of OPCAT Members States held in Geneva, Switzerland. 20 candidates were nominated for 13 vacant positions in the Subcommittee. It it noteworthy that Nika Kvaratskhelia is the first candidate of Georgia elected to the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Nika Kvaratskhelia has been working in the Public Defender's Office of Georgia since 2013. He actively participates in global campaigns against torture and promotes awareness-raising of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).
The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment is a UN treaty body with double mandate. The Committee pays independent international regular visits to States Parties’ places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and promotes establishment and functioning of national prevention mechanisms for the implementation of the Protocol. The Committee began working in 2007. It unites 25 independent experts and represents one of the largest treaty bodies in the United Nations system.
Source: Public Defender, Georgia
