The first meeting of the advisory group working on issues of protection of the rights of persons with disabilities was held today in the Ministry of Justice. The participants of the meeting were addressed by Deputy Minister of Justice, Buba Lomuashvili and Deputy Head of the United Nations Development Program in Georgia, Anna Chernishova.

Under the leadership of Mr. Buba Lomuashvili, the concept of the advisory group and the annual report on the implementation of the 2022 action plan were discussed at the meeting. The document includes the activities carried out by the Ministry of Justice during the current year for the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities. Among them are: revision of the legal system and analysis of its compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; works carried out for the purpose of accessibility of electronic services and websites; Training of system employees on issues of protection of the rights of persons with disabilities; Amendments to the Resolution No. 508 of the Government of Georgia of December 29, 2011, which provides for the issuance of an electronic ID (residence) certificate on preferential terms to a person with severe or significantly expressed disabilities.

After hearing the report, a discussion was held. The participants of the event discussed future plans and activities related to the activities of the advisory group.

Minister of Justice of Georgia Rati Bregadze spoke about the main innovations of the Code at the briefing held today after the government meeting. According to the minister, the project improves the working conditions of the employees of the special penitentiary service and brings the legal status of the persons in the penitentiary institutions to an even higher level.

The Minister of Justice highlighted several important changes:

• The accused persons will be granted the right to a long appointment, which they did not have before;
• All kinds of appointments will become completely free - today adult convicts have to pay 60 GEL, and minors - 30 GEL;
• Except for high-risk convicts, everyone will be granted the right to receive higher education, and therefore the innovative project, which was launched by the Ministry of Justice together with the Ministry of Education and Science - Digital University, will become available to the masses of convicts;
• The number and duration of telephone conversations increases, which will give convicts even more opportunities to communicate with the outside world;
• The living conditions of convicted and accused persons will be equalized, which is undoubtedly a progressive step;
• All units of the penitentiary service will be given a special status, which will equalize and improve the conditions of employees;

The circle of persons with special rank is expanding, and all employees, except for official and rank-and-file employees, will receive a bonus for years of service, which will have a positive effect on their salary conditions.