Nino Lomjaria ( ka, ნინო ლომჯარია; born 15 February 1984) is a Georgian lawyer and the

Public Defender of Georgia The Public Defender of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სახალხო დამცველი, tr), an ombudsman, is an institution that oversees the observance of human rights and freedoms in Georgia. It advises the governme ...

from 30 November 2017 to 8 December 2022.

Biography

Nino Lomjaria was born in the town of

Ozurgeti Ozurgeti ( ka, ოზურგეთი ) is the capital of the western Georgian province of Guria. It was formerly known as Macharadze or Makharadze (named in honor of Filipp Makharadze). It is a regional center of tea and hazelnut processing. Oz ...

in then-

Soviet Georgia The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

. She graduated from the

Tbilisi State University Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University ( ka, ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი ''Ivane Javaxishvi ...

with a degree in law in 2006 and obtained MA from the

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

in 2011. She worked with the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association — one of Georgia's leading rights group — from 2003 to 2010. She then served as Executive Director of the

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

International Society for Fair Elections And Democracy — Georgia's largest election monitoring group — from 2011 to 2015 and Secretary General of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations from 2015 to 2016. After a spell as deputy head at the State Audit Office of Georgia from 2016 to 2017, she was nominated by the ruling

Georgian Dream Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia ( ka, ქართული ოცნება – დემოკრატიული საქართველო, ''Kartuli ocneba – Demok’rat’iuli Sakartvelo'') is a social democratic political ...

party as Public Defender of Georgia following consultations with civil society organizations and approved by the

Parliament of Georgia The Parliament of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს პარლამენტი, tr) is the supreme national legislature of Georgia. It is a unicameral parliament, currently consisting of 150 members; of these, 120 are proportio ...

for a five-year term on 30 November 2017.

Work as a Public Defender

During her tenure as Public Defender, Lomjaria has voiced concerns regarding the state of women's rights, gender equality, children's rights and prison conditions in Georgia and produced several critical reports. She has also been critical of the Georgian Dream government officials' increasingly hostile attitude towards civil society groups, their failure to protect

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

rights and the police's inability to prevent hate groups from attacking LGBT persons, their sympathizers, and journalists. She also called on the government to ensure that the rights of the former jailed president

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil Saakashvili ( ka, მიხეილ სააკაშვილი ; uk, Міхеіл Саакашвілі ; born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist.

, then standing for trial for multiple charges, be respected. In response, Lomjaria has been subject of criticism and verbal attacks from the Georgian Dream politicians, at times being dismissed as "a political activist". Lomjaria's work as Public Defender has been praised by civil society organizations, opposition politicians, foreign diplomats, and leading members of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. In 2023, Lomjaria and her team received a Global Human Rights Defender Award, awarded annually by the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lomjaria, Nino 1984 births Ombudspersons in Georgia (country) Lawyers from Georgia (country) Tbilisi State University alumni Washington University in St. Louis alumni People from Guria Living people Public defenders Women lawyers from Georgia (country) 21st-century women lawyers from Georgia (country) 21st-century lawyers from Georgia (country)