2024-10-11

The Service held a meeting with representatives of organizations working on the rights of persons with disabilities

A meeting organized by the Personal Data Protection Service was held with representatives of organizations working on the rights of persons with disabilities.

The President of the Service began the meeting with an opening speech: "In 2014, Georgia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, by which the country recognised international standards for the protection of persons with disabilities and assumed a number of obligations both at the national and international level. According to the Convention, the member country is obliged to promote and ensure the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities through the implementation of legislative and institutional mechanisms. Every year, the Personal Data Protection Service prepares an action plan and activities aimed at ensuring the protection of personal data of persons with disabilities, creating an inclusive plan and adapting the organisation's services". - said Prof. Dr. Dr. Lela Janashvili.

The President of the Service presented to the audience the 2024 Action Plan for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities and the processes of its implementation. According to the plan, the Service had developed a document of recommendations for organisations working on the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, examined the legality of the processing of data relating to persons with disabilities by means of planned inspections, prepared a brochure in Braille, published a series of podcasts adapted for persons with disabilities, trained its employees on the standards of communication with persons with disabilities, etc.

Chair of Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee Rati Ionatamishvili, the Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs Mikheil Sarjveladze and Public Defender of Georgia Levan Ioseliani also gave welcome speeches to the attending organisations.

During the second half of the event, the First Deputy Head of Service, Otar Chakhunashvili presented the recommendation prepared by the Service.  The recommendation consists of analysis of national and international frameworks for personal data protection of persons with disabilities, practice of the Personal Data Protection Service, international courts and data protection supervisory authorities as well as institutional changes in the field.

The final part of the event was devoted to a discussion of international practice. Prof. Dr. Arkadiusz Wudarski at European University Viadrina Frankfurt and University of Szczecin was invited by the Service to the event where he spoke on the topic of: - “Legal issues on the protecting of rights of persons with disabilities on the way of Polish integration into the EU”.