UN OHCHR Helps Activists and Representatives of Organizations of Disabled Persons to Learn and Apply Amicus Curiae Mechanism

On 15-18 October 2021, the Field Presence of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the South Caucasus in partnership with the Ombudsman of Georgia organized a training for the representatives of the organizations of persons with disabilities (PWDs) and PWDs activists. The training held with the financial support from the UN Sustainable Development Goals Fund enabled the participants to learn about the amicus curiae, the importance of using this instrument in practice, technical skills and methods of writing it.

"In a democratic state, public involvement in the administration of justice plays an important role. Accordingly, the OHCHR joined forces with the Ombudsman of Georgia to support a dynamic and effective use of the amicus curiae mechanism by Georgian human rights defenders, including the ones working on the issues of PWDs. " - said UN OHCHR Senior Human Rights Advisor in the South Caucasus, Vladimir SHKOLNIKOV.

Institution of amicus curiae was first introduced in the English law and then spread to other common law systems, followed by other legal systems and is now successfully applied in the legal systems of continental Europe. It is also actively used by the European Court of Human Rights.

Head of the Public Ombudsman’s Equality Department, Ketevan SHUBASHVILI believes that "the amicus curiae institute is an important support tool for advocacy, which, unfortunately, is not actively used in Georgia."

"The voice of PWDs must be heard in the judiciary, not only as plaintiffs and defendants, but also as amicus curiae. This training is my first opportunity to learn about the procedures and practices of preparing and submitting opinions at the international and local level courts. I think preparing opinions is a very time-consuming task, therefore, this training will significantly help us, human rights defenders to conduct this process properly and achieve the desired result." – said training participant, PWDs activist Esma GUMBERIDZE.

Another PWDs activist and the training participant Koba NADIRADZE said that the topic of amicus curiae is likewise a novelty to him, in terms of practice.

"Indeed, I am planning to prepare and submit amicus curiae to the court and observe how the judge will discuss my opinion and what outcome will be. I believe that active use of this mechanism will help to increase the quality of court decisions, as the court will rely on more sources. In addition, it will increase public involvement in the administration of justice and the degree of trust in court decisions,” he said.