National Preventive Mechanism THE MAIN PRINCIPLES AND METHODOLOGY OF THE MONITORING The monitoring was conducted in the framework of the National Preventive Mechanism envisaged by the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment whose functions Public Defender of Georgia is obliged to fulfill on the basis of the July 16, 2009 amendment to the Organic Law of Georgia on Public Defender of Georgia. Proceeding from the aforementioned functions, first in 2010 and now in 2012, monitoring was carried out in state residential institutions for persons with disabilities. Another important document used in the process of the monitoring was the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 2006. The main principles for conducting the monitoring were as follows93: do no harm, respect the mandate, know the standards, exercise good judgment, seek consultation, respect the authorities, credibility, confidentiality, security, understand the country, professionalism, accuracy and precision, impartiality, objectivity, sensitivity, integrity, and visibility. Taking into account the main principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 200694, in the process of the monitoring, the group of experts included a member of Disabled Persons’ Organization (DPO)95. In order to ensure communication with persons with sensory restriction (hearing impairment), the monitoring process involved a sign-language interpreter who interpreted the group members’ conversations with beneficiaries in the sign language in full compliance with the principles of confidentiality. Inquiry into possible cases of ill treatment and violence towards persons with disabilities was carried out with special care and sensitiveness; the process involved the ex- pert-psychologist and the expert-psychiatrist, as well as the lawyer. Interviews were conducted in separate rooms, in an environment that was known and acceptable for the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries could disrupt the interview at any stage. The experts used the method of semi-structured interview. In case of the beneficiary’s consent, the conversation was recorded on an audio recorder. The group attached considerable importance to ensure that inquiries into facts of ill-treatment and abuse of persons with intellectual impairment and mental health problems were conducted with a sensitive approach. The methodology of the working process, which was based on the basic principles of human rights, included both the work to be done before the monitoring and the development of a specific form reporting in the process of monitoring: validation (verification) of information about ill-treatment and abuse received by experts in the process of monitoring through different sources, analysis of information, interviews with professionals, obtaining of photo and audio materials. Results obtained by the group were summarized and processed with respect to both individual violations of rights and possible systemic problems. STANDARDS ESTABLISHED BY INTERNATIONAL TREATIES Despite the fact that Georgia has yet to ratify the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it has ratified the international and regional standards whose enforcement is obligatory to strengthen the guarantees of protection of the entire population of Georgia, including persons with disabilities. These international documents are as follows: The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; 93 94 95 The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2001).Training Manual for Human Rights Monitoring, Professional Training Series No. 7, Chapter V, Basic Principles of Monitoring, p. 87.Geneva, ISBN 92-1-154137-9 The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2010), Monitoring the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Training Manual for Human Rights Monitoring, Professional Training Series No. 17, Geneva, Chapter III, Monitoring the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, p. 33 Disabled Persons’ Organization(DPO), an organization protecting the rights of persons with disabilities www.ombudsman.ge NPM Report