Former Ombudsman of Georgia Nino Lomjaria is creating a new civic platform. Its main idea is to provide “an opportunity for civic activity” to people who want the country’s European integration, Lomjaria said, emphasizing that the association will not become a political union.
“I think there is a great intellectual, creative resource in society, but the problem is that a large number of people do not know where to find a space, a format or a place for the possibility of civic manifestation of themselves. This applies, first of all, to political parties, because to some extent participation in a political party or positioning oneself in a political party has become a kind of stigma in Georgia. The new association is created for those people who want to participate in public life but do not want to be associated with one or another political party,” said Nino Lomjaria.
“This is a civic platform and we have no plans to turn it into a political union, because today it is more important than ever for Georgia that society consolidates around certain ideas,” Lomjaria said.
The first initiative of the platform, according to her, will be activities aimed at obtaining the status of an EU candidate. According to the former people’s advocate, there will be other types of initiatives involving citizens and expert circles:
“This is the first initiative because we consider it the most important now. We need to consolidate society and bring the European voice of the Georgian people to the EU institutions.
According to Lomjaria, the platform will unite well-known people, although it is also necessary to involve any citizen who wants to participate in the country’s integration into the European space:
“We want this platform to become a place not only for famous people, but also for any citizen who today asks: “Do I want to go to Europe and what can I do for that, how can I support this process?”,” says Lomjaria.
The first public event of the former Ombudsman’s new organization called “Let’s act for EU status” will be held on September 7 at 19:00.
Nino Lomjaria’s term of office as Public Defender of Georgia expired in December 2022. During this period she has been repeatedly attacked by the ruling party. Members of the Georgian Dream called it “the ombudsman of the National Movement [Georgia’s main opposition party].”
On February 13, French President Emmanuel Macron awarded Nino Lomjaria with the National Order of Honor. In addition, on February 1, the U.S. State Department named the winners of the annual Global Rights Defender Award, including former ombudsman Nino Lomdjaria and her team.
