Fight against hate crime represents one of the top priorities for the Ministry of Internal Affairs
The Human Rights Protection Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is conducting a daily monitoring of every criminal case that might contain hate crime elements.
As a result of the joint work conducted by the MIA territorial organs and the MIA Human Rights Protection Department, based on the investigation of criminal cases initiated on the grounds of the hate crime, during 2018 hate motive was identified in more than 50 criminal cases, which substantially exceeds the total number of cases for 2017.
The policy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is very strict towards the persons responsible for committing hate crimes, which first of all serves the purpose to eliminate any form of discrimination and to ensure the equal enjoyment of rights prescribed by Georgian Legislation for any individual or legal entity.
In 2018, the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained 53 persons on the grounds of committing hate crime.
The data for 2018 clearly indicates that the knowledge of investigators of crimes containing hate motive has increased and the techniques of identification of the motive during investigation have improved.
Apart from increasing the effectiveness of the investigation of hate crimes, one of the priorities of the Ministry is the ensurance of the right to expression. The vivid examples are the rallies held by the representatives of minorities throughout the recent months, during which the Ministry of Internal Affairs maintained safety of the members of the rallies and availed them with the possibility to freely express their opinion. Moreover, the persons exerting violence were arrested immediately.
With regard to the events to be planned on May 17, international day of fighting against homophobia, transphobia and biphobia, the representatives of the Ministry and non-governmental organizations held meetings and agreed the time and place of the meetings, as well as the security measures to be conducted.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia is a guaranty for public safety and is called to protect the right of any person, irrespective of his/her race, sex, religion, national/ethnic belonging or sexual orientation.
Therefore, on 17 May 2018 the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia will protect the right to freedom of expression of each citizen participating in the rally.
