On November 25, the Ministry of Internal Affairs joined global campaign -16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which is held annually and symbolically ends on December 10, on International Human Rights Day.
The protection of human rights and the existence of effective mechanisms in the system is a major priority for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It should be noted that the European Parliament, in a resolution adopted on the implementation of the Association Agreement by Georgia in 2020, positively assessed the work of the Ministry in the field of human rights and stressed the role Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department in this regard.
Within the frames of the 16-day campaign, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Nino Tsatsiashvili and representatives of Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department took an active part in thematic events organized by various agencies and organizations and presented reports on combating violence against women.
On November 25, 2020, the Deputy Director of the Department, Maka Peradze, participated in the project "Strengthening Support for Victims of Domestic Violence during the COVID-19 Crisis" EU- sponsored online conference, organized by the Women's Information Center, Humandoc Foundation (Poland) and partner organizations. The conference was attended by IDPs / victims of the conflict residing along the so called administrative border line, non-governmental organizations working on gender equality and other stakeholders.
On November 28-29, 2020, Maka Peradze, Deputy Director of the Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department, also participated in the closing event of the Levan Aleksidze Mock Trial National Competition.
The national competition was dedicated to international and local legal mechanisms for elimination of domestic violence and violence against women with the involvement of 34 teams from 13 Georgian universities.
On November 27, 2020, in collaboration with the Ilia State University School of Law, East-West Management Institute and “Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia” (Prolog) USAID program, an online panel discussion was held within the frames of 16-day campaign, on the topic: “Violence against Women and Girls in the context of COVID-19”. The event was attended by the Deputy Director of the Department, Maka Peradze, who discussed the mechanisms of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for combating gender-based violence, the progress achieved in this direction as well as the existing challenges.
On November 30, 2020, the Human Rights Monitoring and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department conducted an online presentation of a report on child marriage-related crimes. The event, which was attended by representatives of state agencies and local non-governmental organizations, was opened by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Nino Tsatsiashvili.
During the online conference statistics on child marriage offenses and in-depth analysis of these data have been presented as well as trends identified as a result of case monitoring and current challenges.
During the presentation, the Ministry emphasized the priority of the Agency for combating gender-based violence and protection of legal rights of juveniles, as well as the importance of public involvement in the proactive detection and investigation of crimes against child marriage and the need for close coordination with relevant agencies.
On December 2, 2020, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Nino Tsatsiashvili, and the Deputy Director of the Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department, Maka Peradze, participated in the USAID / PROLoG Project Online Conference – “Implementation of legal norms regulating sexual harassment, achieved results and challenges. "
The conference aimed to discuss the results and challenges achieved in the process of regulating sexual harassment, as well as to exchange information on existing practices and challenges and share experiences with representatives of relevant agencies. From the side of the Deputy Minister, the meeting focused on the role of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the implementation of the article on sexual harassment in practice. Also, the importance of boosting the qualification of law enforcers and raising public awareness on this issue was underlined.
On December 4, 2020, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Nino Tsatsiashvili participated in the student scientific-online conference dedicated to the Human Rights Day organized by the Georgian National University- "Women's Rights and Existing Challenges in Georgia".
During the meeting, the Deputy Minister spoke about the legal mechanisms for combating gender-based violence and domestic violence, the challenges related to this type of crime during the pandemic and effective steps taken by the Ministry in this regard.
On 3-4 December, 2020, representatives of the Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department conducted online training on sexual harassment for community police officers of the Tbilisi Police Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Patrol Police.
The training participants were provided with detailed information on the legal mechanisms of sexual harassment and the response of the police to similar offenses. At the training the challenges in terms of sexual harassment, the practice established by the court on such offenses, as well as the essence and importance of using a victim-centered approach in the response process were discussed. The online trainings were attended by 20 community police officers of the Vake-Saburtalo and Old Tbilisi Main Divisions of the Tbilisi Police Department and 20 patrol inspectors of the Patrol Police Department.
On December 7, 2020, the Department for Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring conducted an online presentation of a report on sexual harassment in public places. The event was opened by Giorgi Osadze, Deputy Director of the Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department.
During the report presentation, statistics on sexual harassment in public places, (from May 10, 2019 after the article on sexual harassment came into force till September 30, 2020), in-depth analysis of relevant information on offenders and victims of sexual harassment, court practice in this regard, trends exposed during violations monitoring, identified challenges were presented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The invited guests were informed about the activities carried out by the Ministry since the enactment of the article up to date in order to prevent sexual harassment or to respond effectively to the facts.
On December 8, 2020, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Nino Tsatsiashvili, participated in the Joint Online Conference of the Public Defender of Georgia and the Council of Europe -"Administration of Justice on Crimes of Sexual Violence against Women in Georgia ".
The report presented at the conference focused on the evaluation of criminal procedures on sexual violence in Georgia in the context of the Istanbul Convention and human rights standards. During the conference, the Deputy Minister spoke about the approaches of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with regard to such category of crimes, the existing challenges and the results achieved.
On December 10, 2020, representatives of the Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department conducted online trainings for Kvemo Kartli and Kakheti Police Department staff on legal mechanisms to combat domestic violence and violence against women. During the training, the participants were informed about the main legal mechanisms in force against gender-based / or domestic violence, including the procedure for conducting electronic surveillance. The meeting focused on the importance of using a victim-centered approach in the litigation process. Online trainings were attended by approximately 40 employees of Kvemo Kartli and Kakheti Police Departments.
Representatives of the Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department participated in online events held with N71 and №155, №212 public schools in Tbilisi, as well as with students, teachers and parents of Lomisi School, where they reviewed the Ministry’s approaches to domestic and violence against women as well as legal mechanisms of combat in this regard, existing statistics and challenges.
During the campaign, representatives of Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department discussed issues related to domestic violence and violence against women, both on television and with news agency representatives.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs will continue to work in coordination with relevant agencies to plan and implement preventive measures for protection of human rights and effective response to violence against women.
