The parties discussed the issues concerning human rights protection, creation of the independent investigation mechanism as well as the Omudsman’s recommendations towards the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Minister of Internal Affairs presented his vision of police system development and planned reforms in the ministry. During the meeting they touched upon the newly created department of human rights, which is tailored to increasing the investigation quality of domestic violence, violence against women, trafficking, crimes committed on discriminatory grounds or committed by/towards minors.
The Meeting was also attended by the Deputy Ministers - Natia Mezvrishvili and Nino Javakhadze, deputy public Defenders – Tamar Gvaramadze, Giorgi Burjanadze and Ekaterine Skhiladze.
“Today we held our first meeting with Public Defender and Deputy Public Defenders. We discussed some important issues, including human rights protection. Since our first day in the office we have gradually started implementing Public Defender’s recommendations. We also talked about the initiative of the Ministry under which a new human rights department was created. Its key function will be improving the quality of investigation on crimes such as domestic violence, violence against women, crimes committed on discriminatory grounds. It is crucially important that the department will be presented to public society on 23 January” – Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Natia Mezvrishvili.
“During the meeting with the Minister we discussed the framework of our future cooperation and the issues on which we will be working together closely. We have identified the topics of human rights protection which are especially problematic while interacting with the police. We offered a systematic approach towards solving these issues, with special emphasis on the necessity of further reforms and increasing human rights education. At the same time we expressed our readiness to assist the Ministry in these processes.
We elaborated on the independent investigation mechanism, exchanged our positions on narco-politics and discussed some of the most problematic cases related to this issue. We also got more aware on Ministry’s stance towards different human rights issues and had an opportunity to express our opinions on relevant topics” – Public Defender of Georgia, Nino Lomjaria.
