The Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Mr. Aleksandre Darakhvelidze attended the event “Joint Data Collection Methodology on Crimes Committed on Grounds of Intolerance with Discrimination Basis: Novelties and Recent Statistics”.
On September 23, 2020, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Office of the General Prosecutor, the Supreme Court, and the National Statistics Office of Georgia (GeoStat) signed a memorandum on cooperation to create a joint data system for crimes committed on grounds of intolerance.
The Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs noted that crimes committed on the grounds of intolerance with discrimination basis, especially in recent years, have become a priority for the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the policy level, as evidenced by the numerous activities carried out by the Ministry. As mentioned by Mr. Alexander Darakhvelidze, the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are actively involved in training process in the fight against discrimination and active support from local and foreign partners has outmost importance. The Deputy Minister also noted that the staff of the Ministry is actively involved in public awareness raising activities.
Mr. Alexander Darakhvelidze emphasized the importance of the developed model of collecting unified statistics, which allows the data produced by the state on crimes committed on the basis of discrimination to be even more accurate and in line with international standards. He also stressed the significance of effective cooperation between the agencies participating in the memorandum and spoke about the results achieved through cooperation.
The Deputy Minister expressed gratitude to all the partner and donor organizations supporting the development of a unified methodology of crime statistics on the grounds of intolerance.
The event was held within the frame of the Council of Europe project “Fight against Discrimination, Hate Crimes and Hate Speech in Georgia”. Project is implemented since 2018 in close cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and with the support of the Council of Europe and assists stakeholders in improving the methodology of data collection on hate crimes.
