Protection of human rights and equality, including fight against crimes committed based on discrimination andeffective investigation thereof, are the priorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia (MIA).
In 2018-2019, Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department of the MIA implemented a number of measures and activities. Namely:
- Investigators and police managers were trained on the issues of identification of the motive of discrimination and effective communication with victims;
- Special guidebook and guidelines were created on the issues of identification of the motive in the crimes committed based on discrimination and qualification of the crimes;
- Special training program was established in close cooperation with OSCE ODIHR on the issues of investigation of the crimes committed based on discrimination. This training program helps law enforcement to rapidly react and effectively investigate crimes committed based on discrimination;
- Upon initiative of the MIA, liability for the crimes committed based on discrimination was made stricter. Moreover, gender based discrimination was included as an aggravate condition for the crime in certain articles of the Criminal Code of Georgia;
- Currently, work is ongoing in partnership with the Council of Europe to further develop criminal law with regards to crimes committed based on discrimination;
- The process of gathering statistical information was further improved. The MIA actively works with international organizations in this direction.
Due to improved qualifications of investigators and increased quality of investigation, in 2018, identification of discriminatory motive in the criminal cases increased significantly.
In 2018 (compared to 2017), number of persons criminally charged for the crimes committed based on discrimination tripled.
In order to protect the interests of victims and witnesses, also to avoid re-victimization, Victim/witness Coordination Service was established. The coordinator prioritizes the communication with the victims of crime committed based on discrimination.
MIA’s efforts, reforms and increased indicator of investigations of the crimes committed based on discrimination were positively assessed by EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee. Namely, in its resolution, the Committee positively assessed the results of work (of 2018) of Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department of the MIA in the issues of violence based on hate, gender, or other types of discrimination.
In addition to increasing quality of investigation and improving qualifications of investigators, the MIA is actively involved in prevention of crimes committed based on discrimination and hate speech as well as awareness raising campaigns.
