Nino Tsatsiashvili, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary, presented the report on the implementation of the Resolution of the Parliament of Georgia on the Report of the Public Defender of Georgia regarding the Status of Human Rights and Freedoms in Georgia in 2018.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has fulfilled most of the recommendations of the Public Defender reflected in the Resolution of the Parliament of Georgia issued in 2018. The Public Defender positively assessed the activities of the Ministry and noted that the agency was distinguished by the highest rate of completed tasks.
In order to fulfill the recommendations, a number of important steps were taken by the Ministry in 2018-2020. In particular:
The Ministry has increased the number of temporary placement isolators with medical units. The employment of medical staff in the Department of TemporaryDetention Isolators of the Ministry continues and as of today, out of 29 temporary placement isolators operating across the country, the medical units operate in 23 of them.
In 2020, employment of medical staff in Baghdati isolator under Department of Temporary Detention Isolators of the Ministry is being planned.
In order to fully document body injuries of the people placed in isolator, instructions for conducting medical examination have been amended in 2020, providing detailed rules for photographing damages and data storing.
In 2019-2020, a number of trainings were conducted on documenting injuries, including the topic of proper photographing body injuries. Herewith, the Ministry of Inernal Affairs will provide further trainings of medical staff employed in isolators in 2020 as well.
In 2020, a major step has been taken to protect children from sexual exploitation and sexual violence. On March 17, the Parliament of Georgia adopted the “Law on Combating Crimes against Sexual Freedom and Inviolability” prepared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. By means of the mentioned law and the relevant changes, the punishment for the perpetrators of sexual violence has become stiffer. The law also provides deprivation of a number of rights for a perpetrataor of crime against sexual freedom and inviolability and the creation of special registry by the Ministry of the Internal Affairs for individuals convicted of sexual assault, including the right to be employed at training of educational institution.
A group of specialized investigators has been selected under one unit at the Tbilisi Police Department to investigate sexual crimes against minors;
The Institute of Witness and Victim Coordinator has been established at the Ministry of Internal Affairs to prevent repeated victimization of domestic violence and juvenile victims as well as for persons affected by discrimination crimes;
In order to effectively combat domestic violence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs continues to train police officers on issues related to violence against women, domestic violence and early child marriages. The Ministry has developed a special five-day course for investigators, covering both legal and psychological issues. Up to 275 investigators underwent the above-mentioned special course on domestic violence and domestic crime investigations (2018-2019), while short courses were held in 2019 for patrol- inspectors, district inspectors, community officers and 112 operators.
Hereweith, throughout 2019, up to 900 listeners were trained at the Academy on the issue of domestic violence, while from January to February of 2020, 132 persons have been additionally trained.
In addition to police officer trainings, in order to ensure effective investigation of crimes against women and domestic violence cases, investigators will be provided with relevant recommendations on the following topics:
Crime qualification issues, structure of questions to be put to the victim; Measures to be taken in relation to the victim upon the release of the abuser from the penitentiary institution, instructions for separating victim from the abuser during the issuance of a restraining order, methodology for identifying economic violence by a family member against the elderly, etc.
It is notable that compared to previous years, the number of reports filed to the police on the facts of violence against women and domestic violence is increasing anually, indicating that public awareness and trust to the police forces has increased.
In order to protect victims of violence from secondary victimization, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in cooperation with international organizations, is working to develop a protocol for the investigating sexual violence cases. The protocol, includes guidelines for interrogation of sexual violence victims. The protocol will be forwarded to all police investigation units upon the completion of the drafting process.
The Ministry has prepared recommendation on the "Methodology of Detention Protocol", intended for law enforcement officers authorized with detention rights. The recommendation outlines the importance of explaining rights to the detained person, which will be forwarded to the relevant territorial units of the Ministry in the nearest future, the fulfillment of which will be actively monitored by the Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department of the Ministry.
The Agency has prepared "posters" where the contact information of the Public Defender's hotline is indicated in full compliance of the existing recommendation. The mentioned posters have already been placed in police units.
