The European Union has published an annual report on Georgia's compliance with the Association Agreement. The report outlines current and ongoing projects implemented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2019. The document also focuses on the progress made by the agency and the reforms to be implemented.
The annual report highlights Georgia's active and fruitful cooperation with Europol in the field of law enforcement. Deployment of the police attaches in EU member states by the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the elimination of grave and organized cross-border crimes was also outline in the report.
The document notes that in terms of visa-free travel, Georgia is proactively continuing its efforts and respective measures to combat the facts of illegal migration from the side of Georgian citizens and attempts to seek asylum abroad. Report outlines that Georgian government is working on the issue together with the European Commission and EU member states.
The report positively assessed the amendments made to the Criminal Code of Georgia, according to which the promotion of illegal stay of Georgian citizens abroad was ranked as crime.
In addition, the ongoing work on strengthening border management by Georgia held in cooperation with the European Border and Coast Guard Agencies was positively assessed as well.
The EU annual report outlined the improvement of the security and monitoring infrastructure of the Georgian Border Police, relevant trainings of border management staff and the refinement of study programs of the Police Academy.
The report positively assessed the steps made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia towards protecting women's rights, particularly the number of the increased reports on the facts of domestic violence, achieved as result of awareness raising public campaigns. Special emphasis was also made on the fact that the number of restraining orders issued by police has increased by 75% from 2017 to 2018.
The report positively assessed the ongoing and planned reforms carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is aimed at separating the functions of an investigator and prosecutor, as well as operational and investigative functions.
According to the document, community-oriented police activities as well as analysis-based policing areal has been expanded and centralized analytical activities improved. The effective work of the Ministry against the cybercrime and international cooperation in this regard was also positively assessed.
This year's annual report of the European Union is the fourth official working document, since the Association Agreement came into force in 2016. It is important that on the basis of the mentioned report, the existing EU-Georgia Association Agenda will be updated for the upcoming years.
