The Council of Europe is assisting the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia in re-visiting the current Police Code of Ethics and its teaching strategies. For that purpose, two Council of Europe international experts carried out bilateral meetings with various stakeholders in Tbilisi as well as facilitated a workshop at the Police Academy on 20-21 September.

The Code of Ethics is an important document of the Police Service that highlights the basic values and principles that the members of the Service should adhere to in the performance of their work and in their private lives.  The document does not only strengthen the sense of moral values and personal responsibility s but it also a statement to the public and contributes in gaining their confidence in policing work. Therefore its reviewing process demands involvement of various key players and most importantly the policemen.

During the bilateral meetings, the experts had a possibility to discuss with their Georgian counterparts the possible areas of improvement and measures that could enhance the effect of the Police Code of Ethics. The workshop for the policemen and staff of Police Academy was a forum for mutual exchange of information and experiences on the current Georgian Police Code of Ethics and teaching ethics for police staff in Georgia in the light of the notions of the Council of Europe Recommendation on the European Code of Police Ethics, linking ethical dilemmas, best European practices, examples of effective approaches and organisation of ethical training for police.

Based on the outcomes and conclusions of the visit, the Council of Europe experts will prepare a revised draft of the Police Code of Ethics and develop suggestions for improving the teaching methodologies for the Georgian authorities.

_{This activity was organised within the framework of the CoE/EU Eastern Partnership Programmatic Cooperation Framework Project “Human Rights and Healthcare in prisons and Other Closed Institutions in Georgia II”.}