As a follow-up of the module scoping exercise done in April this year, the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening the High School of Justice” and the CoE/EU Joint Project “Application of the European Convention on Human Rights and Harmonization of National Legislation and Judicial Practice in Georgia in line with European Standards” supported a two-day training of trainers (“ToT”) on 23-24 April on the Effective Judicial Review of Hate Crimes.

The objective of the training was to prepare the pool of Georgian experts for the High School of Justice judicial training programme. This ToT enabled Georgian judges to enhance their knowledge in relation to the international and European legal framework, Council of Europe monitoring body reports on Georgia, prejudices and stereotypes hindering the investigation and conviction process of perpetrators. A special session was dedicated to gender and LGBT issues, bearing in mind the sensitivity of these topics in Georgia. As a judge from the Tbilisi Appeals Court put it “I’d not imagine this topic would encompass these wide range of legal issues and the path in the dark wood seems clearer now”. As a result of the ToT, all Georgian judges have access to an up-to-date module on the judicial review of hate crimes available at the High School of Justice.

The activity was jointly organised within the framework of the CoE Project “Strengthening the capacity of the High School of Justice of Georgia” funded by voluntary contributions of Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, Norway, Slovakia and Sweden to support the implementation of the Council of Europe Action plan for Georgia 2016-2019 and the CoE/EU Joint Project:  “Application of the European Convention on Human Rights and Harmonization of National Legislation and Judicial Practice in Georgia in line with European Standards”.