On 12 June the Council of Europe together with the Public Defender’s Office organised a working meeting on the execution of the Judgements of the European Court of Human Rights group of cases “Identoba and others v. Georgia”. The event aimed at discussing the implementation process of “Identoba” Group of Cases, its importance, main challenges and future steps together with the project main stakeholders.

 “Public Defenders Office presented its opinion twice at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe regarding the prevention and existing flaw in relation to responses to hate crimes. Our reports highlight the challenges related to data collection, a reflection of equality issues in state policy documents and effective responses to the cases”, said Ekaterine Skhiladze, Deputy Public Defender.

“All minority groups should fully enjoy their right to freedom of assembly, and the Strasbourg Court’s jurisprudence provides that the CoE member States have a positive obligation to protect demonstrators. Today’s discussions were useful not only for understanding the process of execution of ECtHR judgements but also for exchanging on current challenges to promote social acceptance of minority rights,” said Vahagn Muradyan, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia.

The meeting gathered representatives of state institutions, NGOs and Council of Europe expert.  It is anticipated that this meeting along other intervention will assist Georgia to successfully execute the “Identoba” Group of Cases.

More information about the Group of cases “Identoba and Others v. Georgia”: https://bit.ly/2IvNKn4

The meeting was held as part of the Council of Europe co-operation project “Fighting Discrimination, Hate Crime and Hate Speech in Georgia”, conducted under the Council of Europe’s Action Plan for Georgia 2016-2019 with the support of the Danish Neighbourhood Programme in Georgia (DANEP).