The Council of Europe Office in Georgia is proud to announce the 5th annual Equality Week 2023. Held around the International Day for Tolerance marked on 16 November, the Equality Week seeks to amplify awareness of the significance of diversity and equality, promote inclusivity, while also informing the public about redress mechanisms for victims of discrimination.

This year’s Equality Week was launched with an opening event on 15 November 2023 at Deda Ena Bar. The Equality Week Opening Event captured a rich tapestry of artistic expressions through the exhibition "Threads of Resilience." The exhibition united the works of seven artists, offering a vivid portrayal of varied experiences of being different and speaks of subsequent feelings and emotions. The exhibition brought often invisible examples of resilience into the light of day and presented the works of Andro Dadiani, Salomea Bauer, Dina Oganova and Chai Khana. Accompanying the art exhibit, three community representatives, Beka Gabadadze, Kamran Afandiyev and Nestan Ananidze delivered thought-provoking "My Equality Story" speeches, styled after TED Talks. The speakers talked about the challenges of ethnic and religious minority groups and on the issues of acceptance of LGBTI people.

The keynote speakers who addressed the public included Natalia Voutova, the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia; H.E. Bergljot Hovland, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway; and H.E. Meline Arakelian, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The curator of the exhibition was Tuta Chkheidze from the art group Collective Failure.

According to the Head of Council of Europe Office in Georgia - Natalia Voutova, the statistics on the response of hate crimes are improving in Georgia. However, minority groups are still often subjected to hatred and attacks, on the ground of ethnic, religious identities or gender.

“Georgia has made significant progress towards improving legislation to address discrimination and, as the latest surveys show, society too, has become more aware of the importance of the protection of the rights of minority groups. As the Council of Europe strongly supports Georgia’s EU Integration, I am hopeful that the governmental agencies, the parliament, and civil society will be successful in addressing equality challenges. I hope that synergy in understanding and approaches in terms of ensuring country’s legislation and policy as well as practice in the areas of human rights, democracy and rule of law will further bring Georgia to the European standards, set by Council of Europe bodies.” - noted Natalia Voutova.

The presentation of the hate crime data analysis for 2021-2022 was also conducted in the frames of the Equality Week. With the support of the Council of Europe, the data has been collected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor’s Office, and the Supreme Court of Georgia since 2020 and is published on GeoStat webpage.

The statistics of the hate crimes show an increase in investigations, criminal prosecutions, court-handled cases, and convictions for hate crimes during the 2021-2022 reporting period. Namely, the number of investigations on hate motivated crimes increased by 5.8 percent (1 703 cases in 2021; 1 802 cases in 2022), similarly, statistics show 40 percent increase in criminal prosecutions of persons who committed the hate crime, in the same period. Court handled cases showed 73 percent. increase and the convictions increased by 82.2 percent.

Equality Week is implemented in the framework of the I Choose Equality Campaign which is part of the Council of Europe project “Promoting the Effective Protection of Equality and Non-Discrimination in Georgia.” The Project is funded through the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia 2020-2023.