On 19 April 2019, the Council of Europe Office in Georgia together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Supreme Court presented recommendations on improving data collection mechanisms on discrimination and hate crimes.

The event presented the major recommendations and guidelines on establishing an effective hate crime and discrimination data collection system and adopting a joint approach developed by Council of Europe experts. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the General Prosecutor’s Office as well as the Supreme Court also shared their future plans regarding data collection.

The presentation of recommendations was followed by training of trainers on implementing hate crime data systems on 20-21 April for the representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Separate meetings were also held on 17-18 April on recommendations report and measures needed to implement an efficient data system.

The work on improving joint data collection on discrimination, hate crimes and hate speech started in September 2018 within the framework of the Council of Europe Co-operation Project “Fighting Discrimination, Hate Crimes and Hate Speech in Georgia. It envisages assisting the Government to develop recommendations, guidelines and capacity building activities to improve the data collection practices in Georgia.