The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), a Council of Europe independent expert body, has published today its conclusions on the implementation by Georgia of its recommendations provided in 2023, for which priority follow-up was requested.

For Georgia, the first priority recommendation to the authorities was to significantly increase the number of hours of teaching Georgian as a second language in minority schools. ECRI was informed that the Bilingual Education Programme launched in 2020 was intensified and expanded, with the number of preschools involved having gone from 15 to 34, and the number of participating non-Georgian-language schools increased from 35 to 169, out of a total of 300 such schools.  ECRI shares the view of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), which in 2024 welcomed the authorities’ willingness to improve the quality in learning Georgian, whilst preserving teaching and learning of respective minority languages, by putting in place a bilingual education model. ECRI commends the authorities for their significant efforts and concludes that this recommendation has been fully implemented. The second priority recommendation was to form an inter-agency committee, which would include representatives of the Public Defender’s Office (Ombudsman’s Office), international organisations and relevant civil society organisations, in order to implement the equality part of the National Human Rights Strategy 2022-2030. ECRI received no information about an inter-agency committee, or a similar mechanism having been set up, or about any plans to establish such a body. ECRI regrets this, as the creation of such a forum would enable a structured and formalised dialogue between the authorities and civil society, in particular. ECRI considers that the recommendation has not been implemented.

ECRI and Georgia