On 23-24 May 2023 the Council of Europe Office in Georgia together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Special Investigation Service held a joint working meeting on investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.
During the event, participants delved into various topics crucial to effective investigation and prosecution of hate crimes and best practices of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
‘It is crucial to discuss the challenges while dealing with hate crimes. Response to hate crimes must be the common endeavour of law-enforcement services and this meeting helped the decision makers dive deeper into the ECHR standards, discuss the challenges and agree on future steps. We value our cooperation with the Council of Europe and other international partners in this direction which made the enhancement of work for countering hate crimes possible’ – said Salome Shengelia, Head of the Department of Human Rights Protection at the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia.
Giorgi Osadze, Director of the Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, noted ‘we have come a long way of countering hate crime and now, on the road of specialisation of our investigators, this was a decisive moment to share our experience and obstacles with our peers. This was also an opportunity for us to present our recommendations for identification and investigation of hate crimes.’
The second part of the working meeting touched upon the ECHR practices on: the obligation of effective investigation of hate crimes by perception and association, hate speech as an indicator of intolerance motive, dealing with contradictory testimonies and the determination of the motive of intolerance and presumption of innocence, qualification of action, secondary victimization and racial profiling, the investigation of crimes committed by law enforcement representatives, officials, or persons holding equivalent positions, and the fight against discriminatory treatment of detained persons.
‘It is important for us to see the progress in prevention and response to hate crime and discrimination against every member of society, but especially against ethnic and religious groups and LGBTI people. This workshop revealed important steps taken by law-enforcement institutions but there are much more to be done’- underlined Natalia Voutova, Head of the Council of Europe’s office in Georgia.
‘Discrimination against various groups remains a serious challenge, and over the past few years we have unfortunately seen a rise in hate speech and hate crimes. We need to see the determination of the state to deal with it. We are glad to cooperate with the government and with the Council of Europe to share our experience of responding to hate crimes and to build the capacities of public institutions and civil society’ - noted Rebecca Lie, Deputy Head of Mission at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Georgia and Armenia.
Sofie Westerberg, First Secretary and Deputy Head of Development Cooperation at the Embassy of Sweden emphasised that ‘the Swedish support to improve the protection and state response to hate crimes committed in Georgia, not least against LGBTQI-persons, is unwavering. We support the important steps taken through the help of the Council of Europe as the work needs to be accelerated especially at the local level, so that every member of society feels protected and equal’.
This activity is implemented in the framework of the 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.
