Georgia
Georgia regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. Georgia's Criminal Code includes general and specific penalty-enhancement provisions for hate crimes, as well as substantive offences. Georgia's data do not report cases of discrimination and persecution separately. The Information-Analytical Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Central Administration of Prosecutors of the Ministry of Justice, the Statistical Office and the Supreme Court all collect hate crime statistics.
How hate crime data is collected
Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are instructed to immediately initiate investigations when they suspect that an offence might have been committed on the basis of hatred and intolerance. The Information-Analytical Department of the Ministry generates statistical data about criminal offences with an element of discrimination. In January 2018, the Human Rights Protection and Monitoring Department was established in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, which monitors hate crimes, collects statistics and oversees the initial stage of investigation on other, ordinary crimes committed with bias motive. The Ministry also indicates the motive for the presumed intolerance and the specific reason for discrimination, such as race, skin colour, sex, sexual orientation or other grounds envisioned by Paragraph 3(1) of Article 53 of the Criminal Code of Georgia. These procedures are in accordance with an instruction issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Based on the recommendation regarding the application of Article 53 §3(1) of the Criminal Code, the Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia must be notified electronically of potential bias motivated crimes less than three days after the creation of the relevant procedural document. The information includes case details, details about the judicial process, and details of the investigation.
The Georgian judiciary collects its own statistical data on hate crimes through the Supreme Court of Georgia's Analytical Unit, which collects all judgements in which Article 53 § 3 (1) is used as an aggravating circumstance from city and district courts.
Official Data
Hate crimes recorded by police
The police number indicates investigations into incidents where the alleged bias motivation was detected, launched in 2017. The prosecution figure indicates the number of prosecuted individuals. Furthermore, some of the prosecutions included here were initiated before 2017.
National developments
The Chief Prosecutor's Office of Georgia has continued implementing the Prosecutors and Hate Crime Training (PAHCT) programme, based on an MoU signed with ODIHR in 2016. Four trainings on the effective investigation of hate crimes were conducted for 65 prosecutors and investigators of the prosecution service.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs set up a Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department. It aims to ensure a timely response on hate crime incidents and the efficient investigation of such crimes. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has also developed methodological guidelines on hate crime investigation, which are now being operationalized. Furthermore, a training course on "discrimination-based" crimes was developed and delivered to 50 investigators.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs, Chief Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Court of Georgia collect and process statistical data in line with their internal guidelines. The implementation of a methodology on collecting statistical data on hate crimes is planned for 2020, in co-operation with the Council of Europe.
International reports
Racism and xenophobia, Bias against other groups - Sexual orientation or gender identity
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The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Conclusions on the implementation of the recommendations in respect of Georgia."
Key observation
ODIHR observes that Georgia has not made public reliable data and statistics on hate crimes.
