This page provides information on the national frameworks to address hate crime in Georgia. The information provided here should be viewed alongside data presented on Georgia's hate crime report page.

Hate crime recording and data collection

Since 2020, Georgia has been collecting and publishing unified statistical data on hate crimes in accordance with the memorandum on maintaining statistics on crimes committed on grounds of intolerance. A joint report is published, singed by all relevant law enforcement authorities. 

In October 2023, a new memorandum was signed by the Supreme Court of Georgia, the Prosecution Service of Georgia (PSG), the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia (MIA), the Special Investigation Service (SIS), and the National Statistics Office of Georgia. All participants of the Memorandum collect statistical data on hate crime in accordance with their scope of work. They share information four times each reporting year on data defined in the Memorandum's Annex. The joint report on hate crimes is published on the website of the National Statistics Office of Georgia each year, no later than March 1st.

In accordance with the memorandum, the Ministry of Internal Affairs collects information on the number of hate crime criminal cases, relevant Articles of the Criminal Code of Georgia, bias motive, territorial distribution and involvement of witness and victim coordinators of the MIA. The SIS collects information on the number of hate crime criminal cases, the relevant Articles of Criminal Code of Georgia, bias motive, territorial distribution and involvement of witness and victim counsellors of the SIS. The Prosecution Service of Georgia presents statistical information on prosecutions, victims, diversions, decisions not to prosecute and termination of criminal prosecution that is disaggregated by grounds of discrimination and territorial distribution, as well as demographic data of the defendants and victims, social connection between victim and defendant, legal qualifications, termination of investigations and involvement of the witness and victim coordinators of the PSG. The Supreme Court of Georgia records statistical information about cases received and handled by district (city) courts, number of adjudicated cases, number of individuals convicted for hate crimes disaggregated by sex and age, social connection between the convict and the victim, types of penalties imposed on convicted individuals segregated by the articles of the Criminal Code, the number of convicts to whom the court applied Article 531§1 of the Criminal Code as the aggravating factor of criminal liability segregated by the Criminal Code articles and by regional units.

Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are instructed to immediately initiate investigations when they suspect that an offence might have been motivated by bias, in line with provisions of Article 53 (1) of the Criminal Code of Georgia. The Department of Human Rights Protection examines crime reports and criminal investigation cases through an electronic program of investigation, and generates statistical data about criminal offences involving an element of discrimination. Moreover, the employees of the Department monitor criminal cases with bias motive indicators daily and analyse legal proceedings. Through the monitoring process, the Department identifies challenges, emerging trends and develops (or updates) recommendations for employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in order to tackle those challenges, ensure a timely response and effective investigation of hate crimes.

There are two mechanisms used to monitor cases: one is an internal control mechanism – an electronic program used by the Department of Human Rights Protection to monitor the quality of investigations on a daily basis. By the decree of the Minister of the Internal Affairs, the investigative units are obligated to send relevant information about potential hate crime cases to the Department. The other is an external control mechanism, through which information on particular incidents and cases is reported by civil society and other organizations via a dedicated email account and Facebook page.

The Department identifies hate crimes and monitors relevant cases provided that the initial investigation identifies bias indicators. Alleged hate crimes are registered through a special spreadsheet by the Department in accordance with the articles of the Criminal Code of Georgia. The spreadsheet also contains a reference to a specific indicator to identify a bias motive. Bias motivations listed in Paragraph 1 of Article 531 of Georgia's Criminal Code (namely: "race", colour, language, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religion, disability, citizenship, nationality, ethnic affiliation, and origin) are then monitored. The Ministry of Internal Affairs does not monitor cases that do not constitute a crime.

The Department further developed a recommendation on the "Identification and Effective Investigation of Crimes Committed with the Motive of Intolerance on the Grounds of Discrimination." The recommendation provides a definition of hate crime, a methodology for investigating and identifying motives, and outlines circumstances to consider when clarifying the bias motive. The document was distributed to the territorial bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In 2021, the mandate of the Special Investigation Service (which is an investigative body) was extended to crimes committed with intolerance motives. The Investigation Quality Monitoring and Analytical Department of the SIS is responsible for hate crime data collection. The SIS uses two mechanisms to monitor hate crime cases: one is an internal control mechanism – an electronic program used by Investigation Quality Monitoring and Analytical Department to monitor the quality of investigations on a daily basis. The other is an external control mechanism, through which information on particular incidents and cases is reported by civil society and other organizations both in written and orally via a hot line. The list of bias indicators examined is the same as those examined by the MIA.

The Special Investigation Service, with the help of CoE, developed and issued guidelines on "Effective, prompt and thorough investigation of hate crime" for investigators of the SIS. Among other topics, the guide covers definitions, standards and methodologies of hate crime investigations and bias motive indicators.

The Department of Human Rights Protection of the General Prosecutor's Office is responsible for collecting and analysing hate crime data. Following a General Prosecutor order in 2022, all prosecution service employees are obliged to notify the Department of any decisions related to hate crimes and the status of victims.

The Department has developed a spreadsheet (Ms-Excel format) used to record and analyse statistical data on hate crimes. The spreadsheet includes basic information about the case - including the legal qualification, discriminatory motive, intersectional discrimination, and prosecution decisions and legal grounds thereof - as well as information about the victim, including any disabilities. Information included in the spreadsheet is sent by email to the Department of Human Rights Protection within five days of deciding on the prosecution of the case or the status of the victim.

In the electronic investigation program, a new function was added to indicate one or more bias motivations in several procedural documents issued by the prosecutors. The bias motive can also be indicated in cases where a prosecutor does not pursue prosecution.

As of 2024, the Prosecutor's Office has issued nine recommendations related to hate crimes: 

1. Recommendation to apply Article 531 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, prescribing a hate motive as an aggravating circumstance;
2. Recommendation on the legal qualification of hate crimes motivated by an anti-religious bias;
3. Recommendation to investigate cases involving persons with disabilities;
4. Recommendation on the "Effective Investigation of and Procedural Guidance over the Crimes Committed against Human Rights Defenders";
5. Recommendation on "Standards and methods of working with a witness, a victim and a defendant with disabilities";
6. Recommendation on "Standards and methods of working with a minor witness/victim/defendant with disabilities";
7. Guideline on “Eliminating Shortcomings Identified in Criminal Cases Involving Persons with Disabilities" (issued in 2024);
8. Guideline on “Eliminating Shortcomings Identified during the Monitoring of Hate Crime Criminal Cases”(issued in 2024); and
9. Guideline on “Eliminating Shortcomings Identified during the Monitoring of Femicide Criminal Cases” (issued in 2024).

In addition, a special "Human Rights" tab has been added to the official website of the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia, with an independent subtab on "hate crimes". These pages are available in Georgian and English here.

In the judicial system, the Analytical Department of the Supreme Court of Georgia collects and processes judicial statistics, including hate crime cases, and is responsible for ensuring that judicial statistics are made public.

When a bias motive is mentioned in the indictment, a dedicated box is ticked in the court’s statistical card along with the specific bias motivation. Depending on the outcome of the case, the bias motive (or lack thereof) is also indicated on the statistical card of the adjudicated case record. If the court determines that the crime was committed with a bias motive, or if the motive of intolerance is highlighted as an aggravating circumstance, the assistant judge fills out a specific form on the bias motivation along with the statistical card of the adjudicated case record.

All statistical cards completed by the assistant judge (regarding both received and adjudicated cases) are periodically submitted to the court registry. The registry staff member transfers the data from these cards into the Excel file of the criminal case management. Each month, this file is sent to the statistics sector of the Supreme Court of Georgia, where data from all district (city) courts are monitored and merged. Preliminary data on hate crimes can be processed from a consolidated Excel file if necessary. However, at the end of each reporting year, statistics are processed for the joint report after comparing and collating the data provided by the Prosecutor's Office and the statistics sector of the Supreme Court, as well as, if necessary, after monitoring particular cases by consulting the judgments. The courts do not have a joint electronic case management programme with the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the judiciary lacks the technical means to flag hate crimes and comprehensively manage case files.

Hate crime victim support

There is no general victim support system in Georgia, nor is there specific support dedicated to hate crime victims. does not exist.
In March 2023, a new structural unit, the Victims' Rights Protection Division, was created in the Special Investigation Service (SIS), to ensure the due involvement of victims in investigations, keep them informed, and ensure the exercise of their rights. Functions of the service include providing counselling to victims and aggrieved parties and referring them to other institutions if necessary, providing detailed information about the rights and duties of the victim or witness, and ensuring proper communication with them. The launch of a new unit enables the investigative department to have specialized investigators handle hate crimes (article 157¹ of the CCG). Witness and victim counsellors of SIS are available to hate crime victims and have been involved in hate crime cases.

A Witness and Victim Co-ordinator Service exists within the Prosecutor's Office. The office facilitates victims' and witnesses' involvement in the investigation and proceedings by providing information, communicating between the parties, accompanying the victim or witness to court (when requested) and arranging meetings with prosecutors. Additionally, the office provides some psychological help and assistance in obtaining accommodation, rehabilitation services and free legal aid. A referral mechanism is in place. There are also specialized prosecutors, investigators and witness and victim coordinators across the country dealing with hate crime cases. Co-ordinators are primarily involved in cases related to hate-motivated crime, in addition to cases where the victim and/or witness is a disabled person, the victim/witness suffered serious physical and moral damage as a result of the crime and/or the crime-related stress makes it difficult to communicate with the victim/ witness. Individual assessments of victims' needs are not conducted in Georgia. Witness and Victim co-ordinators are involved in criminal proceedings based on the prosecutor’s decision. As of 2024, by the decree of the Prosecutors General of Georgia, prosecutors are obligated to involve witness and victim coordinators in hate crime criminal cases as a priority. They must also involve the coordinators in criminal cases involving persons with disabilities and other crimes committed with a gender-based intolerance motive.

Witness and Victim Co-ordinator Service exists in the Human Rights Protection Department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs that protects the interests of victims and witnesses to avoid re-victimization and secondary victimization. Investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are authorized to involve the co-ordinator in the criminal case at their discretion before the case is brought to court. The co-ordinator prioritizes communication with the victims of hate crimes, human trafficking, domestic violence and violence against women, or where the victim is a minor or a person with disabilities. The co-ordinator is invited to communicate with the victim and/or witness based on the decision of an investigator, with the goal of evaluating the emotional state of an individual, identifying their needs and providing appropriate services. The co-ordinator is authorized to speak to a victim/witness, to attend the investigative and procedural actions that require the victim's/witness's attendance, and to attend victim/witness interrogation in court.

The rights of all victims include being informed about the charges brought against the perpetrator and procedural actions, giving a testimony, obtaining copies of main documents, being indemnified for expenses incurred as a result of participation in the proceedings, recovering their own property, requesting application of special protection measures, being informed on the progress of investigation, obtaining information about measures of restraint applied to the perpetrator, reviewing materials of the case, requesting a closed hearing, and receiving information about their rights and obligations. Victims of all crimes can claim compensation in the course of civil – but not criminal – proceedings.

Hate crime capacity building

Georgia implemented ODIHR's Training Against Hate Crime for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme in 2019. Following the training-of-trainers, training sessions are delivered to police officers on a regular basis. There is also a basic training course on human rights for police officers and a course to strengthen the qualifications of police investigators.  

Since 2020, specialized investigators and prosecutors of the Prosecutor's Office exercise official hate crime duties, including conducting investigations within the Prosecutor's Office, supervising investigation procedures, and supporting the state prosecution in court. The Professional Development Center (Division) of the General Prosecutor's Office of Georgia, in co-operation with the Department of Human Rights Protection, conducts a specialized course for prosecutors and investigators of the Prosecutor's Office on hate crimes.

Georgia implemented ODIHR's Prosecutors and Hate Crime Training Programme (PAHCT) in 2017. The training programme was revised in 2020 with support from the Council of Europe as part of a project to combat discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in Georgia. The updated training programme is a mandatory basic component for all specialized investigators and prosecutors of the Prosecutor's Office. In addition, materials on hate crimes are integrated into a training course undertaken by interns prior to their appointment as an intern-prosecutor or intern-investigator.

The High School of Justice is involved in the training process for judges and other officials of the judiciary. It conducts sessions focusing on hate crimes.

Georgia's Special Investigation Service (SIS) trains employees on hate crime with the support of international organizations and the non-governmental sector.

With the support of the Council of Europe, HELP training course on “Hate Crime” was launched for prosecutors and investigators of the Prosecution Service in 2024. Moreover, in 2024, the Police Academy held a baseline training programme on hate crime, which was attended by 521 persons.

Ad-hoc training courses are delivered by High School of Justice.