Reported data may include offences that fall outside the OSCE hate crime definition, such as hate crimes motivated by bias against political or other views, social affiliation and others.
Police data include cases recorded by Georgia's Ministry of the Internal Affairs (1,887 cases) and Special Investigation Service (115 cases).
The official website of the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia presents hate crime data analyses in Georgian and English. Three new analytical documents were developed and published covering hate crimes in 2024:
- Hate crime analysis for 2023;
- Gender-based intolerance motive in violence against women and domestic violence cases, 2023; and
- The Intolerance Motive in Crimes Against Sexual Freedom and Sexual Inviolability, 2021-2023.
In 2024, the Human Rights Protection Department of Ministry of Internal Affairs, held 23 training sessions, including on hate crime, in which more than 1,300 employees of the Ministry were trained. With support from the Council of Europe, middle managers of the MIA attended a training programme on hate crime. Discrimination, hate speech, the concept of hate crime and many more relevant topics were discussed.
In 2024, a training was held for operators at LLPE "Public Safety Command Centre". Operators were informed about the role of the MIA in combating hate crime, bias indicators, and other relevant subjects.
Moreover, in 2024, the Police Academy held a baseline training programme on hate crime, which was attended by 521 people. .
In 2024, five training activities were conducted on hate crime, and 74 employees of the Prosecution Service of Georgia were trained, in addition, 50 intern-prosecutors attended a special training programme, which includes sessions on hate crime.
With support from the Council of Europe, a HELP training course on hate crime was launched for prosecutors and investigators of the Prosecution Service in 2024. The online training programme lasted three months and was attended by 13 prosecutors and 4 investigators.
With the support of UN Women, the Prosecution Service of Georgia held training courses on the effective investigation and prosecution of femicide, which were attended by 17 prosecutors and 15 managers.
In 2024, the High School of Justice conducted eight training sessions on hate crime, freedom of expression, international and European human rights legislation, and rights of persons with disabilities. A total of 10 judges and 90 employees of the judiciary participated in the training.
As of 2024, by a decree of the Prosecutor General of Georgia, prosecutors are required to involve witness and victim coordinators in hate crime criminal cases as a priority. In 2024, victim and witness coordinators of the Prosecution Service were involved in 521 criminal cases of hate crime.
Notable cases:
On 18 September 2024, a transgender woman was stabbed to death by her male partner due to her gender and gender identity. The perpetrator had previously subjected the victim to repeated physical and verbal abuse. The perpetrator was detained and prosecuted with murder committed under aggravating circumstances and violence, both of which were found to have committed with bias based on the victim's gender and gender identity. Later, the Court found the perpetrator guilty of all charges and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
In April 2024, a man was prosecuted for the rape of his daughter - a minor with disabilities. The child had intellectual impairments and was dependent on her father, who exploited her disabilities and threatened to kill the victim if she reported the rape. The prosecution found that the offence was committed with bias based on the victim's gender and disability. The perpetrator was sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment.
This category presents the total number of hate crimes motivated by anti-religious bias, including anti-Christian, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic hate crimes.
This category includes 13 hate crimes motivated by bias based on sexual orientation and 14 crimes motivated by bias based on gender identity.
This category includes offences committed with bias based on age, political or other views, social affiliation, other grounds of discrimination and discrimination on multiple grounds.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) published relevant recommendations in its "Concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth
periodic reports of Georgia".
ODIHR recognizes Georgia's efforts to enhance capacity of law enforcement and criminal justice professionals to identify, prosecute and sanction hate crimes. ODIHR observes that Georgia would benefit from developing its victim support system to ensure effective access to specialized assistance for hate crime victims.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decisions 9/09 and 13/06, OSCE participating States committed to taking a proactive and inclusive approach to facilitating the contribution of civil society to combat hate crimes. ODIHR stands ready to support Georgia in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and assistance.
For 2024, ODIHR received reports of hate incidents in Georgia from the following civil society organizations:
- Equality Movement
- European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses
- The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC)
- Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI)
- Trans Europe and Central Asia (TGEU)
- Women's Initiatives Supporting Group (WISG)
To learn more about these organizations, visit the Contributors page.
Individual incidents submitted by CSOs have been analysed by ODIHR. Those that were broadly considered to be hate crimes within the OSCE definition (criminal offence committed with a bias motive) are listed in the tables below according to the bias motivation category. Some incidents involved multiple biases and may be listed in multiple categories.
ODIHR’s insightsFor 2024, ODIHR received reports of 17 hate incidents in Georgia in the following bias motivation categories: anti-Christian, anti-LGBTI, anti-LGBTI and gender-based, and anti-Muslim. ODIHR observes that most of the anti-Christian incidents reported were threats targeting Jehovah’s Witnesses conducting religious activities in public spaces and private residences. ODIHR also observed incidents of confinement of LGBTI persons by family members after their sexual orientation was revealed. Finally, ODIHR noted a number of cases targeting transgender women with threats and violent attacks, including a homicide. It should be noted that ODIHR did not receive any reporting on Georgia relating to anti-Semitic, anti-Roma, racist and xenophobic, other religion or belief, gender-based or disability hate incidents. This indicates potential gaps in the information reported here. |
Please note that incidents reported here are based on voluntary civil society submissions and as such might not reflect the actual number of incidents or the most targeted communities in Georgia.
To address under-reporting, ODIHR encourages any civil society organizations or groups that monitor hate incidents to report these to ODIHR at hatecrimereport@odihr.pl
To export an Excel sheet with summaries of all incidents from Georgia click here and search by year and country.