Council of Europe reveals hate crime, discrimination findings in Georgia
The Council of Europe in Georgia says that Georgians are moderately aware of the law against hate crimes and discrimination.Photo: N.Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The Council of Europe in Georgia has presented the findings of its study regarding hate crime, hate speech and discrimination in Georgia on the International Day for Tolerance marked worldwide today.
The results of the study show that 56 per cent of people think diversity is positive for the country. However, 36 per cent of the people think diversity is negative, saying that it “threatens our culture and traditions”.
In general, attitudes are more positive towards people with disabilities than any other minority group.
Attitudes towards religious minorities, migrants from countries outside Europe and LGBT people are generally more negative,” the study says.
The CoE in Georgia states that one in three people in Georgia think that hate crime is a problem, while one in two thinks hate speech is.
People think LGBT people are the most common victims of hate crime and hate speech. The next most common group was Jehovah’s Witnesses and migrants from outside Europe,” the survey revealed.
The CoE in Georgia claims that in general, people are only moderately informed about the Georgian legislation against discrimination, hate crime, and hate speech.
23 per cent of the population reported they were aware of the Law on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination. 23 per cent of people think there are additional criminal penalties in Georgia for committing a crime that was motivated by the fact that the victim was a minority, while 41 per cent think that there is no additional criminal penalty,” the study reports.
The study reflects data collected through a nationally representative survey, in-depth interviews and focus groups from June 2018 to September 2018.
The study was conducted by CRRC Georgia for the project “Fight against Discrimination, Hate Crimes and Hate Speech in Georgia”
The project will look at ways of combining legislative, capacity-building and awareness raising actions to ensure the appreciation of diversity in Georgia and the possibility for everyone to freely enjoy their rights.
According to CoE Georgia has been rated by ILGA-Europe as the 33rd out of 49 European countries in terms of rights protection accorded to LGBTI persons.
The Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Natia Mezvrishvili has stated that 53 individuals were detained for committing violent crimes in 2018 so far.
The statement by the Spokesperson for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations was released following the 11th annual Human Rights Dialogue between EU and Georgia held on April 24 in Brussels.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has arrested one individual born in 1975, charged with violent racial discrimination on a court decision.
The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body GRECO published a report on December 19 looking at how Georgia has implemented the recommendations on dealing with corruption offences, and specifically on the transparency of party funding.
European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), which is the Council of Europe’s independent human rights monitoring body, says Georgia still needs to implement two of its “priority recommendations”.
A mural portrait of Vitali Safarov, the Jewish-Georgian human rights defender and activist killed in Tbilisi in 2018, now adorns a facade of the Hague University of Applied Sciences alongside faces of student climate movement figure Greta Thunberg and assassinated Honduran indigenous activist Berta Cáceres.