EU Ambassador highlights Georgian Gov’t’s probation system progress

Pawel Herczynski, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, on Wednesday said the Georgian Government had demonstrated “progress” and development of the domestic justice and probation system over the years.

Making the comment at a Tbilisi conference discussing innovations for rehabilitation and resocialisation of convicts and probationers, Herczynski highlighted “many” reforms had been implemented in the area in Georgia and noted social services introduced in the area.

“In the coming years, these efforts should continue to be strengthened in order to create an appropriate structure in Georgia, an appropriate legal framework for strengthening the European perspective. I very much hope that Georgia will become part of our bloc, and accordingly, preparations are underway for this”, Herczynski said.

“Georgia has repeatedly shown its desire, [and shown] how important progress is, how important it is to have justice, probation system, and social services, both in probation and in penitentiary institutions. It is the foundation, it is the key practice in resocialisation, rehabilitation and decent service of one’s sentence”, he continued.

The European diplomat also added the remaining challenges in the sector needed to be “addressed together” to reduce the domestic incarceration rate and increase the practice of non-custodial punishments.