Since September 2018, the Council of Europe Office in Georgia in the framework of the co-operation project “Fight against discrimination, hate crimes and hate speech in Georgia” has been assisting the stakeholders to improve hate crime data collection methodology. As a result of an inclusive process, recommendations regarding the new data collection methodology, specific guidelines and data collection templates on hate crime, discrimination and hate speech in line with ECRI recommendations and current needs were developed. The working method involved interested state and non-state actors who contributed to the process.
After years of collaboration, the Supreme Court, the Office of the General Prosecutor, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the National Statistics Office of Georgia (GeoStat) today signed a memorandum on cooperation to create a joint data system for crimes committed on grounds of intolerance. The signing ceremony was held at the Office of the General Prosecutor.
This foundational agreement, in compliance with international standards, focuses on four main areas: Concept of joint statistics on crimes committed on grounds of intolerance; Classification of crimes committed on grounds of intolerance and the data to be processed; Rules of collecting, processing and analysing the data and preparing and publishing a joint statistical report; Distribution of information between the parties;
During the ceremony of signature of the Memorandum of Cooperation, Natalia Voutova, the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, stated: ‘Today we are witnessing an intensive work being translated in the tangible result-memorandum on hate crime data collection and publishing. We are glad that we were able to support our partners in this process. We look forward to seeing further progress in the fight against hate crime’.
In the framework of this partnership, the state institutions will join forces to set up a joint methodology on data on crimes committed on grounds of intolerance.
This process is supported by the Council of Europe co-operation Project “Fight against Discrimination, Hate Crimes and Hate Speech in Georgia”. The project is implemented under the Council of Europe’s Action Plan for Georgia 2020-2023 with the support of the Danish Neighbourhood Programme in Georgia (DANEP).
