Interior Ministry Officially Opens Human Rights Department
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, January 24
(TBILISI)--Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs officially opened its Human Rights Department on January 23, claiming the new structure will timely and effectively address the violence against women, minors, family violence and other offences grounded on discrimination.
Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia vowed the formation of the new department about one month ago in the Parliament of Georgia, where the new Cabinet of Ministers needed to be approved by lawmakers.
The minister claims that without protecting of human rights the ministry will never achieve its goals and will not be appropriately respected by the Georgian people.
“Unfortunately Georgia still faces violence against women, family violence, violence committed by juveniles or crimes committed against minors, as well as various crimes grounded on discrimination. A type of cultural problem still exists in the country in which victims refrain from cooperating with law enforcement.”
“The competence of law enforcers is also of high importance, their knowledge and the quality of investigation,” said Gakharia. “The department has been created to address such issues and challenges.”
During the presentation of the new department, the minister had to answer the journalists’ questions over the alleged facts of exceeding of powers by law enforcers.
Gakharia stated that such facts would be in focus and if confirmed, will never be tolerated.
However, he added his body would be intolerant to unfair disrespect to police officers.
The Georgian opposition and civil sector say that the country requires an independent body that will investigate alleged crimes committed by law enforcers.
They state that for many years the law enforcement agencies hindered the punishment of their employees that encouraged the crimes committed by law enforcers.
