The EU Urges Georgia to Effectively Implement the Anti-Discrimination Law
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, April 30
The EU encouraged Georgia to continue ensuring the effective implementation of its anti-discrimination law, including in the private sector, - reads the statement released by the Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Maja Kocijancic.
Kocijancic spoke about the views brought up at the EU-Georgia 11th annual Human Rights Dialogue, established to monitor the implementation of the Georgia-EU Association Agreement, last week.
“The EU underlined the progress made by Georgia with regard to the protection of ethnic minorities and their civic integration and encouraged the Government to continue taking steps in this regard.
“The EU expressed the hope that the recent creation of a Human Rights Department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs will enhance the effective response to hate crimes in Georgia and encouraged the government to further enhance its human rights coordination mechanism”, says the statement.
Kocijancic stated that the EU welcomed initiatives taken by Georgia aimed at implementing commitments stemming from the Istanbul Convention preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
“The participants of the Dialogue agreed on the need to further improve national institutional capacities in support of gender issues. In particular, the EU encouraged Georgia to continue enhancing measures to prevent and investigate cases of violence against women and girls and to protect the victims.
The statement also reads that during the gathering the EU reaffirmed its support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders.
“The EU reiterated its concerns about depriving the life of the Georgian citizen Archil Tatunashvili in Tskhinvali in February and about the overall deterioration of the human rights situation in the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region,” the statement says.
Kocijancic stated that the EU representatives were particularly concerned about ethnic discrimination in Georgian occupied regions, restriction of the freedom of movement, property rights, and education in mother tongue, as well as obstacles to the rights of internally displaced persons and refugees to safely return to their homes.
