Public Defender submits communication on hateful attitudes and hate crimes to Committee of Ministers of CoE
By Levan Abramishvili
Thursday, August 22
The document encompasses various deficiencies that enable the widespread homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia in Georgia, including their systematic character. The document also overviews the shortcomings of the national policy and legislature to combat discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation and the insufficient institutional guarantees for freedom of religion. Complications of investigating alleged hate crimes is also discussed in the communication.
The Committee of Ministers will discuss Georgia's fulfillment of its commitments at a meeting scheduled for September of this year and will evaluate individual and general measures taken to enforce the court’s ruling.
The Public Defender, as the national institute for human rights monitoring, once again used her opportunity to communicate information to the Committee of Ministers on the current situation. The Ombudsman's communication highlights both legislative and practical systemic problems, such as the challenges facing the LGBT+ community, including the realization of the right to assembly and manifestation; the problem of effective investigation of crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The document also assesses the work of the State Agency for Religious Affairs and the Department of Human Rights of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia in addressing the above mentioned systematic problems.
The communication document states that “disregarding the needs of vulnerable groups and aggression towards them is still significantly characteristic for the part of Georgian society.” Also it is observed that most of the facts of discrimination are stipulated by prejudices and stigmas.
However, the State doesn’t get involved in the awareness-spreading campaigns on equality and nondiscrimination.
“Unfortunately, due to several attempts of Public Defender and civil society, changing societal attitudes towards vulnerable groups remains a long-term perspective achievement, as the State is barely involved in disseminating information and ensuring values regarding equality and nondiscrimination,” states the document.
The document draws upon the UN Independent Expert on Protection against Violence and Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity country report, which states that “Homophobia/Transphobia is a systemic problem in Georgia that needs adequate answer from Georgian Government”.
The document highlights that the formal equality provided for the LGBT+ persons within the legislation is not enough and its practical enforcement remains a challenge.
“The incidents of discrimination of LGBT+ persons in labor, health, social and economic relations are quite frequent. No awareness raising measures are carried out, which would support destruction of current stereotypical approaches,” reads the document.
The Public Defender’s Office also observes that there are no systemic approaches to combat violence against LGBT+ persons in Georgia.
“The observation of the Public Defender of Georgia shows that the steps taken by the state to improve LGBT+ rights situation are not sufficient, namely, no systematic approach to combat violence against LGBT+ persons exists in the country and none of the action plans on gender equality aims to sufficiently improve the rights of LGBT+ persons in the country,” says the communication.
The communication submitted to the Committee of Ministers highlights the deprived right of freedom of expression for the part of the LGBT+ community. The now-notorious May 17 has been a subject of public tensions following the 2013 violent attacks that the LGBT+ activists and allies experienced from the religious and far-right groups.
“The LGBT + community has been trying to celebrate May 17 - International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia since 2011, but the community has failed so far to exercise freedom of expression without substantial violations, including situations, where their physical security was at stake. On 17 May 2018 and 2019, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, NGOs working on LGBT+ persons’ rights, activists and members of the LGBT+ community, due to the processions of anti-gender movements and possible altercation, still were not allowed to freely choose the place and format for the demonstration. This adversely affects protection of LGBT+ persons’ rights,” notes the Public Defender.
The communication also highlights the xenophobic attitudes that are rampant in the Georgian society. The Ombudsman also recognizes this as a systematic problem “as far as organized xenophobic groups have been operating in Georgia for years and a number of politicians are constantly stirring up hatred towards different religious and ethnic groups by media and social networks, as well as by public demonstrations.”
The document states that Iranian Arab, Indian, Turkish, Afro-American people, Muslims and Jehovah's Witnesses have repeatedly been subjected to physical assault and discrimination.
The document states the establishment of the Department of Human Rights (acting Department of Human Rights Protection and Quality Monitoring) within the ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia in January 2018 is a positive step forward in combating discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. However, there are still many shortcomings in the national policy and legislature in this regard.
The document also speaks about the complications of investigating alleged hate crimes. For example, there is a lack of sensitivity on the part of the law-enforcement officials and absence of special procedures for interviewing victims of violence in police stations, which is “troublesome”, according to the document.
Based on the shortcomings, the Ombudsman gives the State several recommendations to improve the investigative processes of the alleged hate crimes.
All the above-mentioned points at the “systematic problems of discrimination and intolerance in the country that hinder achieving equality in many directions.”
“The Public Defender believes that shortcomings in terms of protecting the rights of LGBT+ persons, ethnic and religious minorities need to be addressed by the State with more comprehensive approach. Georgian authorities should take further measures to combat intolerant attitudes which result in hate crimes and other discriminatory activities,” concludes the document.
It is noteworthy that the Ombudsman also used the opportunity to present such communication in 2017 and provided the Committee with information on the enforcement of its decision on the ‘identoba’ group cases.
The full communication can be accessed at the official website of the Public Defender of Georgia, ombudsman.ge.