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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2021)1419/H46-14 |
2 December 2021 |
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1419th meeting, 30 November – 2 December 2021 (DH)
H46-14 Identoba and Others group v. Georgia (Application No. 73235/12) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments
Reference document |
Decisions
The Deputies
1. recalled that these cases concern mainly violations on account of the lack of protection by state authorities from homophobic or religiously-motivated attacks by private individuals during marches or meetings as well as police abuse committed with homophobic/transphobic bias, and the absence of effective investigations into these incidents, including with regard to discriminatory motives;
As regards individual measures in the Aghdgomelashvili and Japaridze case
2. called upon the authorities to redouble their efforts and ensure swift completion of the investigation with a view to establishing criminal liability of those responsible, by duly taking into account the findings of the European Court, in particular as regards the homophobic and/or transphobic hatred motivation behind the abusive police conduct;
As regards general measures
3. emphasising the State’s inherent obligation to ensure heightened state protection from hate-motivated violence, resulting in ill-treatment prohibited under Article 3, and to safeguard equality, pluralism and tolerance in a democratic society, expressed their profound concern over the events of July 2021 in respect of the Tbilisi March of Dignity and urged the authorities to demonstrate a firm political will to combat hate crime and safeguard freedom of assembly by conveying a clear zero-tolerance message at the highest level towards any form of discrimination, hate speech and violence, in particular against the LGBTI community;
4. called further upon the authorities to take all the necessary measures to ensure unhindered exercise of the right to peaceful assembly for the LGBTI community and activists, inter alia, by providing adequate security protection and effective policing and to keep the Committee informed of the results;
5. noted the information on the ongoing investigation into the events related to the July 2021 March of Dignity; underlining the importance of meaningful investigations and adequate sanctioning for the fight against impunity, as well as for building public confidence in the State’s anti-discriminatory policy, called upon the authorities to ensure that all the offences related to the above events, as well as to the previous marches, are effectively and speedily investigated through comprehensive and meaningful enquiry, capable of duly appropriate unmasking any bias motive and leading to the prompt identification and punishment of those responsible; requested the authorities to keep the Committee updated on the outcomes of these investigations;
6. recalling the Committee’s previous callsconcerning the establishment of a specialised investigative unit for hate crimes within the police, taking into consideration also the recommendations of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, repeatedly called upon the authorities to take concrete steps in this direction, by making full use of possibilities of co-operation with the Council of Europe and exploring, in
co-operation with the Secretariat, all possible avenues for moving forward; in the meantime, called upon the authorities to continue working on improving investigations of anti-LGBTI and religiously-motivated hate crimes, including by taking all reasonable steps for unmasking bias motive, ensuring effective victim participation and promptness of investigations;
7. welcomed the introduction of a new system for collecting and publishing statistical data on hate crimes and extensive training efforts deployed with a view to enhancing the capacities of investigative, prosecutorial and judiciary authorities to deal with such crimes; encouraged the authorities to further improve the data collection system so that it encompasses additional statistical components, such as, for example, the number of reports or incidents of hate crimes, and is accompanied by the appropriate analytical part explaining the dynamics and trends;
8. noted the information submitted by the authorities concerning the ongoing work on the National Human Rights Strategy and Action Plan, which would set out the uniform state policy for the fight against discrimination and hate crime, and define holistic and targeted actions, including public awareness initiatives, in this respect; encouraged them to pursue this work in close co-operation with the Public Defender and civil society, duly taking into consideration the challenges and needs of the relevant stakeholders, in particular the LGBTI community and religious minorities, and to draw on the Council of Europe’s expertise in this area;
9. decided to resume consideration of this group at the latest at their 1451st meeting (December 2022) (DH).