On October 25, 2016, the Public Defender of Georgia presented a special report on the fight against discrimination, its prevention and the situation of equality to representatives of the diplomatic corps, international organizations, state agencies and NGOs.

The report was prepared on the basis of the Law on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination and reviews the gaps in the anti-discrimination legislation, statistical data of the Department of Equality of the Public Defender’s Office, the use of the standard of burden of proof by the Public Defender, investigation of alleged hate crimes, importance of general courts as a mechanism of fighting against discrimination, as well as the Public Defender’s recommendations, general proposals and amicus curiae briefs, and other activities carried out by the Department of Equality.

In the reporting period - from September 2015 through August 2016, the Public Defender studied 113 cases and developed 12 recommendations, 4 general proposals and 6 amicus curiae briefs. Out of them, proceedings were terminated in 41 cases and 19 cases were declared inadmissible. (It should be noted that in the previous reporting period, the Public Defender considered 107 applications; developed 2 recommendations, 1 general proposal and 2 amicus curiae briefs; proceedings were suspended in 8 cases and 21 cases were declared inadmissible).

Most of the applications, in particular 18% concern alleged discrimination on grounds of political and other views, 17% - alleged discrimination on grounds of religion, 14% - alleged discrimination on grounds of ethnicity/nationality, 10% - alleged discrimination on grounds of sex (the figure was the same last year), 8% - alleged discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation/gender identity and 7% - alleged discrimination on grounds of disability. The rest of the applications concerns discrimination on grounds of age, race, trade union membership, health, property, etc.

Presentation of the project Fight against All Forms of Discrimination in Georgia was also held at today’s meeting. The project will be carried out in the Public Defender's Office in the next 3 years.

See the electronic version of the report