From October 31 to November 4, 2016, the Human Rights Academyof the Human Rights held training for 44 detective-investigatorsof the Ministry of Internal Affairs from Tbilisi and the regions of Georgia. The theme of the training was: “Investigation of hate crimes”.

The training program included both theoretical and practical elements. The course was aimed at raising awareness of methods of investigation of hate crime. During the course, the participants received information about hate crime indicators, international and regional standards of hate crimes, experience of Great British, necessity for creation of relevant database, application of the Georgian legislation with regard to hate crimes, standards of investigation of ill-treatment on the basis of the case law of the European Court and the national legislation, etc.

The training was led by Ketevan Shubashvili, Head of the Department of Equality of the Public Defender's Office, and international expert Paul Giannasi, Head of the Cross Government Hate Crime Programme of the British Ministry of Justice and a member of the National Police Chief’s Council’s Hate Crime Group. Paul Giannasi, who has 30 years of experience as a police officer, is the author of the police hate crime manual which offers guidance to all UK police officers and partners.

After completing the course, Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili and Deputy Public Defender Ekaterine Skhirtladze handed over certificates to the participants.

The training was held within the framework of the project “Support to the Human Rights Academy of the Public Defender” funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Two more trainings are planned to be held within the project this year in order to deepen knowledge, research and analytical skills of target groups in the field of legal and other aspects of human rights.