Irine Chikhladze the Deputy Public Defender of Georgia and Acting Head of the Equality Department Ana Kvatchadze attended the seminars organized by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg by special invitation. The main objective of the seminar was to discuss in detail the role of equality bodies in the prevention of hate crimes.
On this occasion the representatives of the human rights protection institutions of the member states of the Council of Europe participated in the international seminar. The seminar’s theme was “The role of equality bodies in the process of overcoming hate speech and hate crimes”.
It is to be specifically mentioned that at the meetings the representatives of all the concerned authorities have focused on manifestations of severe forms of hate speech and effective responses to alleged hate crimes.
At the same time all the stakeholders further discussed the possibilities of equality bodies in this direction based on their educational and rights protection mandate. Support services for victims of hate speech and hate crimes were also discussed by all the participants as well.
The representatives of equality bodies participating in the seminar discussed the challenges at the national level and the necessary legislative changes and shared examples of good practices that could have been implemented to prevent crime and other incidents reported due to hate speech.
Similarly the representatives of the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries participating in the regional seminar “Against Racism and Racial Discrimination” discussed the current situation within the framework of responding to racism.
The representatives of these countries also presented recommendations for a comparative analysis of the fight against racism in the Western Balkans and Eastern European countries and set further steps for action at the local level.
The participants also got acquainted with updated information and best practices about the latest events at the European level in this direction. Hate-related crimes are seen as a grave threat to the national security of the country because they lead to division in society which is not good for good governance.
