BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 1
Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Georgia has benefited from the Council of Europe (CoE) co-operation programs under three consecutive Action Plans for the 2013-2015, 2016-2019 and 2020-2023 periods, the press service of the CoE told Trend.
One of the ongoing project implemented by Council of Europe in Georgia includez (as of end May 2021) fighting Discrimination, Hate Crime and Hate Speech in Georgia.
"The cooperation project aims to provide expertise, build competences, advocate and raise awareness among policy makers, legal professionals, law enforcement agencies and civil society organisations. The project supports its stakeholders to fully align national legislation and bylaws on anti-discrimination, hate crimes, and hate speech as well as relevant monitoring mechanisms, to the Council of Europe standards, and ensure their effective implementation," the source said.
According to the source, CoE contributes to enhancing inter-agency co-operation for the collection of data on hate crime. It is expected that data collected via new joint methodology will support informed decision-making and policy planning of the police, prosecutors and courts.
"The project also runs the awareness raising campaign "I Choose Equality" advocating human rights and anti-discrimination policy. Under the campaign, the first "Equality Week" in Georgia was established and conducted, comprising events mostly targeting youth, produces multimedia stories generating high attention of social media users, general public and the media," the CoE said.
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