The Social Justice Center, in cooperation with the LGBT rights organization ILGA-Europe, reported to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to provide an update on the general human rights situation of LGBT people. The report aims to inform the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe about the status of the enforcement of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Identity and Others v Georgia. The enforcement of the judgment in the case of the dispersal, by violent groups, of an event organized by LGBT activists on May 17, 2012, has not yet been closed by the Committee of Ministers, and it reviews annually the status of government policies and reforms in the country aimed at protecting LGBT people from violence and guaranteeing them freedom of assembly. The implementation of this decision is under the enhanced supervision of the Committee of Ministers and the state is obliged to submit periodically its own report to the Committee on the enforcement of the decision, and to provide an action plan.

The Government of Georgia submitted the last report on the implementation of the case to the Committee of Ministers on October 8, 2021, which reviews the statistics on the investigation of hate crimes and data on the trainings provided for the representatives of state agencies in this area.[1] The report sent by the Social Justice Center and ILGA-Europe to the Committee of Ministers responds to the government report, and includes additional information that is important for allowing the Committee of Ministers to make a thorough and objective assessment of the state of the implementation of this decision.

The Social Justice Center’s submission assesses critically the state’s legitimization of violent acts performed by far-right radical groups and its nefarious practices when investigating particularly serious and high-profile homophobic / transphobic crimes, thereby introducing into the society a sense of tolerance of and impunity for such crimes. The report reviews the institutional shortcomings that hinder the effective realization of the rights of LGBT groups. It points out the need to establish a specialized investigative agency within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which will work directly on hate crimes.

The report also emphasizes that the state has been unable to ensure the right to freedom of assembly and the expression of LGBT people for many years, a failure, which became all too apparent during the events surrounding the Pride March on July 5-6, 2021. Although clerics and leaders of ultra-conservative groups openly expressed their intention to disrupt the July 5^th Pride March, indicating that they intended to use violent methods, the state failed to provide timely intervention to mitigate the risk of violence and to protect the rights of assembly of LGBT activists. Law enforcement agencies failed to prevent homophobic groups from attacking the LGBT activists and journalists on July 5-6. Besides, the apparently violent calls of the leaders of the clergy and ultra-conservative groups and the question of the responsibility of the organizers have remained without proper legal response thus far. All this creates the impression of deliberate inaction on the part of the state and the manipulation of LGBT activists for political purposes.

We would like to remind you that the case Identity and Others v Georgia concerns the failure to protect against or to effectively investigate the inhuman and degrading treatment of peaceful assembly participants by homophobic groups on May 17, 2012, this date being the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in this case in 2015 and found a violation of Article 3 of the Convention (prohibition of torture) and Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) in conjunction with Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination).[2]

The Committee of Ministers will assess the status of the litigation of the case Identity and Others v Georgia at the 1413^rd meeting scheduled for December 2021. We hope that the committee will take into account the circumstances indicated in the report, and the package of recommendations prepared by us, and will continue to strengthen its oversight of the enforcement of the decision.

The report was prepared as part of a project funded by the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) under the title “Strengthening the Rights of LGBT People, Advocating for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Supporting Queer Activists." The views expressed in this report may not necessarily reflect the views of the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU).

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