The Parliament heard the Interior Minister, Vakhtang Gomelauri reporting within the Interpellation.

The questions submitted by the opposition MPs concerned the preventive measures of the Ministry against domestic violence and violence against women, as well as countering the drug crime.

“Interpellation is an acute issue to the extent that it is, on a daily basis, broadcasted demonstrating the grave facts of domestic violence and femicide to our citizens. Our intention is to summon you to the Parliament since the report of the Minister lacked the answers on two gravest problems – drug crime and drug policy, as well as domestic violence and femicide. In this context, the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence poses an acute challenge to the victims of domestic violence and your agency by the way as our Western partners render significant aid to the Interior Ministry, as well as all the women who fell as victims of domestic violence”, - one of the authors of the questions, Teona Akubardia noted.

The Opposition MPs, Teona Akubardia, Aba Buchukuri, Ketevan Turazashvili, Nato Chkheidze, Khatia Dekanoidze, Ana Tsitladze and Ana Natsvlishvili submitted the questions to the Minister.

“The effective countering of domestic violence and violence against women is set as a priority by the Ministry. We have taken significant steps in this direction. The Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Common Courts undertake the strictest criminal policy against the crimes of this category, which is evidenced in the statistical data as well. It is noteworthy that the statistical data for the recent crime situation, domestic violence remains in the second place”, - the Minister noted.

According to him, the Ministry has established the assessment mechanisms for the risks of repeated violence allowing the police forces to timely reveal the threats. The assessment is reinforced by the e-surveillance system for the police department to in real-time monitor the fulfillment of the obligations by the offender imposed on him/her under the order.

As the reporter noted, along with monitoring criminal cases, the Department on Monitoring Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality is actively engaged in the establishment of the issue of restraining orders by the police and e-supervision.

In response to the question about the belated response of the Ministry officers to domestic violence and violence against women, the reporter noted that the General Inspection studies and instantly undertakes all remedies envisaged under the legislation. According to him, in 2022-2023, the General Inspection has imposed disciplinary penalties on 44 officers.

Yet another question to the Minister concerned the facts of domestic violence and violence against women committed by the officers of the Ministry. As the Minister responded, if a restraining or protective order is applied on any of the officers due to physical and/or sexual abuse, the disciplinary order is his/her dismissal.

Besides, if the action committed by a police officer reveals signs of a crime, the case is delegated to a Special Investigation Service.

The reporter overviewed the cooperation of the Ministry with other respective institutions in view of the prevention of domestic violence and violence against women and noted that coordination is a pillar in this process. Speaking about the witness of domestic violence and violence against women and the activity of the coordinators of the aggrieved parties, the Minister noted that a department of the Ministry has been set up with the functions as follows: mental/emotional support of the witness/aggrieved, prevention of repeated and secondary victimization, provision of information upon the investigation, introduction of the state services and effective coordination between the law enforcement structures.

“In view to improve the capacity of the Service, we intend to undertake the reform of the witness and aggrieved aiming at the intensification of the coordinators’ activity, the establishment of common approaches and standards and improvement of quality of their functions and result-oriented implementation”, - he stated.

As he noted, the Human Rights and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department ensures uninterrupted monitoring of the cases of violence against women and/or domestic violence and the crimes committed on a discriminative basis. According to him, the standard of the issue of the restraining order, risk assessment instrument and e-surveillance has been modified, now allowing more victims to resort to the violence prevention mechanism.

The reporter dwelt on countering drug crime and raising awareness campaigns. As he underlined, the Ministry actively cooperates with schools and other educational institutions to raise awareness among children on the hazardous impact of drugs and to minimize the likelihood of drug addiction.

Another question concerned the action plan for preventing the distribution/sale of drugs.

“On a daily basis, the Ministry ensures intensive countering against drug crimes, which is declared as one of the acute directions of organized crime”, - he stated adding that it is provided and confirmed in the Strategy against Organized Crime for 2021-2024 and the respective action plans of the Government developed within the inter-agency format.

Per his information, the strategy and action plan for 2025-2028 is already under development, which will reflect the effective countering of drug crimes with an emphasis on the preventive component. The reporter overviewed the stricter policy on drug sellers.

“The Ministry interns to further curb drug crime, however, the response to the crimes by the Ministry solely cannot ensure the solution of this grave problem; it requires the complex engagement of society and respective agencies by circulation of information about hazard of drugs and for mitigation of the damage thereof”, - he stated.