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Recommendation to Ministry of Internal Affairs concerning Discrimination of Person with Disabilities

On August 22, 2016, the Public Defender of Georgia addressed the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a recommendation, according to which, an applicant with disabilities was subjected to direct discrimination by law enforcement officers after they neglected his/her specific needs. In particular, the applicant was not given the opportunity to use a toilet, which violated his/her dignity.

On June 15, 2016, the disabled person, who is using a wheelchair, was travelling by a car together with his/her three friends, during which he was stopped by police. A verbal conflict arose between the patrol inspectors and the applicant's friends, which lasted about 3 hours, during which the applicant had been asking the police officers to let him/her take a wheelchair out of the car and go to the bathroom in vain. Since the applicant was not given such an opportunity, he/she had to satisfy his/her physiological needs in the car.

In the recommendation the Public Defender emphasizes the obligation of law enforcers to act in any situation, including in tense situations, so that the rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities are not violated.

Accordingly, the Public Defender called on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to provide trainings and other related activities for its employees in order to deepen theoretical knowledge of the rights and needs of persons with disabilities, to use the obtained knowledge in practice, to develop skills necessary for handling difficult situations involving persons with disabilities and to raise sensitivity of servants towards the mentioned issue.

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