Aleksandre Darakhvelidze - There is a huge difference between healthy criticism and degrading, inciting assessments, and this requires a response - criticism, as if the goal of the new department is to impose censorship, is baseless
There is a huge difference between expressing healthy criticism in public and public assessments that are degrading and inciting hatred among citizens, and all this requires an appropriate and timely response, - Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandre Darakhvelidze told InterpressNews in response to a question about the creation of a new department within the ministry, the function of which will be to identify hate speech facts and provide legal response.
As Darakhvelidze noted, criticism that the purpose of the aforementioned innovation is an attempt to impose censorship due to a different opinion is clearly unfounded.
"The state is obliged to have even more effective mechanisms, a clear approach to timely detection of facts that publicly violate personal dignity and the rights of others and to provide appropriate legal response. This is what the initiative to create a new department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in particular the Human Rights Protection Department, serves. The aforementioned department, within the framework of its competence, is already constantly implementing relevant activities to protect the rights of citizens, and the employees of the department have extensive experience in working in this direction, with tangible results. The activities of the new department will be focused on monitoring and subsequent legal response to actions related to the violation of dignity, personal attacks and insults within the framework of the current legislation. There is criticism that the purpose of this innovation is an attempt to impose censorship due to a different opinion, this assessment is clearly unfounded - there is a huge difference between the expression of healthy criticism in the public space and public assessments that are degrading and inciting hatred among citizens, and all this requires an appropriate and timely response.
I am sure that each revealed fact will be given an objective, impartial legal assessment,” Darakhvelidze noted.
For information, a special department will be created in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the main function of which will be the systemic monitoring of hate speech, offensive campaigns and aggressive communication in the public space and the appropriate legal response. As Darakhvelidze noted, the department is expected to begin full-fledged work from June 1.
