Increasing Transparency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (GE0075)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Georgia Action Plan 2018-2019
Action Plan Cycle: 2018
Status:
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia
Support Institution(s): NA
Policy Areas
Justice, Policing & Corrections, RegulationIRM Review
IRM Report: Georgia Transitional Results Report 2018-2019, Georgia Design Report 2018-2019
Early Results: No IRM Data
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Yes
Ambition (see definition): Low
Implementation i
Description
Commitment 10: Increasing transparency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) is the most important part of the executive power, the principal functions of which include safeguarding of public safety and protection of public order. To ensure public trust force-enforcement bodies, the MIA shall, according to a recommendation of the Forum member NGOs, take important steps for improving accountability and transparency.
Commitment 10: Increasing transparency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA)
Lead Agency Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia
Other Involved Actors Public Agency
Civil Society /Private Sector /International organization
Issues to be Addressed (1) The MIA has actively worked for improving public access to public information lately:
Since 2018 statistics of complaints/applications has been maintained. The motive of an alleged offence communicated by the applicant and other parameters are registered. Engagement of the alleged offender(s) in disciplinary proceedings is ensured. The applicant is notified in writing of the disciplinary proceedings’ results carried out by the General Inspection on the basis of a written application, whereas in case the information is received through the hot line (126), the initiator is informed by telephone. In practice, a report concerning the official checkup conducted by the General Inspection and signed by the General Inspection chief has never been revoked by the Minister, as well as in no case the disciplinary liability measure has been changed.
Today, the statistical data maintenance by the MIA is not based on a systematized procedure and is not governed by a bylaw and/or memorandum, which in some cases interferes with information accessibility. However, the work to regulate the process is under way.
(2) The MIA also commits to follow a transparent manpower policy, so that the issues of policeman recruitment, promotion, disciplinary liability or discharge shall be free from any ambiguity.
Main Objective
Increasing transparency quality of the MIA; promoting public trust and accountability.
OGP Principles Transparency Accountability Citizens Participation Technology and innovation
Milestones to Fulfill the Commitment New or ongoing commitment Start date End date
Clear writing out of statistical maintenance procedures, terms and responsible bodies through making a standard consolidated document. New August 2018 December 2018
Proactive publication of complaints/applications, as well as of the official checkup results. New January 2018 January 2019
Development of disciplinary proceedings conduct guidelines within the framework of reforming the General Inspection of MIA New September 2018 September 2019
Analysis of official transfer, encouragement and discharge procedures and making relevant regulatory amendments where necessary New August 2018 December 2019
Indicator - Statistical information maintenance guidelines have been worked out;
- Complaints/applications, also the official checkup results are proactively published;
- Disciplinary proceedings conduct instructions/guidelines have been developed;
- Official transfer, encouragement and discharge procedures have been analyzed.
IRM Midterm Status Summary
Commitment 10: Increasing Transparency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:
“The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) is the most important part of the executive power, the principal functions of which include safeguarding of public safety and protection of public order. To ensure public trust force-enforcement bodies, the MIA shall, according to a recommendation of the Forum member NGOs, take important steps for improving accountability and transparency
- The MIA has actively worked for improving public access to public information lately:
Since 2018 statistics of complaints/applications has been maintained. The motive of an alleged offence communicated by the applicant and other parameters are registered. Engagement of the alleged offender(s) in disciplinary proceedings is ensured. The applicant is notified in writing of the disciplinary proceedings’ results carried out by the General Inspection on the basis of a written application, whereas in case the information is received through the hot line (126), the initiator is informed by telephone. In practice, a report concerning the official check-up conducted by the General Inspection and signed by the General Inspection chief has never been revoked by the Minister, as well as in no case the disciplinary liability measure has been changed. Today, the statistical data maintenance by the MIA is not based on a systematized procedure and is not governed by a bylaw and/or memorandum, which in some cases interferes with information accessibility. However, the work to regulate the process is underway.
- The MIA also commits to follow a transparent manpower policy, so that the issues of policeman recruitment, promotion, disciplinary liability or discharge shall be free from any ambiguity”
Milestones:
- Clear writing out of statistical maintenance procedures, terms and responsible bodies through making a standard consolidated document
- Proactive publication of complaints/applications, as well as of the official checkup results
- Development of disciplinary proceedings conduct guidelines within the framework of reforming the General Inspection of MIA
- Analysis of official transfer, encouragement and discharge procedures and making relevant regulatory amendments where necessary
Start Date: August 2018
End Date: December 2019
Editorial note: For the full text of this commitment, please see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/georgia-action-plan-2018-2019/.
Context and Objectives
This commitment aims to improve the transparency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), in particular around its human resources and statistical data collection policies. According to an Open Society Georgia Foundation report, [58] although human resources policies are regulated by the Law of Georgia on Police, the detailed procedures and exceptional cases fall under the Minister's Order on service and internal normative acts, which in most cases are vague. [59] [60] For example, the predefined criteria for internal promotion are either nonexistent or ambiguous, leaving room for politically motivated human resources decisions. As for the statistical data collection, the processes for collecting statistics are not predefined and systemized. Furthermore, since the law does not require the collection of specific types of statistical data, the MIA often declines requests to disclose or provide certain kinds of data when requested by civil society organizations. [61]
To improve its transparency, the MIA plans to develop a consolidated document that will define and systemize the procedures, types of data, responsible bodies, and timelines for data collection. The ministry will also collect and proactively publish data on citizens’ complaints, as well as internal general inspection results. This disclosure could increase access to information. Statistical data, such as public complaints, internal official checkup results, and relevant administrative proceedings, will become available publicly. In addition, the MIA will define criteria for disciplinary proceedings (promotion, demotion, etc.), which could increase organizational transparency.
All four milestones under this commitment are verifiable and linked to specific indicators. The commitment activities could bring positive, but minor, improvements to the existing practices of MIA. Namely, it could affect statistical data collection, the publishing of statistical data, and human resources policies. [62]
Next steps
Since this commitment plans to systemize the MIA’s statistical data collection practices and proactively publish statistical data, the IRM researcher recommends publishing these data in an open-data format (which allow users to run cross-tabulation analysis).
[58] OSGF proposed commitment to be considered for the 2018–2019 OGP action plan.
[59] Anano Tsintsabadze, Participatory Democracy Program Project Coordinator, Open Society Georgia Foundation, interview with the IRM researcher, 15 May 2019.
[60] Transparency International–Georgia, Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre, Transparency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2017 https://bit.ly/2w10lMu
[61] Tsintsabadze interview, May 2019.
[62] Giorgi Topuria, Senior Analyst at Transparency International–Georgia, interview with IRM researcher, 22 May 2019.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
10. Increase the transparency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA)
Theme II: Increasing Public Integrity
Limited
The MIA approved the data collection standard procedures with Minister's Ordinance #1/39 and now publishes statistical data of citizens’ complaints in its annual reports and inspection results on its webpage (info.police.ge). [45] However, the information is limited to quantitative data and does not provide narrative reasoning or analysis as to why citizens’ complaints are denied or facts of disciplinary wrongdoings.
According to the OGP National Action Plan Monitoring Framework, the MIA also performed a needs analysis for procedural changes for promotion and demotion. However, it did not identify a need for substantial procedural changes, apart from minor changes such as self-initiation and mandatory pre-testing for promotion. [46]