GYLA Calls for Probe Into MIA’s Expanding Use of Facial Recognition

The Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA), a prominent legal watchdog, has urged the Personal Data Protection Service to immediately investigate the use of facial recognition cameras by the Ministry of Interior, warning that the practice could undermine fundamental rights.

In a statement issued on February 10, GYLA said that the use of remote biometric technologies for law enforcement purposes threatens core democratic freedoms, including privacy, data protection, freedom of expression, and the right to assembly. The organization underscored the risks of mass surveillance, likening the practice to methods used in autocratic regimes.

The GYLA stressed that the Public Safety Command Center-112, a department within the Ministry of the Interior, had reportedly recently purchased 30 cameras with facial recognition capabilities. The purchase followed a request from the agency’s director, who cited damage to 115 surveillance cameras in central Tbilisi during last year’s protests.

“The use of such cameras, in practice, for human rights violations is widespread in autocratic and totalitarian regimes,” the statement said, citing Human Rights Watch’s concerns about the impact of biometric surveillance on civil liberties, adding that “the use of such technologies violates not only the right to privacy, but also the freedoms of expression and association.”

The watchdog is calling for an immediate inspection into whether the Ministry of Internal Affairs has carried out a data protection impact assessment and complied with legal standards on data processing and security. In particular, the GYLA wants clarity on whether access to facial recognition data stored in special electronic programmes complies with personal data protection laws.

The debate over biometric surveillance intensified following the pro-European protests in Georgia at the end of November. GYLA points to a significant increase in the use of facial recognition cameras after November 28, particularly in cases where protesters blocked roads. According to the watchdog, authorities have relied almost exclusively on facial recognition images as evidence in court cases, often without assessing the legality of the identification methods or whether officials had proper authorization to access sensitive databases.

The growing surveillance network has sparked fresh fears of an authoritarian slide in Georgia. On February 6, RFE/RL’s Tbilisi bureau published a report highlighting the rapid deployment of surveillance cameras across the country and the lack of transparency in their management. The investigation raised concerns about unauthorized government access to private footage, as well as politically motivated restrictions on access to surveillance data, suggesting that the state’s expanding control over public space – coupled with increased repression of dissent – marks a broader trend towards authoritarianism.

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