PROPOSALS TO THE PARLIAMENT OF GEORGIA: • To amend the Imprisonment Code to the effect of inserting prohibition of the use of teargas indoors; and • To amend the Imprisonment Code to the effect of determining the types of nonlethal weapons. 3.3.2.5. Screening Procedures In accordance with the Nelson Mandela Rules, the laws and regulations governing searches of prisoners and cells shall be in accordance with the obligations under international law and shall take into account international standards and norms, keeping in mind the need to ensure security in the prison. Searches shall be conducted in a manner that is respectful of the inherent human dignity and privacy of the individual being searched, as well as the principles of proportionality, legality and necessity.81 Due to their intrusive nature, all body searches can be degrading, even humiliating. They should therefore be used only when strictly necessary to maintain order or security in the prison for the persons themselves and for other detainees and staff.82 The Committee emphasises that strip-searches should only be conducted on the basis of a concrete suspicion and in an appropriate setting, and be carried out in a manner respectful of human dignity.83 In the case of Wainwright v. the United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights observed that there is no doubt that the requirement to submit to a strip-search will generally constitute an interference under the first paragraph of Article 8 and requires to be justified in terms of the second paragraph, namely as being ‘in accordance with the law’ and ‘necessary in a democratic society’ for one or more of the legitimate aims listed therein.84 The Georgian legislation, namely the Code of Imprisonment85 and sub-legislative normative acts issued based on the former, allows strip-search.86 The statutes of penitentiary establishments specify that strip-searches of remand and convicted persons may be full and partial. 81 82 83 84 85 86 The United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), the Resolution was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 8 January 2016, A/RES/70/175, Rule no. 50, Association for Prevention of Torture (APT), Detention Focus – Body Searches, available in English at: http:// www.apt.ch/detention-focus/en/detention_issues/6/ [Last visited on 10.02.2017]. Council of Europe, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Report to the Bulgarian Government on the visit to Bulgaria carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 24 Marc to 3 April 2014, published on 29 January 2015, available in English at: http://hudoc.cpt.coe.int/eng#{“fulltext”:[“squat”],”CPTSectionID”:[“p-bgr-20140324-en-23”]} [Last visited on 10.02.2017]. Wainwright v. the United Kingdom, application no. 12350/04, judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of 26 September 2006, paras. 42-43. The Code of Imprisonment of Georgia, Article 75.4 Article 22.2 of the statute of penitentiary establishment no. 5. NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2016 53