Among the most important human rights problems reported in Georgia last year were torture and abuse of prisoners, says the State Department's 2012 Report on Human Rights Practices.
“Torture and abuse of prisoners, detainees, and others by government corrections and law enforcement officials before the October change in government, as well as dangerously substandard prison conditions,” the reports says.
Other problems reported during the period were shortfalls in the rule of law, such as lack of judicial independence and a lack of objective judicial scrutiny of executive actions, impediments to the exercise of the fundamental freedoms of association, assembly, and expression, particularly for members of the political opposition.
According to the report, Georgia was primarily a source country, but also a transit country, for trafficking in persons.
Both geography and language barriers limited ethnic minorities’ access to information. “Local government officials in Samtskhe-Javakheti voiced concern that the lack of significant Georgian news programs in minority languages alienated many members of national minority communities,” the report says.
